SURF: 3-4ft mellow waves. Light to VERY strong offshore winds. A little choppy with the wind but mostly clean.
I drove Josh and his friend Andre up to Bolinas. The WNW and NW swells hitting the other breaks made most spots anywhere near SF pretty big and junky but Bolinas was working nicely.
The offshores were blowing so hard that more than once my board caught a good gust and flipped over. Taking off on some waves the spray was so heavy I was taking off completely blind. Luckily (or unluckily depending how you see it) most waves I caught blind rejected me. The wind would push me back so I couldn’t drop down let alone complete a bottom turn. Wow was it blowing. I had to dash to the nose a few times trying to keep the board moving with the wave. I’m very glad I had my hood and my gloves. I was roasty toasty paddling even with the wind.
Even with the crazy gusts, I did manage to get in many many fun rides. Poor Andre though, with the low tide he didn’t have whitewater to practice on. It was his first day out and we didn’t manage to get him on anything. Josh and I can survive on stoke alone, but a good wave really makes the day newbie or not. 🙂
We spent about 3 1/2-4 hours in the water. I usually put in around 2. I think this session was the longest I’ve been in the water straight since my surf class. Maui may have been longer, it’s hard to tell how long you’ve been out without the shivering, ha!