Santa Barbara Surfing

Local Surf News May 7, 2008

2008-05-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Some Mostly Local Surf News Bits

Some sad news in the death of surfer John Wagner at Santa Cruz Island (gallery)
Gerry Lopez speaks at UCSB
Greg Huglin quoted in Miramar story
Frank Curren places in NSSA SW Open contest
Daily Nexus column on enjoying each session
Rincon sewer issue still in the news with voter fraud alleged
Lake Tahoe was surfable
California Surfing website

4th Annual Brandon Yates Memorial Contest

Its time again to honor our friend Brandon with the 4th Annual Brandon Yates Memorial Surf Benefit. This years format will feature a regular contest format with divisions for Groms, Juniors, Mens, a Pro-Am and a team event. The Pro-Am is 4 man heats and the purse has been kick started by Surf One with First Place purse guaranteed with at least $500.00. Other individual events are 6 man heats and the team event is limited to 6, 6 person teams. Team event scores are based on surfing abilities as well as fun for all tasks. The 4th annual Brandon Yates Memorial. Sunday, June 4th at Emma Wood State Beach. Entry forms will be hitting your local surf shops by this weekend.

Local Results From Lowers Contest

SB County surfers could not make it past Round 5 in the 6 Star Lowers Pro but it seemed like a good showing overall. The final results of locals:

Cory Arrambide knocked out in Round 5
Tyler Anderson knocked out in Round 5

Colin Schildhauer knocked out in Round 3
Bobby Morris knocked out in Round 3
Peter Mussio knocked out in Round 3

Adam Lambert knocked out in Rd 2

Tyler Anderson: Last Local Standing at Lowers

2008-05-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

Goleta Surfing
Tom keeps up the heat with some photos of April Windswell. Good to see that the scrappy can still get some action if they are diligent.

Locals at Lowers Pro
Round 3 was tough on Santa Barbara County surfers, with Peter Mussio of Lompoc, Bobby Morris of Goleta, and Colin Schildhauer of Goleta all getting knocked out. In Round 4 we had only Goleta surfer Tyler Anderson and Ventura surfer Cory Arrambide, who both advanced. However Cory lost in Round 4 and Tyler was due to surf on Friday.

Round 3 Heats
Cory Arrambide placed 1st to advance
Colin Schildhauer placed 4th and knocked out
Bobby Morris placed 3rd and knocked out
Peter Mussio placed 3rd and knocked out

Round 4 Heats
Cory Arrambide placed 2nd to advance
Tyler Anderson placed 1st to advance

Round 5 Heats
Cory Arrambide placed 3rd and knocked out
Tyler Anderson due to surf

Previous surfers knocked out:
Adam Lambert knocked out in Rd 2

Gerry Lopez at UCSB May 6th
Gerry Lopez will be speaking at UCSB with an intro by Patagonian Yvon Choinard. This all takes place Tuesday, May 6 at UCSB Campbell Hall at 8 pm. Tickets are $10 general admission & $8 for UCSB students/youth 18 & under. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling the Arts & Lectures Ticket Office (893-3535) or Order Online.

Entire books could be written about Gerry Lopez. Suffice it to say Gerry made his surfing reputation at Pipeline, riding it like nobody else before him, or since. He was among a crew of Indonesian adventure pioneers who first surfed Garajagan, or �G-Land�, long considered one of the best lefts in the world. Lopez starred as himself in the surf-cult classic film �Big Wednesday�, and was noted as �shaper of the year� in Surfing Magazine�s annual surfboard design issue, 2003. Gerry Lopez is as charismatic, intelligent and intuitive on land as he is in the waves. He�ll be talking about and presenting images from his just released book �Surf Is Where You Find It�. Don�t miss this extraordinary special event. Introduction by Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia�s distinguished founder.

Grover Anderson at Albertsons May 3rd
Isla Vista musician Grover Anderson will be playing in the Albertson's parking lot (sort of like U2) in Goleta on May 3rd. It is a battle of the bands called "Will Play For Food" featuring Grover, The VelTexans, and Hero & the Victor. The event takes place from 2-5pm so you have plenty of time to pick up some groceries in between sets.

