December 14, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
10:15 am to 11:30 am	2' to 3', occasional 4'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Sunny, clear and warm	Fun session

Correction: Lorenzo's Surf Journal has a correction.

"Loren, by the way I make my lunch every morning, not the night before," David who rides the Becker board said to me while paddling out to the Channel after a long ride. He was referring to the Surf Journal's September 21st entry that was posted on December 13th, which stated that David prepared a lunch every night before a surf session. His lunch is always the same - a cheese and lettuce sandwich, a piece of fruit and some carrot sticks. "Hey, I can't have stale cheese and wilted lettuce on my sandwich."

"Well, excuse me, I will correct that error," I said in jest. "David, tell me something. You make your lunch every morning, you live in Berkeley and drive an hour plus to get here and you usually enter the water between 7:00 and 7:30. You must get up earl." I asked as we were walking down the beach after our session.

"Four o'clock. I get up at four o'clock, putter around for an hour or so and leave the house at five thirty."

So here is my correction: to David surfing is as important as work. He is like a dedicated stockbroker who is up before sunrise to get the latest quotes from the New York Stock Exchange. David is up and out the door before sunrise to beat the wind and the crowd to the beach.

This morning was another pleasant surprise. I had no expectation of waves. The swell that came in last Friday was fading, and today's buoy reading was 4 ft at 11 seconds. Mill Valley was freezing with a low Tule fog that trapped the cold air at ground level. At the top of the mountain I broke through the fog into bright sunshine and warm air. It was ten degrees warmer on the ocean side of the mountain.

While suiting up I chatted with the early morning crew who had just finished their sessions. Stand-up guys Frank and Russ said that conditions were improving because it was warmer. They froze when they entered the water at 7:00 am. Marty and Hank confirmed that the waves were getting better from the push of the incoming tide. That's Marty in the above photo.

David, Jacek the tattoo artist and Francine were at the Channel when I entered the water. Francine caught one more wave and went in. A few minutes later Pete from Napa joined us. Thus the four of us had the Channel to ourselves for over an hour. I paddled out to the line-up, paused, looked around and took a deep breath. Conditions were ideal: here it was mid-December, the sun was out, the air was warm with no wind, a glassy surface, nicely formed two to three-foot left peeling waves and a friendly crowd. The waves were smooth, gentle and long. They weren't much to write about except that all of us caught several long rides that took us all the way to inside the Groin wall.

Pete proudly announced that his daughter had been accepted to Georgetown University - one of the nation's better schools. Pete has the double whammy of twin daughters who were seniors in high school and were applying to colleges. Obviously his daughters were doing well in school to be applying to the high-powered universities.

"Congrats," I said. "Now comes the hard part."

"Yeah, like paying for it!"

We will continue Pete's saga later. But for today, the sun was out, the scenery was beautiful and we exhausted ourselves in these small fun waves.