May 10, 2013 Friday

Bolinas	Groin
9:00 am to 10:30 am	1’ to 2’, sets to 3’
Mid upcoming tide	Slight offshore breeze to stiff west onshore wind
Overcast – June gloom like	Exercise session

“Drew, what are you going to say in your report this morning?” Drew the owner of the 2-Mile Surf Shop was coming up the ramp when I was heading down to take some photos. The 2-Mile shop puts out a morning surf report and posts it on their blog.

“I’m going to say it’s a very nice beach day.” That’s code for it’s flat. Here’s what he actually put –

Beautiful morning here in Bolinas.  Coastal overcast is burning off and already giving way to blue skies and sunshine.  Very smooth and very glassy ocean.  Very low, negative morning tide but already moving up! Great beach day.  Great day to rock pick or find some tidal zone treasures.  Great day to just walk on the beach and take in the beautiful surroundings.  Not such a great surf day at the moment.  Still a small south swell in the water but tide is too low to let it in.  Give it time and maybe later a few rollers will appear.

Stormsurf predicted a combination of local north wind swell and a 3 ft south at 14 seconds. We were seeing the south swell. The north portion was too north to reach into south facing Bolinas.

Mary was about to suit up and go out when I headed to the beach to take pictures. She had arrived at 6 am and waited for the fog to lift. She almost kissed it off but changed her mind when Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water pulled up. They decided to head for the Patch. Later when I walked down the ramp with my board, I saw Mary and Susan a 100 yards offshore paddling from the Patch to the Channel. The Patch was flat and they had given up on it. They continued onto Seadrift and stayed there all morning. Jacek showed up and since he had driven all the way here he decided to go out. He suited up and pulled out his 9’ 4” Fresh Pineapple longboard. Bill from Berkeley arrived, suited up and headed out on his wave ski. They joined Mary and Susan at Seadrift. All of them claimed that they caught a few decent waves there. Jacek raved about his long rides that took him right up to the sand.

I went out at the Groin, straight out from the Groin pole, to go for the fast breaking lefts. The waves weren’t memorable. I connected on a couple of good ones, dropped into several closeouts and missed a ton of waves. For me it was an exercise session – my arms got a good workout and I practiced on my timing of pushing into the waves and jumping up quickly.

Wind was an issue this morning. There was no wind and the surface was like glass when I stood at the Groin taking pictures. As I entered the water a stiff NW cross breeze had kicked up and put a texture on the surface. By the time I left the wind had shifted to the west and blew hard straight onshore and put a huge chop on the water.

Like all surfers, all of us agreed that simply being in the water made it a good session.

May 3, 2013 Friday

Bolinas	Patch
8:40 am to 10:10 am	3’ to 4’, occasional 5’
High dropping tide	No wind to NW cross breeze
Bright sunshine – heat wave	Fun session

This morning as I was walking along the beach to go out at the Patch, I saw Shu-Shu connect on a fast three-foot right curl. She quickly turned around, paddled back out to the line-up and immediately caught another good one.

“I saw you on two good ones just now,” I said to her as I was paddling out.

“Loren, it’s perfect! The weather, the water and the waves.”

Shu-Shu was right. The weather had turned hot again, heat wave conditions, with bright sunshine and no wind. The water was 54-degrees according to the San Francisco buoy and it was probably warmer at Bolinas. And the waves were firing due to a 3-foot south swells at 16 seconds. Stormsurf had predicted this swell for over a week. It arrived late Monday, peaked on Wednesday, started fading on Thursday and would disappear late Friday. The swell was definitely with us this morning.

I had arrived at 7:50 am and the Bolinas crew was surprised to see me so early. When I got out of the car, Mark the archaeologist claimed that it was flat, but he was suiting to go out. Hank pulled up. He had returned from a week long trip to London last night, thus he was a little spent but was anxious to get back in the water. Hank and I went to check out the waves – I with my camera with Jacek’s 400 mm lens attached. Hank told me about this great blues club he went to in London. Their surprise guest for the evening was Eric Burdon of the Animals, who sang their big hit, “We Have to Get Out of This Place.” Remember that one?

“What do you mean flat?” Hank and I were flooded when we saw the waves. A set of beautiful lines poured through the Patch. Jack the Dave Sweet team rider came down a four-foot wall, slid under some white water, glided back into the swell and hung five in the shore break curl. Steve the Bolinas local connected on three long right curls in the ten minutes that I was there taking pictures. That’s him in the above photo. Mary and Christian were way – way north of the pack and every time I glanced up Mary was on another long ride. Walt the photographer was having a field day catching one wave after another on his stand-up board.

“Loren, I’m taking off to suit up,” Hank said. “I’ve seen enough.” And off he headed back to the cars. I hung on to get some more photos. In fact I got several of them. Click on the link below to see my May 3^rd photos.

When I was walking down to the Patch with my board under my arm, Jack exited the water.

“Jack, you always come as the low tide turns and the incoming tide starts. So were you here at 1 am?” Jack schedules his sessions according to the tides and always arrives as the tide is coming in. This morning low tide was at 1 o’clock.

“No. I came at 6 am, stayed out two and a half hours, and it was great!” Jack exclaimed with enthusiasm. “But now it’s starting to break up.”

“You mean I’m too late?”

“No, no. There are still plenty of good waves, but you have to get out there.”

Jack was right. There were plenty of good waves. I used the same strategy that I did two days ago (Wed May 1^st). I went way outside, past the outside rock, went for the lefts and caught several of them. Today was a special surf day. Be sure to check out my photos – click on the link below.