Local Surfers Update

2008-04-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Bobby Martinez Leaves Channel Islands
Has the attrition already began at Channel Islands surfboards after the Burton buyout? One could think that after Bobby Martinez left CI to surf for DHD Surfboards. This news became official on April 9th. Bobby wasn't surfing his CI boards at the Bells Beach contest and his name is long gone form the CI team riders page. Other surfers of note riding DHD is current World Champion Mick Fanning.

Locals at Lowers Pro
The 6 star WQS event at Lowers is going on now, with a lot of Santa Barbara County talent still in the running. Here is the current breakdown with Round 3 just starting.

Round 1 Heats
Peter Mussio placed 1st to advance
Colin Schildhauer placed 2nd to advance
Adam Lambert placed 2nd to advance

Round 2 Heats
Peter Mussio placed 2nd to advance
Colin Schildhauer placed 1st to advance
Adam Lambert placed 4th to get knocked out
Bobby Morris placed 1st to advance

Round 3 Heats
Cory Arrambide: Surfs in Round 3
Colin Schildhauer
Bobby Morris
Peter Mussio

Round 4 Heats
Tyler Anderson: surfs in Round 4

SBHS at ISF State Championships
JP has a good rundown on the Dons surfing at ISF States. In summary the boys longboard placed 2nd, girls shortboard and longboard placed 3rd. This is a great showing for a Santa Barbara County team to go down to the ultra competitive SoCal region and score well. Here is the rundown on the surfers, big props to them:

Boys' Longboard: Shane Orr, Gabe Biancone and Willy Radis

Girls' Longboard: Chelsea Zaniboni, Glennie Rodgers and Elle Iverson

Girls' Shortboard: Cory Radis, Glennie Rodgers and Chelsea Zaniboni

Boys' Shortboard: Shane Orr, Gabe Biancone, Tristan Cronshaw, Emmery Hickenbockum, Antoine Allain, John Outwater, Bryce Lupolli, Willy Radis and Christian Soulages

Body Board: Tristan Cronshaw, Austin "Gibby" Gibson and Ryan Cook

Local Surf News: NSSA, Earth Day, Sand

2008-04-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Note: Santa Barbara Surfing will be traveling to warmer waters next week and won't be back and updating until April 29th.

Your Local Sand Update
This is pope checking in at 9am for your sand update sponsored by Santa Barbara Surfing. Up in Goleta at Campus Point the sand has come back in record time, burying the slippery bedrock and cobbles. It is now possible to walk to the point on sand and a little bar has formed straight out to attract the wide swingers. Deveruax has also instantly added a ton of sand as well as around the corner at Sands. Sands still has some ways to go to offer A Frames, but it is starting the foundation. After the big Feb 25 swell and devil winds that stirred up havoc in late March/early April these beaches were devoid of sand. Further down the coast Rincon still has a stable of cobblestones lining the point to setup some epic long knee to waist high rides. However this all may change as there was a dude down there on Sunday loading up as many cobbles as he could into his truck for home improvement projects. How long until we declare the cobblestones at Rincon Endangered Species and rally to protect them from reckless poachers?

One Winter Story
One Winter Story shows tonight (we hear 6:00 or 6:30) at the Marjorie Luke Theater for $12. The film follows Sarah Gerhardt and her surfing at Mavericks. The Independent has a review of the film, and we're told this is an inspirational film good to bring the groms to. Also on the subject of film reviews, The Nexus has a review of the film Bra Boys that opened last Friday.

Earth Day Beach Cleanups
Surfrider is sponsoring some beach cleanups this Saturday from 10am to noon.

East Beach: Meet at the entrance to Stearn�s Wharf. For more information call Santa Barbara City Creeks, 897-2658.

West Beach: Meet at the west end of the beach closest to the harbor parking lot just off the bike path. For more information call Channelkeeper at 563-3377.

Ledbetter, Miramar, or Hendry�s Beach: For more information, call SB Surfrider at 245-9930. gretchen@eco-errands.com

Isla Vista Beach (Camino Majorica and Del Playa) Contact UCSB Coastal Fund coastalfund@gmail.com

E. Storke Wetland: Meet at the parking lot north of the Storke soccer fields. For more information, please call Project Clean Water at 568-3546.

Devereux Slough: Meet where Devereux Creek crosses under Phelps Road in Goleta. For more information, please call Project Clean Water at 568-3546.

NSSA and ISF Update
ISF High School States is being held in Oceanside this weekend. Of the 24 high schools competing, SBHS is the #1 seed and gets a first round bye.

