November 16, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:15 am to 11:45 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind
On-the-deck fog	Good session

Fog was the story this morning.

"Often the wind is on the front edge of the fog," Hank said while changing after his session. "But once the fog is overhead the wind subsides."

Hank was right; that was what happened this morning. As I drove out of the forest on the Panoramic Highway I was greeted by a glorious sight of bright sunshine, blue sea and an on-the-deck fog bank a quarter of a mile offshore. I stopped at Stinson Beach to gather a water sample for Surfrider's water quality program. The sun was out and the fog was still offshore when I waded out into the surf to get the sample. Next I connected with Scott, the chairman of Surfrider Foundation Marin, in the Parkside Café. While we were chatting, the fog came in. Three people passed by bitching about the fog. "Where did this fog come from?"

A potentially glorious day had just turned to gloom. But the fog hung right of at the water's edge. The Bolinas Lagoon was sunny, the water was still and the birds and seals were out as I drove around it on my way to Bolinas. I hit fog again at Wharf Road in the center of town.

"You're going to tell me I'm too late. It was better two hours ago," I greeted Mary who had just finished her session.

"No, the fog was in, the fog went out and the fog came back in and the waves remained the same."

I stood at the Groin wall with my camera at the ready. The fog was thick and I barely could see the surfers out there. A shroud of whitish-gray hovered over the water. The whiteness prevented my camera from focusing. The automatic focus feature requires contrasting colors of lock onto an image. Only when surfers came within a few feet of shore could I take a picture. The above photo is Marty on a small shore break wave with Hank paddling out.

While suiting up Doug and stand-up guys Frank and Russ had just finished their sessions and had to jazz me about showing up at 10 am - "Gentlemen's hour." At the Groin wall, I ran into Jacek exiting the water, not a good sign. "Lousy waves, it's cold and the sun's gone." He waved to me and headed for the ramp.

I paddled out to join Pete from Napa and David who rides the Becker board. Just as I reached the line-up a set wave came in. David let me have it. At first I hesitated, then the wave jumped up - a gray-green glassy smooth wall pointing left. I swung around, dug hard three times and pulled into a fast left peeling three-foot curl. It was a good ride. The waves were definitely better than they looked. For an hour David, Pete and I had the Channel peak to ourselves. The fog had come all the way and as Hank had predicted the wind stopped, the surfaced glassed off and the waves improved. The incoming tide gave the waves an added push and the water depth and wave height combined to form a solid peak that allowed the Channel waves to connect with the inside curls near the Groin pole.

I then caught a good one. I thought the wave was going to close it but it didn't. I turned sharply left, climbed to the top of the curl and watched the smell build up in front of me. I stepped to the center of the board, paused and then stepped closer to the nose. Now I was in a paper-thin curl with my inside rail locked just below the lip. I just stood there and shot through a fast smooth section. What it great ride. Conditions held and I caught ten more similar nose rides.

David and Pete also connected on several good waves. I watched David drop into a perfect left that he rode for a long ways. I look back but lost sight of him. A few minutes later I saw him paddling out next to the Groin pole - he must have ridden that wave all the way to shore. Later he did the same thing on a long right wave. I didn't see him and thought maybe he had gone in. No he was paddling back out way inside near the Seadrift shore. While standing in waist deep water I watched Pete on a good one - crouched down mid-board with his back to the wave screaming across a glassy three-foot curl. He shot by me and continued on and on.

At 11 am, David went in. Imagine that the surf fanatic went in before I did. I stayed out for another half-hour, but the waves were starting to back off. Being exhausted and cold, I went in. Pete stayed out there for another thirty minutes and when he did finally come in, he reported waves had continued to deteriorate. But Pete and I agreed that today we had caught the best of it - even better than the waves of the early morning crowd. Despite the fog, it was a good session.