Left Out at the Groin

 Today I headed out to the Groin in Bolinas California with a couple of buddies.  In the sake of confidentiality, lets call them the “Peruvian” and the “Brazilian”.  I’ve been surfing with the Peruvian for a about a month now.  He is a stand up guy, high spirited, and a great surfer for only being at it for only 10 months.  The Brazilian is a young, free spirited surfer who learned surfing on a 6’4 board on the beaches of Rio at the age of 6.

The Groin is a interesting place to surf as the Ocean’s waves pour into a small pond during the high tide.  This pond fills the marsh lands that surround Bolinas and supplies an abundant community of wild life with salty/fresh water which it depends on for food, mating and reproducing.

The other type of wild life, the citizens of Bolinas, are of their own thing.  Bolinas is a old hippie town full of independent and free thinking dwellers.  They are open minded, jolly and what the Brazilian defines as plain “Happy”.  Bolina’s peeps are notorious for removing street signs that lead tourist into their little universe.  But yet, they are so welcoming.  They have a great little beach that they share with the public.  All they ask is to pack out your stuff (trash), not to make an ashtray of their beach and clean up after your dogs.  Unlike Santa Cruz, the local surfers are very friendly and always smile or say hi as they paddle or woosh past you.  To say the least, I love this beach and am making it my home beach from now on.

The waves on this day were very long and playful. I characterize beaches this way.  Some beaches are irritable, some are playful, some are chill and some are just all out grumpy.  But as it’s people, the Bolinas Beach smiles at it’s patrons, welcomes them with it’s arms wide open for new playmates.

The one thing that I worried about was the “left”.  The Groin has mostly lefts, which means the wave breaks in a way that you have to ride it left for a longer more memorable ride.  Since my stance on the board is left foot forward, I am much more comfortable going right.  I also been going right all week at Santa Cruz and have gotten so use to this degree that I have tried to all out avoid lefts.  I was having a lot of problems.  I was leaning my body to the left and aiming the board too far left on take off.  Both overcompensations lead me to either go straight or fall on my back.

The Brazilian offered me the best tip of the week.  He said that my body will follow my eyes.  Instead of trying to force the matter by will, either look to the left or the right of the wall and the board will follow.  Every time I caught a wave, he yelled “LOOK AT THE WALL”.  And BAM!  Instantly I was flying left with no problem.  Issue resolved.

My wave catching ability has also vastly improved.  Instead of cuffing my fingers and emphasizing my hands for speed, I let my fingers relax and I stick my entire arm underwater, using my whole arm as a propeller.  This has saved my triceps.  Less burn and more turn!
We started out surfing around three-thirty and end up not leaving until eight-thirty in the afternoon.  The water was so smooth and glossy that around seven-thirty (with plenty of sunlight) the entire ocean looked like an impressionist painting.  It was beautiful.  We had a great time, encouraging each other as we paddled for waves, and fist bumps for great rides.  It was like our own little party.  It was like we were ten again just having fun, splashing around the beach! (Unlike what we try to be which is the cool and collect surfer type).  It was great to surf with good people.  And I think the beach had fun with us as well.