Frequent: Surf Reports. Surf Photos. Weather. News.

Whip Lady's House

Friday, October 28, 2005

Reports from Wednesday and Thursday along the Goleta Coast and Friday at Sands.

10 years ago this week: Tim Maddux's pre-dawn surf check at Rincon reveals a lady whipping her outdoor furniture in front of the big long house with lots of glass windows. Tim forever afterwards uses "The Whip Lady's House" as a reference point for the lineup in his reports. Pope calls this house "The Glass House" but sometimes uses the Whip Lady term. Photo courtesy Ken Adelman.

Also, the locally made surf film "The Project" is now for sale on DVD at IV Surf Co. This film premiered in May at IV Theatre and was filmed by Alex Messina and contains tons of IV footage and beyond.

Continuing on with our Bobby Martinez overdose and to answer the slew of reader emails about who Bobby is sponsored by now that he parted with Oakley, here is an article about Bobby signing with Reef, just days before his CWC victory. Expect him on page 2 of your surfer or surfing soon (not page 3). You can also watch a video on Surfline of the final day of Cold Water Classic footage.

Focusing on the East Coast, some sick pits are the subject of these surfing photos in New Jersey earlier this week.
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October Swells

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Some new reports from this weekend. Rincon on Saturday, a very small day before opening day. Mesa on Sunday with swell although in chunky crudy conditions. Sands on Monday in cleaner conditions and yet just not all that. Fortunately for us, Ben Weiss was with lens at Rincon this weekend and captured some great stills of what was somehow tough to capture in person.

A new classified, Jagadeesh is looking for a used longboard at a good price to get his learn on. If you've got something around 9ft and under $250, get your contact on.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel's article on Bobby Martinez in the finals and the contest site's wrapup of the day. Some Yahoo photos of waves in New York from the Wilma influenced N'oreaster.
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Tyler Anderson

Monday, October 24, 2005

Burke informs us we overlooked Tyler Anderson's great placing in the Cold Water Classic this weekend. Tyler, who you may have seen behind the counter at Surf Country in Goleta,made it to the round of 32 where he came in 4th in the same heat Bobby Martinez came in 1st. Tyler had 3 victories in Rounds 3, 4, and 6, and advanced in round 5 by placing second, before losing in that 7th round.
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Bobby Martinez Wins O'Neill Cold Water Classic

At the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, Bobby Martinez and Matt Archbold controlled the tempo in the finals, trading leadership throughout the 35 minute heat. When it came down to the horn though, Bobby's 7.0 and 8.5 waves were enough to propel him to victory, becoming 2005 Champ of the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, and furthuring his seeding for next years WCT and WQS tours. Congratulations go out to our Santa Barbara victor.
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Tale of Two Bobby's

At the O'Neill Cold Water Classic this morning, Bobby Martinez just moments ago advanced to the finals by scoring a perfect 10 on his last wave to win the heat. Matt Archbold came in 2nd in the heat. The finals will place Bobby against Tim Reyes, Cory Lopez and Matt Archbold and should take place pretty soon here.

Santa Barbara's other Bobby, Bobby Morris, came in 2nd in his first heat to proceed to the round of 64 where he came in 4th.
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Dream Session

Friday, October 21, 2005

New reports from last Saturday and Wednesday. To the right is a new reader supplied picture from points north. Below is a another reader submitted writing for your Friday enjoyment:

Dream Session. David Coggins

Perched atop a pale green and sandy brown cliff, I waited silently like a temple priest waits for a promising sign from the gods, as a solid five-foot set came rolling in from the deep waters of the Pacific. I looked up and out across the heart of the Monterey Bay while the sky draped itself in a faint alabaster hue. The sun god was burning up the sky across the Midwest on toward the West Coast and sleepy California. The water’s surface was smooth as glassy. It was a solemn, holy place that wouldn’t have disturbed an otter’s slumber or a sea cucumber’s repose. Tranquility reigned within the moment, stirred only by the sound of the breaking surf. It was the end of February, and wave after wave nonchalantly passed over the few predawn surfers as they bowed their heads under the water in supplication to this holy place.

