Santa Barbara Surfing
Local Surf / Reports, Photos, Weather, News
November 30, 2007 Week in Review
Friday, November 30, 2007
Surf Sessions and Reports
Thursday, Nov 23. Thanksgiving session with Unkle, Steve, and Little Bear along the PCH. Knee to thigh high waves just after high tide. Small, but you have to keep these traditions going.
Friday, Nov 24. Low tide along the PCH with Steve and Little Bear. Thigh high slow mushburgers with 40 or so surfers of all types.
Wednesday, Nov 28. Lunch session at Deveraux with Little Bear and Wild Bill. On the longboards it was perfect little mini waves held up by some light offshore/sideshore winds. Knee to Waist high with a near empty lineup. Long rides for all.
Thursday, Nov 29. Dawn Patrol at Sands with Greggory. Inconsistent and thigh to waist high.
Friday, Nov 30. Dawn Patrol at Sands with Greggory + Kyler. Waist high and clean yet SE wind picking up towards the end. Finally found out those shorebirds that have been hanging out on the run down to Sands are Willets.
Hyped Up Hanukkah Swell
It's no secret some energy is projected to come our way next week when your non surfing co-workers ask about it. There is no surer way to torpedo a forecasted swell than to name it before it even hits the 48 hour buoys. On that note we are proud to dub this the Hanukkah Swell which is cool because we've never named a swell for this holiday before. For future historical reference, here are both the CDIP and Stormsurf prediction charts for next week. Divide these predictions by four, triple the lineup, throw some South wind in there, and your expectations will be in line.
Surfline Widgets
Our loathing for Surfline couldn't' be greater lately, but they have introduced some cool tools for those who like a customized web experience. At surfline.com/widgets you can make a custom forecast, report, or cam widget to add to your homepage, webpage, or desktop. If any reader out there develops a locally applicable (yet sensitively minded) Widget that you want to have published, we could provide some space for it here.
link to this
News Near to Campus
Monday, November 19, 2007
Goleta beat photographer Robert Bernstein was able to capture the scene of Santa Barbara County firefighters rescuing a surfer on Friday at Sands/Deveraux.
A mile or so to the East and the following day, a sorority was holding a surf contest at Campus Point.
link to this
November 16, 2007 Week In Review
Friday, November 16, 2007
Santa Barbara Week In Surf
This was a very utility class, get-er-done week in surf in Santa Barbara. No big ground swells, no spotty yet rewarding windswells, just consistently rideable waves that could be had at the right tides. With days ranging from thigh high to shoulder high, there was something rideable. Sadly, we weren't very inventive with our sessions as time and tide permitted only Sands sessions. Our experiences:
- Sunday, Nov 11th: Veterans Day session at Sands with The Major, Greggory and Co. Perhaps bigger than an uber-flat Saturday, but still small. The crew made the most of West peak past The Rock.
- Monday, Nov 12th: Lunch. Sands. Fish. Greggory. Thigh to waist.
- Tuesday, Nov 13th: Dawn Patrol. Sands. Fish. Greggory. Waist High.
- Wednesday, Nov 14th. Dawn Patrol. Sands. Fish. Greggory. Waist to Chest. Water Celebrities: John and Callie "Soul" Bowdish.
- Friday, Nov 16th. Dawn Patrol. Sands. Fish. Greggory. Chest to Shoulder.
It's not sounding promising for a Thanksgiving Swell this year. It seems we missed a strong Halloween Swell this year also and we certainly didn't have a Veterans Day Swell.
Glass Love: Contemporary Art and Surf
The Contemporary Arts Forum is having a surfing and art exhibition which starts this Saturday and goes for 2 months.
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 17, 2007, 6-8PM, FREE
Surf Forecast: Pure Glassy Conditions! Just as clean, glassy waves allow surfers the perfect conditions to develop their own stylistic nuances, this November the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF) considers how contemporary artists utilize surf imagery and its metaphors to develop their own aesthetic impulses.
On view from November 17, 2007—January 13, 2008, Glass Love: Contemporary Art and Surf examines how and why a growing group of younger artists reference not only the visual language but also the philosophy and lifestyle of surfing in their artistic practice. No longer relegated to a few beach communities, surf culture has captivated international audiences, producing a significant body of scholarship and documentation about the sport, its history and genesis, and the philosophies of its participants. Artists in this exhibition—Chris Ballantyne, Amy Bird, Libby Black, Brian Calvin, Cassandra C. Jones, Catherine Opie, Aaron Parazette, Bruno Peinado, and Joni Sternbach—reference the sustained relationship of surfing and art to explore themes of individuality, mediation and Zen philosophy, and popular culture.
Contemporary Arts Forum
653 Paseo Nuevo
Santa Barbara
J7 Surfboards
The Independent has a good article on Jason Feist and J7 Surfboards starting a surf shop in downtown Santa Barbara. Let's hope a small local surf shop like this can thrive.
Boarding House Mentors
Boarding House Mentors is sending mentors with two mentees to Hawaii to "experience Aloha on Oahu during the O'Neill Triple Crown of Surfing event."