In the NSSA we've got the list of 2008 champions for Gold Coast Explorer and Northwest Open. We also have the results of local surfers from two weekends ago in Pismo Beach. The local talent is filtered below:

2008 GOLD COAST CONFERENCE EXPLORER CHAMPIONS
Mens: Kokoro Tomatsuri (Summerland)
Juniors: Kokoro Tomaturi (Summerland)
Boys: Parker Coffin (Santa Barbara)
Menehuene: Parker Coffin (Santa Barbara)
Womens: Demi Boelsterli (Santa Barbara)
Girls: Lakey Peterson (Santa Barbara)
Masters: Chris Keet (Santa Barbara)

2008 NORTHWEST CONFERENCE OPEN CHAMPIONS
Womens: Demi Boelsterli (Santa Barbara)
Longboard: Samson Anderson Magazino (Santa Barbara)

Congratulations to all the local champions and all those who competed. Below are results from the contests, both held at Pismo Pier for two different conferences:

GOLD COAST EXPLORER SEASON EVENT #9

EXPLORER MENS
2. Adam Lambert-Santa Barbara
3. Kokoro Tomatsuri-Summerland
4. Brandon Smith-Santa Barbara
6. Trevor Gordon-Santa Barbara

EXPLORER JUNIORS
2. Conner Coffin-Santa Barbara
3. Kokoro Tomatsuri-Summerland
6. Shane Orr-Santa Barbara

EXPLORER BOYS
1. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara
2. Conner Coffin-Santa Barbara

EXPLORER MENEHUENE
1. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara

EXPLORER WOMENS
1. Demi Boelsterli-Santa Barbara
3. Rachel Harris-Carpenteria
5. Rachel Harris-Carpinteria
6. Lakey Peterson-Santa Barbara

EXPLORER GIRLS
1. Lakey Peterson-Santa Barbara
5. Glennie Rodgers-Santa Barbara

EXPLORER MASTERS
1. John Gardner-Carpinteria
3. Chris Keet-Santa Barbara

EXPLORER SENIORS
6. Matt McAllister-Santa Barbara

EXPLORER LONGBOARD
3. JP Garcia-Santa Barbara
5. Shayne Millhollin-Santa Barbara

NORTHWEST OPEN SEASON EVENT #6

OPEN JUNIORS
3. Daniel Prichard-Goleta 7.0

OPEN BOYS
1. Frank Curren-Santa Barbara 11.0 tiebreak
4. Pat Curren-Santa Barbara 6.0
5. Decker McAllister-Santa Barbara 5.0

OPEN MINI GROMS
1. Decker McAllister-Santa Barbara 13.0
5. Cousteau Christopher-Santa Barbara 3.5

OPEN WOMENS
1. Demi Boelsterli-Santa Barbara 11.0

OPEN LONGBOARD
1. Samson Anderson Magazino-Santa Barbara

MidWeek Local Update

2008-04-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Spring Wind
What could usher out an excellent Santa Barbara winter surfing experience than to go straight into our typical winds of spring? Blown out? Check. Cold water? Check. Flat spells? Check. The spring game of finding the wind swell without the wind is on. The Santa Maria Times has a piece about the winds and water temps of late that is worth a read.

Grover Anderson and Justin Ratowsky
Grover Anderson was on KJEE this morning and he'll be playing with Justin Ratowsky tonight at the Sandbar. Grover and Justin are both Isla Vista musicians, if you've surfed Sands or Deveraux much you may have seen Justin riding his bike around while playing guitar.

Bobby Morris profile on Goleta Surfing
If there are a few things this site enjoys, it is the surfing of Goleta boy Yellow Board Bobby, and the photo essays Tom puts up at Goleta Surfing. Tom breaks it on down with a Mini Bio of Bobby Morris, including childhood photos that are sure to get him razed next time he's in the lineup.

One Winter Story
Another great surf movie to check out:

On Friday April 18th, we are screening a fantastic documentary about big-wave pioneer Sarah Gerhardt at the Marjorie Luke Theatre, a fundraiser for Santa Barbara Channelkeeper. There will be live music, featuring Omar Cowan and Jason Campbell and the Drive, there will be a raffle, and the filmmakers will be on hand to do a Q & A afterwards. The show begins at 6:30, tickets are $12 and will be on sale at the door beginning at 6 pm or in advance by calling Channelkeeper at 563-3377.

