November 10, 2014

Bolinas	Groin
9:20 am to 10:30 am	3' to 4', occasional 5'
Mid upcoming tide	No wind to slight onshore breeze
Air temp: 55 degrees	Water temp: 58 degrees
Low on-the-deck-fog to thick overcast	Fun session

I'm back! In a little over an hour I caught fives waves – all lefts and all good rides.

For the first half hour I paddled around mushy waves trying to get the feel of the conditions. The waves had force and were intimating. David who used to ride the Becker board was out there also. Two old wounded warriors. He was recovering from a shoulder operation and I from my surfer ear procedure and a bad cold. After six weeks out of the water my arms and legs were weak and my confidence was low.

I watched David closely and followed his lead. As always he looked in great shape and caught plenty of waves. One other longboarder was on the peak with us. A set came through, and he took off while I ploughed through the white water. The surge picked me up and washed me back several feet, and I felt a bump on my legs. This guy had wiped out and his board hit me. I was ok and so was he. No harm, no foul. It just added to my apprehension about this morning's conditions.

With no wind and a super low fog, the surface was perfectly glassed off when I finally caught one. Just as the wave was breaking I paddled hard and glided into well-formed four-foot wave. It was forgiving; building slowly and thus allowing me time to get to my feet. What a thrill to turn into a smooth wall of water and hear that "smoosh" sound while cutting across a perfectly glassed off face. The lip crested and broke in front of me, and with plenty of speed I drove under the white water and climbed back into the swell. The wave kept forming, I shot through the another section, cut-back, turned left again into the curl and hummed all the way to the shore break, pulling out over the top as it collapsed on the sand. I had surprised myself on how well I handled that wave. It was like riding a bicycle; the old form was back.

My confidence grew with each ride. I moved in to wait until the waves were breaking to go for them. One wave was feathering for several feet across the impact zone when I turned and started paddling for it. The wave picked me up, and I jumped up as it broke. With speed I drove along the bottom of the wave just a few feet behind the breaking curl of the wave. I attempted to drive under the white water to climb back into the swell. But it never happened. For several yards I powered just behind the curl until the wave jumped up for the shore break causing me to dive over the top as it broke on shore.

For over an hour David and I had the peak just north of the Groin wall to ourselves. The only other person in the water was a stand-up surfer a quarter mile south at a peak in front of the houses at Seadrift. He was constantly moving around and started paddling north. I thought he looked like our surfing buddy Kip the pilot boat captain. Soon he joined us and it was Kip. We chatted briefly and off he was again paddling south to the furthest peak at the Channel.

When I arrived this morning the on-the-deck fog was so thick I couldn't see the waves at the Patch or the Groin, and so couldn't take any pictures. I took the photo above after my session from the overlook on Terrace Road above the Patch when the fog had lifted a bit. Note the tide was higher, the waves mushier and the crowd had arrived. David and I had caught the best of it today.