Santa Barbara Surfing
Nick Presniakov in Surfing
Saturday, May 28, 2005
If you looked carefully at the 6pt font on page 156 of Surfing Magazine's April issue, you'll notice that the full page sequence of Joe Curren at Rincon was shot by local surf photographer Nick Presniakov. It's been archived here, just click on the picture below to read the story, in 8pt font.
link to this
Memorial Day Weekend
Friday, May 27, 2005
Memorial Day Weekend:
Bobby Martinez's "magic board" with signatures by Tom and Joe Currren is on ebay. Who knows what charity event these guys gave this board away for and how it got on ebay.
link to this
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Short report from Wednesday.
A Doyle for $225 is for sale in the classifieds. Update: SOLD.
link to this
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Surf report from Monday.
Surfing magazine is carrying the writing of Christian Beamish, a Navy Seabee who was based at Hueneme in what sounds like the 80's. Installment 1 and Installment 2 are now up.
link to this
Monday, May 23, 2005
A freak NW groundswell with a lot of west in it hit our shores in time for a sunny warm weekend. Four reports from this weekend start with a pre-dawn Rincon session on Friday followed by a happy hour session on Friday evening. Saturday was the first time out in the spring suit followed by Sunday the first session in trunks.
This Saturday, May 28th at 8:00pm in Isla Vista Theater is the premire of "The Project", the next film by Alex Messina, co-creator of Vinyl.
Told from the perspective of four students, one born and raised in Santa Barbara and one from Jacksonville Florida, the film is about surfing in our little college town and how it is a unique surfing experience. Its sort of half-documentary half-traditional surf movie and it was a ton of work to put it together. It features top members of the nationally ranked UCSB surf team as well as appearances by Rob Machado, Tom Curren, Killian Garlan and others.
link to this
Thursday, May 19, 2005
All of the reports from May are now done. Starting off we have The Engagment Session on May 1st, followed by the first day on the New Fish on May 2nd, and other reports from the 3rd, 11th, 14th, and three reports from this week the 17th, 18th, and today the 19th.
TD-1E turned into Tropical Storm Adrian and just got upgraded to Hurricane Adrian before making landfall in El Salvador. This will be the first ever Pacific Hurricane to hit El Salvador, and the hurricane should redevelop after it crosses Central America and enters the Gulf. Predictions are for it to not regain Hurricane strength once in the Atlantic. Apparently if it maintains tropical cyclone strength the whole time it crosses Central America it will emerge into the Atlantic as Adrian, but if it loses tropical cyclone strength over land it will lose the name Adrian, and thus will be re-named to Arlene if it redevelops in the Atlantic.
The California Buoy went adrift yesterday and the data from it is spotty but it was supposed to see some 14 second energy on it today.
link to this
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
The East Pacific's Hurricane Season officially started Sunday, May 15th and the NHC predicts a below average hurricane season for the West Coast and an above average hurricane season again for the east coast. The first tropical depression TD-1E formed just two days after the start of the season bringing potential torrential rains to El Salvador.
link to this
Monday, May 16, 2005
Goleta beachbreak king, "Yellow Board Bobby" as pope likes to call him, has a write-up in the South Coast Beacon. In case the link goes away, it is mirrored here:
"Bobby Morris surfing on top of the world
Goleta native enjoys wearing wetsuit to work
BY KAREN LEE STEVENS
BEACON CONTRIBUTOR
The moment I sat down to talk with surfer Bobby Morris, the lyrics to the 1963 Beach Boys song, “Catch A Wave (and You’re Sitting On Top of the World),” popped into my head. The song is apropos as this Santa Barbaran is indeed living the life of his dreams.
In 2004, Morris was ranked the No. 1 Amateur Surfer by the United States Surfing Federation and has also had the opportunity to compete at a multitude of exotic surf spots around the world — courtesy of one of his sponsors, LX Eyewear (formerly known as Legend Sunglasses).
The third of five children born to Bob and Sherree Morris of Goleta, Bobby grew up surfing the waves at Haskell’s and Goleta beaches.
“I started surfing when I was 11 years old,” Morris recalled. “I grew up surfing by myself — no one taught me. I just fell in love with it.”
An individualist with a drive to succeed, Morris never lets a little thing like inclement weather deter him from the sport he loves.
“I was always the kid who was out there just nonstop surfing. I didn’t care if it was windy or rainy,” he said. “No matter what the weather is like, I’m out there.”
Morris’ big break came when a rep from LX Eyewear discovered him at Campus Point, a popular surf spot near UCSB. Chris Willingham was attending a surf contest when he happened to strike up a conversation with Morris that day.
“I started talking to Chris, not knowing who he was,” Morris said. “I told him I didn’t have enough cash to enter the contest, and he said he’d get me in.”
Morris ended up winning the contest. Faster than you could say “Boogie Board,” he found himself regularly traveling to locales as far-flung as Florida, Hawaii, Australia, Costa Rica, Portugal and Spain for surf competitions. When he’s not shredding the waves, Morris is honing his craft as a wildlife photographer. He’s captured an amazing array of creatures on film, including the Australian crocodile.
This self-described “mellow” 22-year-old says he doesn’t have plans to attend college in the foreseeable future.
“I see surfing as a career,” he said. “Everyone says I’m doing really well and I just want to keep doing better. I can always improve.”
Oh, and ladies, Bobby is also single … and searching.
When he isn’t on tour, Bobby Morris can be found hanging out at his parents’ restaurant, The Cantina, in Isla Vista.
link to this
Surfer Magazine entered the fray of free online surf reports with WaveWatch. The local surf report is similiar to Surfline's although it is hard to tell how focused it is, and if it is checked against real conditions. They have an interactive camera at C-Street from the Derby club (as opposed to the Holiday Inn) that is a wreck to navigate, yet has a still capture option that is the best ever. The local tips and local knowledge sections for Santa Barbara provides a mixture of information and dis-information and respectfully do not name names. Perhaps the best part is the ability to switch between swell size, period, "surf", in the graphics window.
link to this
Friday, May 13, 2005
The Pentagon laregly spared California bases from closure and re-alignement today. The Point Mugu/Port Hueneme base is expected to lose close to 1500 jobs according to the Ventura Star Free Press. Vandenberg Air Force Base is expected to gain some jobs from the re-alignment. The LA Times has the full story and the list of effected bases.
Naval Base Ventura County is scheduled to lose 2,149 civilian jobs and 244 military jobs through realignment. It will gain 854 civilian jobs and 5 military jobs for a net loss of 1,534 jobs.
The base is the largest employer in Ventura County with more than 18,000 civilian and military jobs.
link to this
The base is the largest employer in Ventura County with more than 18,000 civilian and military jobs.