The Patch - May 3, 2013

May 1, 2013 Wednesday

Bolinas	Patch
10:20 am to 12 noon	2’ to 3’, sets 4’, occasional 5’
Low upcoming tide	Slight onshore breeze to stiff onshore wind
Sunny heat wave morning to eerie wispy fog	Good session

My expectation for waves was high – hot weather, a 2 ft 17 second south swell and light winds. The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Alert for today due to the strong, hot and dry NE winds blowing over the inland ridges. The Park Service closed the Bootjack and Pan Toll parking lots and the road to Mt Tamalpais.

The parking area in Bolinas was full at 9:15 when I arrived; a good sign. Jacek walked up the ramp with a board under his arm to his car. He put down his 9’ 4” Donald Takayama and pulled out his 9’ 4” yellow Fresh Pineapple.

“This board is too heavy,” referring to the Takayama one. “I need a lighter board. Besides this one is perfect for my weight,” referring to the Fresh Pineapple board. “And there are waves.”

I walked with Jacek down to the Patch carrying my camera with his 400 mm telescopic lens attached. He paddled out to the inside peak and immediately caught a nice two-foot wave. That’s him in the above photo. Fourteen others were spread across several peaks. Jacek, David who rides the Becker board and two others were going for the inside right waves. Six stand-up surfers were way – way outside including Frank, Russ and John the owner of the Parkside Café in Stinson Beach. Mary, DB the Safeway checker and Susan who always wears sunglasses in the water were at the outside north peak, while Matt and several others were at the peak near the exposed outside rock. There was plenty of white water at all peaks but I didn’t see anyone scoring any great rides. The waves looked merely “so – so.”

“So is this the spot?” I asked David when I paddled out to the inside peak.

“No. There’s no spot. It’s all over the place.”

After a couple of slow ripples where I almost hit the rocks, I decided to try my luck at the outside rock. What a good move. I immediately stroked into a four-foot right peak, dropped down a nice face and then the wave died as I passed the rock. So I moved further out and to the north to try for some lefts. A beautifully shaped one came through and I stroked into it, jumped up, cut left, glided down a long left face, cut under some white water that was breaking in front of me, climbed back into a reforming swell, stepped to the middle of the board and cruised. What a long great ride. That was the first of ten such waves. I kept moving outside and north and soon I was alone, two others were out there also but they were twenty yards away. In short I had this peak to myself for forty-five minutes.

When I first paddled out a fog bank filled the horizon. It slowly moved in and an hour later it engulfed us with a thin wispy fog. I couldn’t see the shore. After a good long wave that left me north and inside in waist deep water, I glanced towards the shore. All I could see were the dark outlines of the huge boulders of the outer edge of the Patch reef peering through the mist and wisps of fog. It was an eerie sight.

After an hour and a half I started heading in. It took me ten minutes to make it to shore. I was way outside and the wave I caught only had enough force to carry me half the way in and I paddled the rest of the way. I was back to my pre-operation session level. I felt great and my arms were tired but not exhausted. I was finally getting there.

April 29, 2013 Monday

Bolinas	Patch
9:40 am to 10:40 am	6 inches, sets to 2’
Low tide (-1.2 ft at 9 am)	No wind to slight offshore breeze
Bright sunshine – heat wave conditions	Exercise session

“Hey you have to wait for the sets,” Jacek yelled to me after I missed another wave at the inside right peak at the Patch.

“That was a set!” I responded.

There were no waves; the sea was FLAT. It was questionable about going out. Stormsurf forecasted a 5 ft swell at 9 seconds from 310 degrees, which was too north to get into Bolinas. The site also predicted a new south would start this evening and build over Tuesday and Wednesday. What little swell we did see must have been the start of the south swell from New Zealand.

The weather had shifted again and a new high-pressure front had locked in over the Bay Area setting up a week of higher than normal temperatures. The Weather Channel predicted a high of 81 degrees for Bolinas – beach weather, warm sunshine and light winds, swell or no swell I had to go.

Only a few cars were in the parking area when I arrived. Jacek the tattoo artist was walking up the ramp from checking the waves. He gestured that the waves were tiny by pinching his finger and thumb together.

“We’re too far out there, here take my lens,” he commented as he was suiting up and I was on my way to take some photos. He handed me his 400 mm telescopic lens – a two-foot piece of equipment that weights about three pounds, which I gladly accepted. The lens helped but the waves were still tiny. I did catch a flock of migrating ducks cruising a few feet above the water in the above photo. Notice the horizon, I believe that white spray is the sprout of a whale.

David who rides the Becker board and Frank the stand-up guy were out beyond the outside rock. Due to this morning’s minus tide, all of the Patch reef rocks were exposed. David and Frank caught a couple slow waves that peaked around the rock. Jacek paddled outside to join them. He too connected on a couple of slow ones and had to use all his surfing skills to stay in these powerless ripples. Only skilled surfers can do that. It’s like sailing – only the best sailors can keep the boat moving in light winds.

When I paddled out Jacek was way inside. He claimed there were some decent inside right waves near the rocks and that the push from the rising tide would improve the waves. It never happened. After thirty minutes David drifted inside to join us. A few ripples would come through, Jacek could catch them but I couldn’t. I got into three of them, jumped up to my knees and leaned forward on the nose to keep my board in the waves.

After an hour, we gave up and went in. But we both agreed that it was not a waste of time. The beautiful morning with its bright sun, blue seas, warm water (relatively speaking – warmer than last week), and ospreys and ducks flying overhead made our day.

I topped off the morning by having lunch at the Parkside Café in Stinson Beach and writing this up.