September 1, 2011 Thursday

Bolinas	Patch
9:40 am to 11:40 am	3' to 5', sets overhead
Low upcoming tide	Onshore breeze to no wind
High overcast to patchy sun	Good session

Boy was I looking forward to today - a big south swell arrived yesterday and would last through the weekend. All the Internet sites had predicted this swell a week in advance. Stormsurf labeled it Strong #S7 - meaning the seventh major south swell of the season. The swell began south of New Zealand near the Ross Ice Shelf, and sustained winds of 50 to 65 mph (hurricane speed) had generated 50 ft swells aimed at Peru and Chile with remnants of energy on the great circle that runs through California. Surline warned that the waves wouldn't be that huge, but the force behind them would be significant, thus novice surfers should take caution. The NOAA weather radio put out a special weather advisory that a long period swells would cause big waves, especially at south facing beaches. The National Park Service send out a broadcast email to the citizens of Stinson Beach warning of dangerous surf and rip currents for the Labor Day holiday weekend. This morning Kahuna Mike of the Riviera Waveriders sent out an email with photos of ten-foot crushing walls at Torrance Beach in Southern California. Torrance is a normal beach break that seldom has waves over six feet. The swell hit there yesterday.

This morning's buoy report had 7 ft 7 second NW swell and - get this - 3 ft south swell at 20 seconds. I was excited. This was it. The big swell had finally arrived and I was ready - and so was everybody else. All the parking spots were gone at 8:30 am. Someone had just pulled out and I quickly grabbed his place. Long faces of disappointment greeted me as I jumped out of the car. All night south winds had torn up the waves. Doug and Creighton had just exited the water and groused about the bump, the chop and the rough texture of the surface. Hank was suiting up but wasn't optimistic. Mary and Paul headed for the water hoping for the best. Marty had planned to be in the water at seven and out in an hour to make it to his eye doctor appointment. The disappointing conditions prevented him from even going out.

"David, you're late," I gestured to my watch to as David who rides the Becker board was heading to the beach. He usually was in the water by 7:30 am. Like others this morning, he was waiting for the tide to turn before going out.

From the overlook above the Groin, I watched two surfers scratch for four to six-foot bombs that exploded in one foot of water. At Terrace Road I saw twenty surfers spread across several peaks at the Patch. The swell was there but the waves were not clean. With a strong swell I expected to see long lines that stretched across the entire Patch reef - no way. Instead there were numerous peaks of crumbling waves randomly spread across the entire Patch impact zone. A couple of surfers and three stand-up guys were a mile out there at the furthest peak - mere specks on the horizon. Small groups of surfers were located at various peaks - one group was half way out there going for set waves that had reformed. Mary caught one of these waves and then she paddled out way outside and a few minutes later was back at the halfway peak. Another group was near shore going for a sizeable and challenging shore break. In the above photo that's Dan letting a wave build up before turning into a fast curl.

"What a disappointment. I was hoping for better waves," I commented to Brandon from Fairfax who was also checking the waves.

"I have learned to never have any expectations. That way I'm never disappointed." That was certainly a difference take on today's waves.

Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water pulled up with her board in the car. She too was disappointed. She said yesterday it looked terrible, but she went out anyway and it was terrible. She was determined to try again today.

Mary had moved back to the halfway peak to join David. I decided I would join them because these two always know where the best take-off point is. The shore break consisted of strong sizeable walls that pounded on the sand. Wading out, I tossed my board over the top of some incoming white water. The power of the wave popped my board up and right into my face. It slapped me in the nose and it hurt. I rubbed my nose and there was blood on my hand. Great, I had a bloody nose and I had just entered the water. I shook it off - don't panic. I paddled out to join Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic.

"What happened?" Jeff asked gesturing to my nose. It was still bleeding. Fortunately the blood was coming from the outside of my nose, a scrape and not internal. Within ten minutes it stopped, but I did have a swollen nose at the end of my session.

I paddled further out to join Mary. She mentioned that she tried for the far outside peak but couldn't do it. The waves were too constant for her paddle through them, plus the rides weren't that good. Our strategy was to catch the white water of the outside set waves and ride them into reforming waves near shore. This strategy worked. On my first wave the peak showed some left. I stroked into it as it was breaking, jumped up quickly, dropped down a steep fast left curl, stalled slightly to let the wave build up again and cruised across a steep inside curl. I knew I was over the rocks of the Patch reef and heading into shallow water. When I saw water boiling around the rocks I pulled out. What am I doing? I already had bloodied my nose and was risking landing spread eagle on the rocks, but what a good ride. With the tide coming up the water got deeper. I ended up catching four more steep left curls into the shallow water of the Patch reef. The rights were good also. I paddled into the soup of a big outside wave that was reforming. The force of the wave was strong, I was buried in white water, I jumped up to my knees, leaned on my hands to push my board over the edge of the reforming curl, jumped up to my feet, cruised down a head-high right shoulder, and on and on I went until I pulled out as the wave collapsed on the sand.

After an hour Matt paddled out. He was working and took a break to get in some waves. The good news was that he was working. He also took up the catch white water strategy, which he did with great success. Later he told me that on his last wave he caught white water of a huge wave, it reformed and he screamed across a head-high wall all the way into shore. From a distance I saw Susan on a good one. I could tell it was her - goofy foot, feet spread apart and arms held high. She was way to the north and outside of us as she dropped down a head-high peak, turned left and cruised on and on down a beautiful wall.

After two hours my arms were spent, but the waves were getting better - the wind had stopped, the surface glassed off, the waves got bigger and cleaner and the crowd had swelled, but I had to go in. Again I caught white water of a set wave that was big and had some force. The wave reformed and I kept cutting back to stay in it and ride it to shore. The wave stood up and I cruised across a four-foot curl that kept unfolding in front of me. I pulled out over the top as the wave broke on the sand. What a great way to end a good session.