The sky was clear, the air brisk and cold. A feathery brush stroke of orange floated across the eastern sky, and I imagined Ra, the sun god, as he charged the Sierra Nevada, and marched across the San Joaquin Valley with his golden legions pressed up against the coastal gates, nearly come to burst forth onto the shore in flame and glory.

This was “Dawn Patrol.” I’d come here to the water’s edge, like all the surfers before me, and all the surfers that would follow, to check the swell, to see if it was worth going out, to breathe the tranquil essence of the coastal morning, to meditate with the creator, and to seek out the dream. I’d come before dawn to avoid the crowds, to get the first sunlit waves of the day and beat the traffic home before work.

I glanced left and down the beach along the cliffs to a local temple of sand, sea, and surf, while the sun rolled up to the rim of the coastal range, and strokes of brilliant red orange jumped up across the sky. My feet retraced the pilgrims’ path along the cliff’s edge past the green and white stilt house that jutted out over the rocks and water, past the stairs at 38th Avenue, past the tiny pink and white bungalow that sits precariously on the edge of the cliff, teetering above the little teacup shaped beach below.

Before long, I stood at the top of the stairs overlooking my morning temple of meditation, board tucked under my right arm like a supplicant’s prayer book, as the sun peaked over the eastern rim of the coastal range, and a golden brilliance splashed across the sky and water. My second skin reflected the radiance of the moment; in sky blue, yellow trimmed wetsuit, I felt as a dawn god come from the Elysian Fields to grace the shore in blessed peace.

I stepped out into the fields of gold, and down to the small beach as a high priest of the ancients come to offer up the morning sacrifice, to prostrate myself before the god of creation, and lay down some righteous turns and cut-backs across the face of the water. It was an odd sensation that passed through me this morning, as if the hand of god reached down and laid the mantle of dreams across my shoulders, and gifted me the desire of my heart.

Blinded by the sun as it rose above the eastern mountaintops, I felt as Moses when he came face to face with the glory of his god. I drank from the jubilant cup and breathed the joy of the pilgrim’s passage. I had journeyed long through the wilderness, but now I reached my goal and the shores of heaven, to bask in the glory and receive the gift. I knew that I had found the dream that all surfers dream, a session so pure as to transform mortal flesh for a brief time into that which is holy and eternal. I turned toward shore at once and joined with the wave, and stood upon the deck of my board as one who accepts his birth right as a pure and immortal being. I glowed from the reflected light of creation, and moved in righteous rhythm with the pulse of the vibrant waters on the blade of a dream.

Transformed by the brilliant gold of shimmering light that burst forth from the surface of the water, I rode the face of the wave like a godly charioteer come from the fields of gold across the morning sky to rest in the shoals by the water’s edge, to gather strength for another run through the plane of sky and water.

It was like that and more, as all creation celebrated itself in harmony and perfection and a dream session passed over from the halls of Elysium to the mortal shores of California. I was transformed by the perfection of a moment, by something pure and holy. It happened that I rode these golden waves for a brief time as the sun made its way higher into the morning sky, and eventually I passed from the immortal shores of heavenly dreams back to the cliffs near Capitola, and the surf spot known to all as “The Hook.”
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Bombing of Bird Island

Friday, October 14, 2005

New reports from Thursday at Sands and a live in the water account of the Bombing of Bird Island on Friday.

The North Pacific is alive and well. Surfers in Santa Barbara County rejoice. Eyes turn to Northern Buoys once again, buoys alive with 24ft heights and 14 second periods. It is our turn to shine. Pointbreaks that were abandoned all summer in favor of peaky beachbreaks will once again rise up and claim their rightfull throne.

A-Frame Surf Shop in Carpinteria now has the Lost "Aviso" surfboards in stock. These boards are 100% carbon fibre, with a completely hollow core. Retailing for somewhere near $1100 and made in the USA, they should be able to withstand a lot of trauma. If you ask nicely the guys at A-Frame might let you demo a board.