Bra Boys
The 'Bra Boys' documentary will be showing in Santa Barbara on Friday, April 11th at the Fiesta Five Theater. Bra Boys follows Australian surfers Jai and Koby Abberton during a bizarre murder trial in 2004 which saw Koby serving some time. You can check out the trailer on the Bra Boys site. You can also read about a recent scrape with the law Koby Abberton had in March, and his failure to pay taxes in the Sydney Herald.

Mike Vincelli's Surf Comic Strips
Mike has some good surfing comics up every Monday at Beach Nuts Comics. Our favorite of his is below:

Local Content For Flat Days

2008-04-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

SB Surf Grls Documentary
The local womens' surf group which is open to all female surfers, SB Surf Grls, will be the subject of an upcoming documentary. They'll be having a fund raiser this coming Monday where Shaun Tomson among others will be in attendance.

Details:
When: Monday, April 7th
From: 5-10:30PM
Where: Stateside, 1114 State Street, Santa Barbara CA, 93101
Free Admittance, Live and electronic music, contest, prizes, celebrity presenters, auction, and much more.

Local Surf Shorts
Morgan has another short video up on Youtube, this one from the quick strike Sunday swell we had at the end of February. Featured is Chris Brown, Darrell Goodrum, Chris Artnz, Spencer Regan, Trevor Gordan, Travers Adler, Max Klett, Tarik Khashoggi, and Brandon Smith. The more we think about that swell, the more we realize how the quickness it came about allowed the locals to enjoy their waves, unlike the December 5 swell that had the Yadin Nicol Aussie Possie, Slater, and tons of other pros invade. The Rincon Surf Blog linked to Andy Hahn who has several local videos to enjoy during our flat spell.

Morgan's Video Embedded:

Local Surf News + Bobby's Bells Result

2008-03-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bobby Martinez At Bells
Our previous news had Bobby making it all the way to the semifinals at WCT Event #2. There he lost to Bede Durbidge in some inconsistent conditions. Bobby's previously successful plan of being patient and waiting for a good wave or two didn't work in this heat, as a good wave or two never came. The usually beaming Martinez was visually disappointed in his post contest interview but he always stays classy. His overall standing should move up from 17 to 9th or better after the results are posted. His next event isn't until May 8th in Tahiti, which he won two years ago.

Wet Wednesday Mishap
Windy conditions wrecked havoc at last nights Wet Wednesday sailing race off of the Santa Barbara harbor. A few boats flipped and one man is still missing. This is the second time in two weeks that a search and rescue operation has been run to find a local sailor gone missing. Let's hope our fellow water friend is found OK.

Local Online Content
Tom at Goleta Surfing has an Easter Sunday surf gallery up on his site of waves at Sands. He's also put up a slideshow on youtube of this seasons waves.

Morgan also has a youtube video up, this of Slater surfing Rincon in February. Check out the crazy burn Slater does to a longboarder.

4th Annual Yates Contest
The 4th Annual Brandon Yates Memorial will be held this year on Sunday June 8th, so mark your calendars.

If you don't already know, this is the ONLY surf contest allowed to take place at Emma Wood State Beach. This is a BENEFIT to raise skin cancer awareness and to donate 100% of proceeds to cancer research in Brandon's name. This benefit runs purely on donations. Donations of time, blood, sweat, tears and wonderful product.

Each year we have had a different and unique format. This year we will feature a traditional contest AS WELL AS a fun for all team format limited to 6, 6 man (or woman) teams. Divisions are: Groms(13 and under) Juniors(14-19) Mens (20 +) Pro/Am (Open) and the aforementioned team event.

Bobby Martinez Back In Form

2008-03-26T16:48:00.001-07:00

After an equal 17th finish in the 1st contest of the year, local surfer Bobby Martinez is doing well in event #2 at Bells Beach on the ASP World Tour. He won his Round 1 heat vs. Luke Munro and Royden Bryson to advance to Round 3. In Round 3 he defeated Aussie Jay Thompson, and in Round 4 he defeated Frenchman Jeremy Flores. He then went on and defeated reigning world champion Mick Fanning in the Quarterfinals. He is slated to surf against Bede Durbidge in the Semi-Finals which should take place around 5:45pm Pacific Time today. Details and live streaming available on the Rip Curl site. Dane Reynolds also made the quarterfinals against Taj Burrow.

