September 7, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel & Groin
8:00 am to 10:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 4'
High tide	No wind
On the deck fog to patchy sunshine	Fun session

Hank summed up this morning's session this way, "the morning was so beautiful the waves were secondary." The on-the-deck fog lifted putting a mist on the water while the sun broke through in spots creating an array of blues and grays on the glassy smooth surface as the same perfect peeling left waves that we had yesterday continued onto today.

I had such a good session yesterday and was hoping to do it again this morning. I left the house early and arrived at Bolinas at 7:15. The fog was thick, Mary was suited up and heading for the Patch, but due to the fog she didn't know if there were any waves. Jaime the starving artist cartoonist was already out there.

"How was the Patch yesterday?"

"It was great. There were waves and only Matt and I were out there. I don't understand why no one else was out. It was great without crowd considerations. I could move to any peak and take off without worrying about anyone else."

After this morning's session she gave the same report. "Yesterday it was just Matt and I. Today it was just Jaime and I and there were plenty of waves."

As Marty and I walked down the beach to the Groin, I saw Rob cruise down a nice four-foot wall. I knew I was into another good session. On my first wave I hung high in the curl, stepped to the middle of the board, stuck out my right foot for a cheater five nose ride and just cruised across a nice clean section.

Marty caught several good ones. After one of my rides, I was standing in waist deep water near the Groin pole and watched Marty connect on his best ride of the morning. He hung at the top of a four-foot curl, dropped down to the bottom, swooped back up to the top and hung there just below the lip of the wave before dropping down the face and trimming a long way to the Groin wall.

Professor Steve was out there having another one of his brief half-hour sessions before heading off to teach class at Mills College in Oakland. Steve went in and Hank came out. Slowly the crowd swelled to nine and because there was only one peak we were bunched together. But the crowd was mellow and everyone caught their share of waves. Bolinas regulars were there - Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic, Rob from Dogtown, Hank, Marty, Scott who only surfs on Wednesdays, Jacek the tattoo artist and Shu-Shu the mother of two from Dogtown. Shu-Shu had connected on several good ones yesterday and had to come out this morning for more of the same.

As usual Jacek scored on several good waves. Today he was riding a 9' 2" thick in the nose board built seven years ago for his wife. She hasn't surfed in a couple of years, thus Jacek has claimed her board. He sat way outside and further south than the rest of us at the apex of the Channel peak. And as usual he had the ability to paddle into set waves while they were still flat. I watched him closely on one of his longest rides. A sizeable set wave approached, Jacek dug hard five to six times and glided into the wave while it was still flat. He jumped up, turned left and with his back to the wave crouched down and grabbed the outside rail as the wave feathered over his head. He streaked down the line just ahead of the breaking wave, stood back up, stalled for a brief second and cruised through another section. A few moments later I noticed that he had caught another wave way on the inside and was heading right along the contour of the north bank of the Channel and ended up close to the boat ramp at the end of Wharf Road.

My last ride was a good one. After two hours my arms felt like they were going to drop off my body - time to head in. I moved in to catch the good inside curls close to shore. A set wave came through and I stroked into it. I remained prone to insure I was into the wave and then jumped up to my knees and shot under the initial break. Next I jumped up to my feet, leaned into the curl, climbed high in the wave, crouched down and cruised. The wave kept building in front of me. I dropped into the inside curl and was heading right for the Groin pole. But I could see that I had room to cross in front of the wall. I leaned into the curl again and shot pass the front of the Groin pole and dove into the white water as the wave broke on the sand. When I surfaced my board was sitting on the top of the wall. Since I ended up three feet from dry sand - and the wall, I decided to call it a day.

Hank, who had just exited the water, was standing on the beach and saw my ride. "I thought we were going to lose you."

"Hey, no sweat. I knew I could make it."

"What a good way to end your session."