I wrote a review on Dr. John McCaffery, an Ear Nose and Throat doctor in Goleta. The small signs I've mentioned in reports in the last 6 weeks all led up to a raging sinus infection that is now under treatment thanks to the good doc.

Another fine Jalama Rd. rental offering.
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Sinus Clogging Sessions

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Some new surf reports from this weekend: Friday at Sands, Saturday at Rincon, Sunday in Ventura County, and Monday on the Mesa. The highlight of those sessions was the sinus clogging, key dis-placing, sandbar crashing, localism fearing session in VC.

Trying to consolidate the product reviews (or attempt at reviews), and we've made a new section called "Surfing Product Reviews" for all the stuff we try. Our first attempt is to describe the Go Pro Hero Camera.

Emmy has photos up from the C-Street Longboard Contest and if you see yourself she'll set you up with the high resolution shot for free.

Blue Edge Magazine has updated their site to include their print content.
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Bobby Martinez officially makes WCT

Friday, October 07, 2005

Some reports from chasing windswell on Wednesday and Thursday.

We knew Bobby Martinez was in 4th place in the WQS, but didn't know the math worked out guaranteeing him a spot on the WCT next year until reading the NSSA interview with him. Congratulations Bobby and we'll be following you in '06.
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Some New Reports

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

New reports from last Wednesday and Friday, this weekend Saturday and Sunday along the Central Coast, and a session yesterday Tuesday at Sands.
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Fall Wetsuits In

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Surf Country in Goleta finally got their delivery of new fullsuits in stock for the coming winter. Beach House in Santa Barbara already received their new stock many weeks ago. Coming soon is the 2005 Wetsuit guide update as we test out Rip Curl's newest offering.

Similiar to Craigslist, Surfinglist is a free service hoping to connect classified users in a local and worldwide market.

Dubock has tons of images from the last two NSSA contests in Pismo and Ventura and reports our local kids are doing well. Image: Dubock.

Surf Aid International is hosting the Wave of Compassion Film Tour this Saturday the 8th of October at the Marjorie Luke Theatre at SBJHS. 7:00 and 9:00 showings, no word on cost. They will show a double feature of Waves of Compassion followed by September Sessions (it's 3rd showing at MLT this year).
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Rag-Dolled By A Wave

Saturday, October 01, 2005

It's not often we here at Santa Barbara Surfing wax poetically, but here is a reader submitted poem:

Rag-Dolled By A Wave
excerpted from "Till the Dreaming's Done" by Andrew Harley

These wind-capped waves are bone-crushing monsters,
And I'm pickin' up bad vibrations.
With white plumes of spray all over the place,
There are some serious limitations.

In the one brief moment that I turn,
With my back facing towards the beating sun;
I faintly hear someone shout out to me,
"Hey now, watch out, run!"

As I spin around to see what I'm in for,
I'm stuck standing there all alone;
At the mercy of the ocean I now find myself,
Smack in the middle of impact zone.

A gargantuan, dark green wall of water,
That in a way, was somewhat unforeseen;
Has now swallowed me up inside of it,
And it's like being in a washing machine.

Not a single sense of direction do I have?
Tossing and tumbling in the salty black;
Dragging the bottom of the coarse ocean floor,
It feels like sandpaper's being rubbed down my back.

Hurling me all the way inland,
A circle of beach bunnies has witnessed the whole thing.
Sitting on some crushed coral and sea foam,
The saltwater's made my clouded eyes sting.

Getting up now, I'm just a little bit embarrassed,
As wet sand falls off me in chunks;
Very tactfully, I pick the tiny shards of shells,
Out of my crumpled up baggie trunks.

As my bright board slithers down the shore
It's a bummer that I have to go chase it again.
Next time though, I shall shoot the pier,
And hopefully be able to Hang Ten?

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Santa Barbara Surfing. Created by Tim Maddux. Continued by Pope.