Some good quotables from Bobby yesterday:

Martinez caught three waves to Flores� nine, but found enough points on his selective rides to advance 16.33 to 13.10 over the Frenchman. Flores finished equal 3rd in the first event of the year while Martinez was forced out at equal 17th.

�Sure, Jeremy having a good event at the Gold Coast motivated me, but I could have been in the 33rd Round and been motivated no matter who I got because I haven�t had a good year yet,� Martinez said. �I just want to try my best and get a good start. It don�t matter who I got or what round I�m in, I don�t think about the next person because we are all here for the same reason.�

Martinez will want to maintain that strategy as he has drawn Reigning World Champion Mick Fanning in the next round.

�It�s going to be a good one,� Fanning said of his match-up with Martinez. �Bobby has been surfing great and he looking really good on his feet so it�s going to be a fun one. I�m pumped.�

Local Surf News March 14, 2008

2008-03-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

As predicted, winds have kicked up starting warm and then bringing in chilly air from the north. In addition to mangling up a promising 20s west swell, they set at least one boat adrift that was moored near Stearns Wharf. Sadly, search and rescue operations are currently underway for the owner of the boat who tried to intercept it near Padaro Lane.

High School Surf News
Local high school surfers continue to blow up the news, with NoozHawk running a story this week by JP Garcia about SBHS's excellent results at least weekends ISF and NSAA contests. JP Garcia is involved with both Gold Coast Groms and Santa Barbara Seals. In other press, the schools' newspaper, The Forge, covers the the SBHS club/team (which has just received official 'school club' status) from an inside angle. Results below from the ISF competition copied from JP's NoozHawk article:

Men's Short Board
2nd Place Shane Orr
3rd Place Antoine Allain

Women's Short Board
2nd Cory Radis
4th Glennie Rogers
6th Chelsea Zaniboni

Women's Long Board
1st Chelsea Zaniboni
2nd Glenie Rogers
4th Elle Iverson

Men's Long Board
4th Tyler Millhollin
5th Shane Orr
6th Shayne Millhollin

Body Board
3rd Willy Radis
4th Tristan Cronshaw
5th Antoine Allain

Contest Updates: UCSB Claims State, Rincon Classic Goes, More...

2008-03-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

UCSB State Champions
UCSB came in first place in the College State Championships this past weekend, with a narrow victory over SDSU. This gives UCSB the State crown and gives them a solid seed at Nationals to be held June 18-21. The only story we can find on their victory is a Transworld article centered on Cal State San Marcos. UPDATE: NSSA has posted a writeup and results. Matt Johnson continues to build on his success with a solid showing. The results of local interest:

COLLEGE TEAM
1. UCSB-A
10. UCSB-B

COLLGE MENS
3. Matt Johnson-UCSB 9.66
5. Charles McMahon-UCSB 9.17

COLLEGE LONGBOARD
5. Corey Hartwyk-UCSB 8.00

Local Schools At States
The NSAA hasn't put up the results yet, but unofficial word is that both SBHS and Carpinteria High School have advanced to Nationals. Update: The NSSA results are up, and local highlights are below. It now makes sense why you don't see Parker or Kokoro's names in the victory column at the Rincon Classic, they were leading their Carpinteria schools down south. All three teams qualified for nationals in June with Carp High earning some temporary bragging rights over Santa Barbara High.

HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
7. Carpinteria 53
10. Santa Barbara 27

HIGH SCHOOL MENS
4. Kokoro Tomatsuri-Carpinteria 10.00

HIGH SCHOOL WOMENS
6. Rachel Harris-Carpinteria 6.00

MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM
6. Carpinteria

MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS
2. Parker Coffin-Carpinteria 12.00

Rincon Classic
The Rincon Classic was held the same weekend, making some kids have to make a choice between events. Jon Shafer at Rincon Surf Blog has posted the results with commentary and a lot of great photos (direct link here.) Adam Lambert, Demi Boelsterli, and Conner Coffin continue to be big names at the Classic. (Photo Credit: Demi Boelsterli by Jon Shafer, Rincon Surf Blog)

Cory Arrambide
You don't see Cory A's name in the list of Rincon Classic winners because he was busy on the East Coast winning the Sebastian Inlet Pro Jr. contest.

