August 30, 2011 Tuesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:00 am to 10:30 am	1' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Mid upcoming tide	Stiff onshore breeze - south wind
Overcast	Fun session

I was determined to go out this morning. Barbara was coming to do her cleaning thus I had to get out of the house, plus I was meeting with a couple of work friends for lunch at 12:30. I could squeeze in a normal session, be out of the water by 10:30 and on the road by eleven to connect with my friends. I was on a roll with several recent surf sessions, I had just come off two good outings this past weekend at Surfers' Point in Ventura, my conditioning had improved and I wanted to keep momentum going. Also, a big south swell was on its way, all the Internet sites predicted the swell would arrive tomorrow; maybe the first remnants of it were in this morning. But the early buoy readings were not good: 6 ft NW swell at 7 seconds and no south swell.

Only David who rides the Becker board and Ray the Petaluma fireman were in the water when I arrived at Bolinas. The parking lot was nearly empty. They were on the Seadrift side of the Channel going for the small fast peeling rights that were breaking in one foot of water. A south wind was blowing and the surface was on the verge to turning to white caps. It didn't look inviting.

Jeff the Bolinas local was standing on the seawall at the base of the ramp checking out the surf. I asked him if he was going to go out.

"Look there's a rideable left," I said. "With the tide coming up, it will get better."

"Where's that swell I keep hearing about?"

"It's supposed to arrive tomorrow."

"And it will be here for a few days, right?"

"Yes, like through the weekend."

I took a few photos at the Groin where the birds were more interesting than the surf - the above seagull struggled trying to consume a small starfish. When walking back to the car to suit up, here came Jeff, wetsuit on and carrying two boards, a longboard and a shortboard.

"So you're bringing your quiver," I commented referring to his two boards.

"No I have more boards," he paused, thought and began counting on his fingers. "I have twelve, no fourteen. That's right, I have fourteen boards. You never have enough," and off he headed to the beach.

Out in the water, Jeff patiently sat at the apex of the Channel peak on his longboard. While paddling out I watched him skillfully come down a well-formed three-foot curl. He caught several more good ones and then disappeared. I assumed that he was having a short session. No way, ten minutes later he was back out at the far peak on his shortboard. He managed to connect on several more good waves on this board, despite the flat longboard type waves.

Rob was also out in the water. He stuck to the inside and north of the rest of us. Several times I watched him cruise across these small walls, crouched down holding onto the outside rail. David had moved over to the Channel peak while Ray remained on the Seadrift side. David as usual caught wave after wave. He had a good sense of where the peaks were. He sat further inside but closer to us than Rob. David managed to catch one wave of every set. Jeff and I sat out at the furthest peak waiting for the sets. This strategy worked. The waves were better than they looked. They were "soft" as Hank would say - meaning flat on the take-off - giving us ample time to get up and into the wave. I connected on several nice, smooth left curls.

For an hour the four of us had the waves to ourselves. Later on a couple more surfers came out, but we had already soaked up the best of it. The wind picked up, the tide kept coming in, the water depth increased and the waves died - time to go in. From the beach David and I noticed that the peak had moved in. When we went out the peak was a good fifty yards out from the Groin pole. When we exited the water, the peak was even with the pole.

The water was warm, the sun had broken through the cloud cover and we had connected on some fun waves. Yes it was worth it.