Surf: Thigh high and a little ragged.

I haven’t been getting that much weekday time in. Too many morning meetings, too little motivation, and well, kinda junky surf.

Andrew decided it was time for his quarterly surf session so we headed to Bolinas. Ran into quite a few people in the lot. Waves were small and a little rough, but rideable and good for catching white water. You can’t really argue with sunshine.

Surf: Small, clean, knee-thigh high waves.

Plenty small and foggy this morning. Thigh high set waves that slowly got a little glassier and held up a little better. Certainly not epic, but all I was looking to do was help my little bro catch some waves so I was pretty happy.

For a while the lineup consisted of G noseriding every little peeler that came along, my bro stoked as he caught some fun mellow waves, and me trying out a 7’0 stubby surfboard I got last week. Not bad.

Afterwards Wes and I hung out on the beach a little, saw a (dead) little leopard shark, and then drove north to wander around Pt Reyes a while. It was a beautiful day. Can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday than with family at the beach.

Photo by Blam.

Surf: Ankle to Thigh High. Warm, sunny, calm.

Beach days are beautiful.

With the fog and the often cold mornings where I rush off to work after surfing, beach days often get overlooked. Today was a pretty brilliant beach day.

Blam and I headed up to Bolinas early. While we missed the Bolinas/Stinson Beach tug of war, we were there just in time for the parade. The whole town was out dancing and strolling about. I got a carrot from the vegetable stand boat. Yum.

Temperatures in the 90′s at the beach is pretty uncommon but welcome. We built a lovely beach hut and went out for a small wave surf. Lots of little fun splashing around but not too much in the way of surfing.

After a little while, more folks showed up and the beach hut got bigger and everyone busted out their snacks. Taka and Toshi brought some rice rolls. Robert and Vi had cheeses and fruit salad.

The weather was so beautifully warm that Stefan and I paddled out without wetsuits to meet up with Blam and Beamer. I haven’t actually surfed in a bikini before, even in Mexico. The water was a little brisk, but I managed to get a few fun rides out of the little waves. Bikini and sunglasses both stayed put.

On the way home, Blam and I got a little lost. There’s only one fork in the road and we took the wrong one. There was a beautiful lake along the way.

Came home to fireworks, sunburn, and a whole lot of stoke.

Beach days are, well, beautiful. They are pretty much everything I could ever ask for and I’m happy to have been able to enjoy this one.

Surf: Waist High with some Chest high waves. Lots of wind and plenty of sun.

In honor of Chris’s birthday, we snuck out to Bolinas for a few waves.

I spent most of the time fighting the wind. Chris got plenty of nice waves while I was flipping over in the sideshores. I got a few decent ones in the Channel, but mostly enjoyed the nice weather and the birthday picnic his family was kind enough to bring (and endure the wind to have).

Surf: Knee to Waist High, Junky.

Mixed up junky day in Bolinas. Met up with quite a few folks up there and got a few fun little waves. Andrew was able to get a few stable rides in. It’s always fun to watch friends who are learning to get waves.

Surf: Knee high waves, occasional waist high set. Warm water!

Aaron, Ralph, Pierce and I hit up Bolinas to take advantage of the nice warm water and get Ralph’s board out of his buddy’s garage.

Waves were small, but fun enough. Got in plenty of sectiony little rides and got to goof off in the sunshine. More barefoot surfing.

The changing tide made for an exciting moment when I mis-calculated a belly ride in and found myself being swept into the lagoon. Wheeeeee. Nice practice for learning how to safely remove oneself from a rip current.

Surf: 1-4ft. Blown out, closing out. Warm sun but too windy and small for most people.
Gear: 9’4

Aside from the screaming winds, it was a warm, beautiful day up in Bo. The 9’4 was back from the shop and I was more than happy to get it back in the water.

Bo was small, choppy, and being ravaged by the winds, but still catchable with the 9’4. Anything smaller, thinner, or with a steep rocker would have had a hard time picking anything off to call a ride, but the 9’4 took on anything coming in. I got a handful of long rides in.