UCSB Surf Team Claims Conference, SBHS, CHS, CJHS Go To State

2008-03-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

On the weekend of February 9 and 10, UCSB won the 4th and final NSAA contest of the year. This was UCSB's 3rd victory of the season, only a third place finish in event #3 stopped them from sweeping the whole year. This victory gave UCSB the Conference Team Title, although the State Championships are due to be held this weekend in San Onofre. Results of this event are further below.

Besides the UCSB Surf Team competing at the State Championships this weekend, we have Santa Barbara High School, Carpinteria High School, and Carpinteria Junior High School. A 10th or better (out of 12) gives the high schools an invite to Nationals, while CJHS needs to get 8th (out of 10) for nationals. Hopefully we'll get ahold of some results after Sunday unless some helpful NSSA families key us in.

Southwest College Event #4 Results of Local Interest

COLLEGE TEAM
1. UCSB A
8. UCSB B

COLLEGE MENS
2. Jon Mangiagli-UCSB A
5. Colin Anderson-UCSB A

COLLEGE WOMENS
2. Lipoa Kahaleuahi-UCSB A

COLLEGE LONGBOARD
5. Cory Hartwyk-UCSB A

March 6 Surf News: Rincon Classic On

2008-03-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

2008 Rincon Classic
The Rincon Classic is scheduled to go down this weekend March 8 and 9. Info from an earlier post stays the same with the dates moved to this Saturday and Sunday (also note that the Hugs for Cubs benefit was already held.) Some info about the trophies was sent in :

Gill Kaufman created the 2nd place, 4th place, and 6th place trophies, as well as art work / sculpture's for the silent auction and also created creating the doorway that allowed aubrey and Robert to paint the plates @ Color me mine in Goleta Gill has been providing handmade ceramic trophies for keet's contest for the past 12 years.

Costa Rica Vacation House
Longtime friend of Santa Barbara Surfing known as IanI in SBS surf reports has recently opened up his Costa Rica house, The Double I, to the vacationing public. We're highlighting it to the right of the site in an effort to repay a guy who's had his share of waves stolen by pope. It's in Nosara on the Guanacaste Peninsula a few minutes walk from the Guiones surf spot.

WCT Contest Results
The first event of the 2008 Tour was completed along the Gold Coast, but sadly no Ventura nor Santa Barbara County surfers advanced past Round 3. Santa Barbaran Bobby Martinez was knocked out by"the next Slater", rookie Jordy Smith. Two years ago it was rookie Bobby Martinez knocking stalwarts out of events, so now its a new highly regarded rookie unseating Bobby in the first event. Ventura's Dane Reynolds also exited in Round 3. Hopefully our Tri-County surfers can advance further in the next event starting March 18th.

Goleta Surfing Photos
Tom has some photos up from a few weeks ago over here which has some good photos of Surf Country Doug and his consistently barking dog Sandy keeping tabs on her favorite rock perch. Tom keeps a nice running dialog in his photos essays, somewhat reminiscent of a Bruce Brown flick.

Goleta Surf Photos
Adam at Goleta Surf has some water shots up from a playful session along the Gaviota Coast a few days ago. Gallery here.

Newsprint Links
The Daily Nexus has an entertaining take on the End of the Surfers Winter, and the Independent has an informative story on the history of Barfoot.

Feb 24, 2008 Swell: Better Than Expected

2008-02-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

The swell that came in on Sunday the 24th had the rare honor of being more powerful than most expected. Although surf reports were tracking the relatively closely generated swell with plenty of West in it, it certainly came in stronger and faster than expected. Just as quickly as this swell arrived it was gone. Although Monday was still holding in the overhead ranges at most spots, the Tuesday dawn patrols were disappointing by comparison.

Feel free to send any photos, videos, or stories (or links to them) about this swell.

Update Mar 6:
Even the local Realtors are getting into the action, William Etling has a listing for these Gaviota Coast photos from the last big swell.

Also Callie Bowdish has a lot of nice photos up from Campus on Feb 25.

Update Mar 5:
Tom's wife took a few photos while he was out at Campus Point on Sunday afternoon. The photos are on his picasa page here.

Tom Poss also took some photos on Monday at Campus point which are at the bottom of his surf photos page (here and here are some examples.)