Mentors: Jeremy Carroll and Albert Frigone
Mentees: Floyd Atkins and Esteban Pineda*
Documentarian: Josh Grigsby
BHM's mission: We introduce at-risk youth to the exhilaration of surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding in order to broaden their life experience and create positive social change. Since our first season in 2003, BHM has passed the stoke (the pure joy) of board-riding to over 2000 kids. The ultimate goal of this trip is to expose the kids to the contagious Aloha Spirit and Culture, which honor tradition, respect, sharing, and love. In turn, the kids will then carry back that spirit to their own communities.
All Donations Are Tax Deductible: BHM / Scholarship Fund
link to this
Surf Forecast: Pure Glassy Conditions! Just as clean, glassy waves allow surfers the perfect conditions to develop their own stylistic nuances, this November the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF) considers how contemporary artists utilize surf imagery and its metaphors to develop their own aesthetic impulses.
On view from November 17, 2007—January 13, 2008, Glass Love: Contemporary Art and Surf examines how and why a growing group of younger artists reference not only the visual language but also the philosophy and lifestyle of surfing in their artistic practice. No longer relegated to a few beach communities, surf culture has captivated international audiences, producing a significant body of scholarship and documentation about the sport, its history and genesis, and the philosophies of its participants. Artists in this exhibition—Chris Ballantyne, Amy Bird, Libby Black, Brian Calvin, Cassandra C. Jones, Catherine Opie, Aaron Parazette, Bruno Peinado, and Joni Sternbach—reference the sustained relationship of surfing and art to explore themes of individuality, mediation and Zen philosophy, and popular culture.
Contemporary Arts Forum
653 Paseo Nuevo
Santa Barbara
All Donations Are Tax Deductible: BHM / Scholarship Fund
NSSA College: UCSB Wins First Event
Thursday, November 15, 2007
We're trying to get on top of the local NSSA scene and we'll start with college as Hannah Perry has an article in today's Daily Nexus about UCSB's victory at Black's Beach. Some clips from Hannah's article:
Top shortboarders for UCSB were Charlie McMahon and Mike “Jacuzzi” Poole, who each made it to the semifinals. Corey Hartwyk made it all the way to the semifinals of the men’s longboard division, while stylized Woody Robinson had a shocker of a loss in the first round. Lipoa Richards-Kahaleuahi won every heat in the women’s division, gaining many points for the team, until her final, during which she could not catch a wave and placed sixth.
There also an article on the NSSA Site, and here are the top UCSB standings:
NSSA SW College Team: UCSB In First
NSSA SW College Men: Charles McMahon In 7th
NSSA SW College Women: Lipoa Richards-Kahaleuahi In 5th
NSSA SW Longboard: Corey Hartwyk In 10th
The NSSA College schedule is available here, the next event is Dec 8-9 in San Diego. We don't have a handle on all the surfers on the UCSB surf team, so any tips are appreciated as we try to know enough to comment on the team's year. Next up we'll be getting a handle on this year's high school NSSA competitions.
link to this
November 9, 2007 Week In Review
Friday, November 09, 2007
After last week had some solid surfing days in town because of a few small to medium sized NW swells, this week the North Pacific totally shut down on us, giving us wave heights on the Harvest Buoy around 2 feet all week. This of course was offset by a sizable South swell, checking in around 4 feet with 20 second periods. It was, however, agonizing to have to revert back to "summertime" mode of driving for waves. We were getting reports on where the waves stopped to the South of us and where they started again to the North of us, but after settling into the notion of scoring NW swells in town as our season starts up, we weren't on board for the hunt. Now it appears the South swell has even deserted us, leaving our eyes on 24 and 48 hour buoys.
Freestyle Digital Audio Player Review
A long time ago we 
had the opportunity to try out the Freestyle Audio Player for a review. We started out which such focus but in the end we ran out of steam so we never released the review. However on this flat day, we are happy to present to the SBS readers, The Freestyle Digital Audio Player Review.
Original Skateboards
Original Skateboards has put together a pretty soul skateboard video to check out on a day where the Harvest Bouy reads 1.3ft.
link to this
Election & Coal Oil Point Tour
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
City Election Day
It comes as a surprise to many that today is an election day in Santa Barbara. There are 3 City Council seats to fill and Measure A (which in itself is a vote on whether to continue the off-year local elections) to decide on. Check it all out at the Counties website or Smart Voter.
Coal Oil Point Tour
This is from the folks at Coal Oil Point who guard the Snowy Plovers and do restoration:
Enjoy a tour of Coal Oil Point Reserve, a nature preserve owned by UCSB. Trained tour leaders will take you on a walk through a few of the Reserve's ecosystems: from sandy beach to the Devereux Slough to a restored coastal dune system. Learn about the Reserve's current restoration projects and its cultural and geologic history while identifying rare and endangered species-such as White Tailed Kite, Ventura Marsh Milkvetch, and the Wandering Skipper butterfly-that make their home at Coal Oil Point.
Tours occur monthly on the first or second Saturday from 9am – 11am and the third Sunday from 3pm – 5pm. Tours for school, community or department groups are available by appointment. Tours are free and open to the public. Registration for tours is required. Please contact Nicole Cerra at (805) 284-8579 or ncerra@gmail.com to register.
link to this
Tours occur monthly on the first or second Saturday from 9am – 11am and the third Sunday from 3pm – 5pm. Tours for school, community or department groups are available by appointment. Tours are free and open to the public. Registration for tours is required. Please contact Nicole Cerra at (805) 284-8579 or ncerra@gmail.com to register.
