Tag: bolinas

Surf: 8.9 ft at 13.8 s from the WSW at 253°. Outgoing.

Headed north for a little weekday getaway. There was a torrential downpour pretty much from sunup to sundown Monday that made for an exciting drive up there. The mist and the rain was just beautiful going over Tam. Wow. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that but I was a little busy driving around mudslides and through streams that decided the road was the best place to be.

By Wednesday things had calmed down enough that we thought we’d give it a shot. Chris wound up feeling under the weather so I headed out on my own.

I don’t love when the water is murky, especially up here, but I thought “There’s plenty of people out, it won’t be too bad.” Unfortuantely, all those people paddled in just as I paddled out. Doh! With the rain there was so much sediment I couln’t even see my knees in the water. It was spooky. The waves were breaking a little better futher out, but every time I started to get too far from shore, I thought better of it. Finally I saw another surfer. I paddled over to say hi. It wasn’t another surfer. It was a sea lion who was entirely uninterested in catching waves. Oops.

After a few waves another woman paddled out and we made the most of the funky waves. They would rear up, then back off. Not that unusual for this spot, but great when you can just hop on the next one because there’s no one around already on it!

Post session I found enough silt in my wetsuit to build a sandbar. All this rain brough down plenty of sediment!

Surf: 3.6 ft at 16.7 s from the SW at 218°. Incoming Tide.

Today was diferent story. I had time to go wavehunting and picked a great route to go looking. It was warm, clear, and beautiful out. There were long lulls, but there were waves enough to go around. I surfed till I was sunburnt and my arms were total noodles. Fun fun fun.

Surf: 4.6 ft at 12.1 s from the W at 260°. Incoming.

Headed up to Bolinas for a coworker’s birthday. The weather was amazing. The waves were small, but with the right trimming, there were long rides to be found. I had a lot of fun paddling around and did a little bit of cross stepping. A gal paddled over and asked how I “do that thing where you’re way up on the front.” I told her the back rail had to be really in the wave and that even if it’s not, I just go for it and fall on my face a lot. I’m not sure it’s the most helpful advice, but she was catching waves pretty well so hopefully she’ll be there in no time. A day like this is a great day to practice!

 

Surf: 5.3 ft at 13.8 s from the W at 268°. Low tide.

Whew. Work has been busy. Getting ready for my bro’s wedding has been busy. There are birthdays and professional things and house stuff. It’s a lot going on. I headed north for a few easy waves and some sunshine.

The tide was low (low enough that I had to bail on waves that turned into dry sand) but the short rides were plenty fun.

After a while I opted to bodysurf. Jumping in the waves I stepped on something that was not real happy to be stepped on. It was like a large chicken cutlet. Chris B stepped on it, too. A few minutes later, it swam across Chris’s feet. Amazingly, none of the kids stepped on it. Chris poked around instagram and found this guy:

My buddy berendans ray last night. Havent seen it before. Name it! #fish #fisher #fishing #leopardsharkfishing #rayfishing #marinfishing #bolinasbeach #bolinas #marinanglers #pennreels #ripnlips #peelindrag #shorefishing #shorefisher #saltwaterfishing #saltwater #beach #marin #fishon #smile

A photo posted by Nate Adams (@grizzlyadams8) on Apr 11, 2016 at 10:30pm PDT

Poor Angel Shark probably got hooked the night before, then stepped on by us. I hope things got better for the little creature.

The rest of the day was a mix of beach time, painting time, and other chill out time before it was back to work. I’m pretty sure I’m the only person to walk on the beach in Bolinas in a suit, but I had a meeting to go to. At least it’ll be a good story for all the people who spotted me.

Surf: 5.6 ft at 13.8 s from the WSW at 249°. Low and incoming tide.

I only had a little bit of time today, but I wanted to: get out of town, get a few waves. Sure enough, I got both. The waves up here have been fun, but a little funky the last few times I’ve been up. It’s been a little on the mushy side, but when everything connects, there are some nice long rides in store.

I would have loved to stuck around longer as things were just starting to pick up, but I head to back out for some errands.

Oh! First session taping up my foot with KT tape. About 1/3 of it fell of almost right away, but my foot wasn’t sore, even with the long walk down to the patch and back. I’m hoping this will hold up for my SanO trip in June. It’s a long walk from the campsite down the trails and I want to do my best to keep my feet in good shape.

Surf: 7.2 ft at 16.0 s from the W at 262°. Incoming.

I’ve been pretty stressed out since jury duty. Friday I was pushing through all the busy people downtown and though “uff, I just want to get out of town.” Since I’m slammed at work, the getaway I could afford to take was an morning up in Bolinas and and afternoon at a winery.

The surf was funky. There’s been a lot of wind out at sea so there were double ups and weird mush out. Most of the waves I got were lacking a proper face. Thankfully I managed to share a wave with Chris that had plenty of pep. Not perfect conditions, but all I was really looking for was an open coast, green hills, and a change of scenery.

 
 Surf: 12ft @ 16s from the NW at 314°. Incoming/high tide. Light winds.

We headed north for a few waves today. I was kind of slow to get going this morning so we didn’t get the “right” tide, but we did get some fun waves. Sloshing off the ramp, I headed left instead of the usual right. The tide seemed too high there and, since I haven’t surfed the left side in ages, left side it was!

The left breaking waves was a bit mobbed. I got one fun one and then thought hmm, maybe I’ll try another spot. I wound up on an uncrowded peak that was plenty fun and more on the peppy side that the whomping side. I had a couple really fun ones where the wave started steep, swooped through some sections, then the last long wall I stepped way up to the front to ride it out. I tried to get all the way on the nose and my foot slipped right off. Faceplant!

Surf: 5.3 ft at 13.8 s from the WSW at 256°. Incoming tide. Windy.

I made it back up north despite fighting off a cold. I thought surfing while sniffling could either go well and I get a nice sinus wash, or poorly and I’d be miserable for the rest of the day. Thankfully it was somewhere in the middle. I tried not to overdo it out there (although on a day like today it’s more chasing waves than surfing waves) and snoozed in the afternoon to shake off the rest of feeling lousy.

I did manage to get a good wave or two out there. It was breezy so lefts were really all that were available. It was lumpy, so there was lots of paddling after nothing.

Still, nice to get some fresh air.

Surf: 8.9 ft at 13.8 s from the W at 259°. Outgoing.

Hit Bo on the way back down from my wineapalooza weekend. I knew they swell would be dropping (it was supposed to peak the day before) but hoped for some waves. There was some size out there for sure, along with some lumps and doubling mush. It was pretty exhausting chasing down waves but wow, the ones that worked really worked! Chris got a great swooping right that looked like a blast. It broke his leash, but I think it was worth it.

I surfed and surfed and surfed and surf until I was completely exhausted. Great end to the weekend 😀

Surf: 2.6 ft at 14.8 s from the SSW at 194°. Outgoing tide.

I’m headed up north for a wine-and-fancy-eating weekend with some friends. In the spirit of luxury, I took the morning off and headed to Bolinas. It’s just the beginning of the south swell so there were friendly waves. It was also middle of the day on a Thursday so there weren’t many folks out, either.

I had a blast. My arms were noodles after hours of catching fun peeling waves. It kept getting better, too. A few larger waves would show up, the tide would get a little lower. It was a great afternoon. Heading up to Hog Island for oysters and a picnic wasn’t too shabby either. 😀