Update Feb 27:

Tom at Goleta Surfing once again is on top of the surf in Goleta on this day, which he called "Hairy Sunday."

A different Tom has some photos of Stearns Wharf and Campus Point on his site. You've got to go down the Surf Page until you see the photo titled: "Surfers at El Ca...." to get to the start of the photos for this swell. Some of the highlights, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Original posts Feb 26:
Ethan Stewart over at the Independent does a nice job of summarizing the swell's effect on the local beaches. You read all about the closure at Stearn's Wharf, the rogue wave at the Harbor, and the rescues that kept Harbor Patrol busy.

Jon Shafer has a great synopsis of the swell from his vantage at Rincon, including some great photos of how large it was there. (Photo: Jon Shafer)

Several contributors at Edhat have captured the some of the swell in photos and words. Betsy R. Cramer, David Powdrell, and William Etling were among the contributors.

Somehow Adam Gray's Goleta Surf escaped our notice, but he has some content up about Sunday in Goleta and this will be a good site to keep in the quiver. Word is Tom over at Goleta Surfing is working on getting something up on his site also.

Feast or Famine In Latest Swell

2008-02-18T11:54:00.000-08:00

A solid weekend+ of surf from a long period westerly swell had Santa Barbara all abuzz with the surf. Some personal experiences had big crowds and long lulls, forcing sessions at some creative spots with much lower makability quotients. Things were a little weird on some of the beaches, old standbys not quite catching the swell as good as some of it's less surfed neighbors.

Goleta Surfing
GoletaSurfing.com has it's 1 year birthday, and has posted over 1000 photos and kept on the scene in the Goleta surf world. Recent content on Goleta Surfing is some great coverage of a Volcom surf contest along the Central Coast that Goleta boy Bobby Morris (pictured right courtesy Goleta Surfing) won. It's three pages so don't forget to check out the 2nd and third pages too.

Goleta Surfing also has some other February surf photos of a chilly Depressions sunset session(page has sound). One has to love the running commentary on these great pages put together by Goleta Surfing.

Tristan Prettyman
She's not from Santa Barbara (San Diego in fact), but Tristan Prettyman is a singer/songwriter/surfer that might be of interest. She'll be on the cover of the next issue of FOAM, will be touring with GLove, and has a new album "hello" out in April.

Conner Coffin Surfer of the Week
SB's Conner Coffin was the NSSA Surfer of the Week last week.

Age: 14

Hometown: Santa Barbara, CA

School: Carpenteria High School

Sponsors: Hurley, Al Merrick, Sex Wax, Globe, Hoven, Da Kine, Future, A Frame

Claim to Fame: In epic 4-6 foot surf conditions at Seaside Reef, Conner showed off his explosive backside surfing skills winning the Juniors division at the Open Season event #5 in a vast field of 78 surfers. But what's more impressive was the 14-year-old's strong performance in the elite and fiercely competitive Open Men's category where he took third in the final. Riding his new Dane Reynolds Proton model, Conner's dynamic vertical attack on Seaside's reeling left walls made a powerful statement.

2008 Rincon Classic

2008-02-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

The 25th Annual Rincon Classic put on by Surf Happens is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, February 23 & 24th, 2008. Plan on surfing, watching, or going to one of the surrounding events.

This all-ages �aloha event,� celebrates the sport of surfing within our community and is also designed as a fund raiser for local charities Hugs For Cubs, Heal The Ocean, Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, and the Surf Happens Foundation. Entry fees are $40 per division + mandatory insurance fee. Sign up at surfhappens.com before Wednesday February 20th.

This year�s event has the richest prize and cash purse to date with more than $15,000 in amazing prizes up for grabs for contestants. All trophies are organic and handmade by local artists and capture the essence of the Rincon experience. In addition to our regular divisions, check out the Red Bull Air Show, Bud Light Pro, and the 3rd Annual Brandon Yates Expression Session.

Rincon Classic Hugs For Cubs Benefit Concert
Featuring The Upbeat
Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Carpinteria Women�s Center
1059 Vallecito Rd.
9:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m.
$10 at the door

25th Anniversary Rincon Classic Silent Auction and Awards Ceremony
Sunday, Feb. 24
Santa Barbara Maritime Museum and the Endless Summer Bar & Grill
6:30-10:00 p.m.
$10 at the door (includes 1 meal ticket and 3 raffle tickets)
*Contestants enter for free.

