June 28, 2013 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
8:15 am to 9:30 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
Low dropping tide	Slight onshore breeze to NW cross wind
On-the-deck fog to patchy clouds, warm heat-wave weather	Fun session

Martha had just come from checking the waves as I pulled up this morning.

"So how is it?"

"I don't know, I couldn't see a thing. Don't bother taking your camera. The fog is too thick."

Fog was the story this morning. The Bay Area was locked into another high-pressure heat wave. Mill Valley was sunny and clear, but an On-The-Deck fog gripped the coast.

"Are you going out?"

"Yes, judging by the cars, several of the regulars are out there." That included: Mary, Hank, DB the Safeway checker, Jack the Dave Sweet team rider, Paul the Mill Valley swim coach, Mark the archaeologist, Jaime the starving artist cartoonist and stand-up guy Frank.

Martha was right, I couldn't see pass the shore break and could barely see the outline of the cliff. The fog had lifted a bit when I entered the water, but I still couldn't see any surfers from the shore. I figured I would paddled for the outside rock at the Patch and run into the crowd. I followed the white water pattern around the Patch reef rocks. I paddled a few minutes and didn't see anybody. I paddled some more and still didn't see anyone. I kept expecting to see the outside rock, but I never saw it. Finally south of me, I caught a glimpse of Frank on his stand-up. Next I saw the outline of Paul coming left on a slow three-foot wave coming towards me. To my surprise I was north of the crowd. I then began heading out and to the south, and a minute later I saw the rock, the crowd, paddled over to them and greeted them all.

"Temperamental south swell," that was what Hank called it afterwards while we were having breakfast at the Parkside in Stinson Beach, temperamental due to the long waits between sets. The swell was all over the place. This morning the San Francisco buoy reported 3 to 4-foot south swell at 15 seconds. A new south swell had arrived yesterday, was going to peak today and would slowly fade over the weekend.

When first out there, I missed a couple of set waves and decided to move in a little. Hank and Martha remained outside, some thirty yards beyond the outside rock. Then they began paddling out and so did I. Three big waves broke fifteen yards beyond them with me scratching like mad behind them. All three of us had to plough through a ton of white water. This was typical of this morning. Long periods of small waves breaking near the rock to infrequent sets that broke twenty to thirty yards further out. With the thick fog, we couldn't see the sets coming and were often caught inside.

My first wave was my best ride. I took off on a wall that stretched across the impact zone. I turned left while white water slid down the face in front of me, cruised under it, climbed back into the swell, positioned high in the curl, locked my inside rail under the peeling lip, crouched down and cruised through a fast section. I cut back to stay in the wave and pushed it as far I could.

Jaime was back in water today and cruising after his run-in with some rocks at the Patch that injured his ribs. I watched him catch a set wave and milk it all the way into the inside, near the rocks that had injured him. He handled it with skill and grace - "no harm, no foul."

Hank gave me that one more wave sign and proceeded outside. He connected on a four-foot set wave and kept coming and coming. I caught a good side view of him locked in the curl, mid-board, mid-wave as he sailed by me. He calmly kept going and working that wave all the way to shore. I'll swear he traveled nearly a quarter mile.

We ended this beautiful morning with a good breakfast at the Parkside.