The first few I out and out pearled the board after standing up. It took a few tries to recenter myself after being out on the 9 for a few weeks. After that it was back to business as usual. The new center fin didn’t feel much different, but all that float felt pretty good in the water.

On the way back I realized I forgot to snap a pic so the pic above is from highway 1 on the way back to the city. The California coast is one of the best places to drive/bike/hike. Every turn is another amazing view.

Surf: 2-5ft, inconsistent, windy, hard to catch.
Gear: 9’0

With the upwelling in full swing, my hands and face burned to touch the water. Oh man was it cold. Upwelling is a yearly event caused by the NW high winds. Warmer surface waters are blown into shore and are forced down by the bathymetry causing colder deep water to rise to the top to replace it. One day the water will seem a little colder than usual, the next it’s painfully cold and it stays downright icy until the winds stop. I absolutely made the right decision buying a new wetsuit when I did. I need every ounce of warmth.

For Monday’s session I’d worn my fuzzy hat and mittens to the rendezvous point. Today I’d almost wished I’d worn them in the water. After a few hours my pinkies had given up on me and refused to join the rest of my fingers in cupping my hand to paddle. The wind just added insult to injury. I have no idea how Chris goes without booties. That’s soul beyond soul right there. Brrrrrr.

Buoys and reports had suggested bigger waves, so I took the 9. As soft as these waves wound up being, the 9’4 would have been better. It’s got the float to take on anything and the weight helps with the drop on mushier waves. The 9 did hold a nice line on my last wave in. It’s fast enough to keep out ahead of the wave and as a result I managed to connect the outside wave with two inner breaks and make it all the way to shore. Yay.

Once on land there was a lovely numb footed shuffle back to the car. My hands stayed frozen for a good hour. Brrrrrr.

Surf: 2-4ft, fairly clean. A little bit inconsistent.
Gear: 9ft Stewart

My friend Chris is working on a project up in Marin and with my new flexible work schedule, picking up a dawn patrol was high on the list of great ideas. As it was also the two year mark of me learning to surf, I figured I’d give the early session a go. We met up at 6am, drove over the mountains, then surfed 7ish to 9.

The sun cut through the fog right as we got to the beach. The morning was just beautiful. Waves were small rolling mellow ones and the crowd was friendly. Folks were hooting and hollering, cheering on other surfers when they got a good ride.

I really got to work my new 9ft. I could take off in a steeper spot and got the hang of shuffling it around more fluidly. Man, I got some great long rides in. This board is good staying just in the pocket and picking up speed when needed. The board offers a lot of room to chase on the right wave.

Heading back was the hardest part. I could have stayed out all day if I didn’t have an 11am meeting. Heading up the 1 we met a parade of classic cars coming the other direction. Must have been over two dozen beautiful roadsters cruising the coast, living the dream.

Surf: 1-3ft and inconsistent. Warm water, warm sun.
Gear: My usual Stewart and a 6’3 twin-keel retro fish.

Work was slow and the sun was out so I headed up to Bolinas to meet a few friends. It was small! Teeny tiny little waves rolling in, but man was that sun wonderful.

I caught lots of mellow rides on my longboard, knee paddled around. We all got ride after ride, me on the stewart and Tom and Bonnie on their fish. After a while Tom and I switched boards. There’s a good 3ft difference between our boards, plus his fish is about a third as thick so we joked how I prob wouldn’t even be able to sit on the little thing. I kept trying to line up with the snarling tiger face on the front. Rar! Rar, I sunk the nose. Rar too far back and stalled.

But I did sit on it, and I paddled on it, and I caught a wave, and I stood up!
It was a squirrelly ride, I was all over the place, but I was up! First shortboard ride standing.

I’m pretty proud.

On the drive back through Mt Tam I crossed paths with this coyote, out enjoying the sun a little too.