September 26, 2011 Monday

Bolinas	Groin
9:30 am to 11:00 am	Consistent 3' to 4', sets to 6'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind
Sunny and warm	Good session

When I arrived, I went up to the overlook above the Groin and couldn't believe my eyes. Conditions were perfect: sunny with blue skies, no wind, table-top glassy surface, sunlight reflecting off the faces of the waves, up coming tide, beautiful four-foot left peeling waves and only three surfers in the water - Marty, Hank and David who rides the Becker board. I didn't even bother to check the Patch, even though I knew that Mary and stand-up guys Frank and Russ were out there.

The season had definitely changed to fall - the best time of the year in the Bay Area. The fog was gone; yesterday's rain had cleaned up the air and put a crispness in the air. September is also the best time of the year for surf - warm weather and Indian Summers that shift the wind to offshore and the first north swells from Alaska arrive. Today fit that pattern. The NOAA weather radio reported 7 ft NW swells at 11 seconds and only a 5 mph NW wind, which translated to no wind at protected Bolinas.

I paddled out to the Groin to join David, Marty and Hank. Jacek the tattoo artist had come out and sat further out at the apex of the Channel peak. Everyone was excited about the conditions and the atmosphere was mellow. I sat there and watched each one of them connect on a good clean wave. On my first wave I stroked into a waist high peak, jumped up, cut left, climbed high in the curl, walked three-quarters of the way to the nose and stood there while I cruised through a long continuous peeling curl. I cut back to let the wave build up on the inside, which it never did. The wave died inside the Groin wall.

That wave established the pattern for this morning. I would sit outside waiting for the sets; pick out a good one and stroke into it. All the waves had beautiful shape. I would quickly turn left, get high in the wave, lock the inside rail under the lip, step to the front quarter of the board, stand there while cruising through a well-formed section, and finally cut back into the breaking part of the wave, turn left again and hope that the inside section would reform, which it seldom did. The waves would die way inside the Groin wall, meaning I was facing a long paddle back out to the line up. To avoid the incoming white water, I would paddle towards the Groin pole and then out and around the impact zone. This was a long circular route, but it was effective. After a few of these long paddles I could feel it in my arms.

Marty and Hank, who had entered the water at 8 am, caught several good long rides and headed in. David could not believe how good it was and thus put in one of his marathon four-hour sessions - 7:30 to 11:30 am. He was in constant motion the whole time - catch a wave, ride it all the way in, take the same circular long paddle back out to the line-up and then do it again - non-stop for four hours.

Pete from the Wine Country joined us. Due to a recent job change he was back to surfing one day a week, and he happened to pick the perfect day. He too caught several good waves. While paddling out, I watched Pete drop down an overhead face, cut left and scream along the bottom just ahead of the breaking part of the wave.

Before entering the water while suiting up, Jacek pulled up. I reported that conditions looked good. He went down the ramp to check out the waves. When I check the waves, I'm trying to decide where to surf: the Channel, the Groin or the Patch. Jacek does the same, but he also has to decide which board to ride. The man with the quiver - he owns 60 boards and comes to the beach with two or three boards in his car.

"The Channel looks like fun," he said as he selected his 9' 6" nose rider. After a few rides, he paddled over to Seadrift to go for the rights. Three stand-ups and one longboarder were over there. An hour later he came drifting back to the Channel.

"How are the waves?" he asked.

"They're beautiful," I answered. Jacek paddled for a big set wave, jumped up and hung at the top before screaming down the line of a fast peeling wall.

"I think I'll go in for a shorter board," he said a few minutes later.

"Careful, though the shape is beautiful, the waves are a tad slow," I warned him. He went in and a half hour later as I walked to the ramp after my session, here came Jacek with a shortboard under his arm.

"The waves are still good," I said.

"What a beautiful day," and off he headed to the Groin. I was sure he connected on several inside fast curls.

This morning the high tide was 6 ft at 11 am. For the first time in months, the incoming waves were hitting the retaining wall of the house on the south side of the ramp. I had to wade through waist deep water to get back to the ramp. Earlier when I went down the ramp on my way out, I noticed a six-inch ledge formed by the water digging away at the sand at the base of the ramp. On my return trip, the ledge was now two and half feet high. I couldn't step over it. I had to put my board down and crawl over the ledge - just another sign of fall, the ocean had started removing sand from the beach.