October 19, 2011 Wednesday

Bolinas	Channel
9:30 am to 11:00 am	2' to 3', sets to 3.5'
Mid dropping tide	Offshore breeze to NW cross wind
Sunny with high fog on the horizon	Fun session

I almost didn't go out.

I stood on the Groin wall with my camera at the ready and waited and waited for the four surfers, two stand-up guys and one kayak to catch anything. The surfers were Marty, David who rides the Becker board, Francine and Jacek the tattoo artist. Frank and Russ were the stand-up guys. The waves were infrequent and weak, but due to the stiff offshore breeze they had excellent shape. If you were in the right spot you could connect on a long left curl. But I didn't see anyone catch anything. Finally a set came through and Russ connected on a decent wave. That's him in the above photo.

Standing there waiting for someone to catch another wave, my mind wandered off to all the nagging obligations that were piling up back home. I could be paying the bills, cranking out a couple more surf blogs or working on the Surfrider's 2012 calendar - another project of mine that has to be done by next week.

I moved to the overlook above the Groin to get a better look. Jacek scored! He glided into a set wave, cut left, crouched down and grabbed the outside rail and hummed down a perfect curl. He stalled a second, the wave built up and he leaned into the curl and turned into another nice section.

"What am I waiting for?" I said to myself. "Get out there, get some exercise, go out for an hour; I can do those other chores later."

"Just tell me it's getting better," I greeted Frank and Russ as they were changing after their session. They gave me the usual jazz about lunch time and gentlemen's hours.

"For you, it's always getting better," Frank chimed in. I waved and hurried to the beach.

I stayed out for an hour and a half, caught several small well-formed curls, exhausted myself and had a great time. Of course it was worth it; the obligations can wait.