The Silent Auction features some absolutely amazing items including: A week in Costa Rica courtesy of Costa Vacation Homes & Rentals, A nine-foot signed Robert August Longboard, A Custom Ibanez Guitar complete with Solar Carving courtesy of Jensen�s Guitar and Brian Chandler, Artwork by Aubrey Falk and Robert Heeley, a Classic cruiser bike from Nirve, Wine, Camille products, Learn to surf packages by Surf Happens, Roxy and Quiksilver Packages, A �green� wetsuit courtesy of Matuse, gear by Patagonia, Wetsand, and Simple, Skateboard by Surf One, and much more. In addition, there is a huge raffle with many wonderful prizes! Live Music by Deepakalypse as heard in the Dane Reynolds movie!

The event features a 25 year slideshow hosting a montage of images from many of the areas top photographers including, David Puu, John Nordstrand, Scott Starr, Paul Mann, Bill Tover, and others. Check out this piece of history as generations of the areas best surfers enjoy Rincon perfection over the course of the Rincon Classic�s legacy.

There will also be the world premier of Jahmin Lerim�s 2007 Rincon Classic movie with a bonus special documentary as well.

Sneak Peak At The New Surfing Exhibit At The SB Maritime: This will be the first sneak peak of the new SBMM exhibit that will be launching it�s official grand opening on March 27.

Bustin Down The Door Free Screening

2008-02-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

This just in, Bustin Down The Door will show at the Riveria Theater this Saturday, February 9th at 7pm for FREE.

�Bustin Down the Door�, a new surf movie co-produced by Montecito resident and former World Champion surfer Shaun Tompson debuted at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and has a huge positive response from the community.

The film is framed around the emerging careers of surfing�s earliest World Champions Peter Townend (1976), Shaun Tomson (1977), Wayne Bartholomew (1978), Mark Richards (1979- 82) and shepard of the sport Ian Cairns (all of who were in attendance). The film documents how the vision and talents of these surfers ignited a cultural revolution that led to the birth of professional surfing.

Puddles In The Sky

2008-02-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Matt Kleiner of 'The Glas' has directed a new surf movie, "Puddles in The Sky" which is coming out on DVD soon. Check out the trailer above (or on youtube) and the scoop below. We think we saw our man Bobby Morris in the trailer. (Update: Kleiner confirms Goleta surfers Bobby Morris and Andrew Bennett are featured in the movie.)

Shot entirely in vivid high definition the movie delivers stunning imagery from Indonesia, Australia, the Hawaiian Islands as well as North and Central America. Puddles in the Sky is set for release March 25th 2008 on DVD, available through Mutiny Media.

UCSB Surf Team Continues Domination

2008-01-31T17:38:00.000-08:00

The UCSB Mens' Surf Team placed 1st once again, this time at the 2nd event of the season in South Mission Beach on January 19-20. From the NSSA:

University of California Santa Barbara A team enjoyed a blockbuster weekend by outscoring their nearest opponent by 81 points. The team managed to place three of six surfers in the College Mens final, and both their Longboarder and Woman also made the finals. UCSB A team remains undefeated thus far this season with two events remaining.

Those Men's Finals surfers were Matt Johnson (3rd), Jon Mangiagli (fifth), and Brad Margol (sixth). In the womens' event "placing second was Hawaii transplant Lipoa Kahaleuahi who is now attending UCSB." In the College Longboard event Cory Hartwyk came in 2nd.

NSSA Southwest Open
In other NSSA news, the SouthWest Open #7 was held in HB the same weekend and Santa Barbara surfers placed well:

OPEN MENS
2nd: Adam Lambert (#2 by tie-break with #1)
4th: Andrew Bennett

OPEN JUNIORS
4th: Conner Coffin

OPEN BOYS
3rd: Parker Coffin

OPEN MINI GROMS
5th: Decker McAllister

OPEN LONGBOARD
1st: Cole Robbins

Congratulations to all of the Santa Barbara area NSSA surfers.

Film Fest News and More

2008-01-31T16:39:00.000-08:00

Surf Double Feature

Don't miss two surfing movies in one at the SBIFF this Saturday, February 2nd at 7 p.m. at the Marjorie Luke Theatre. The first, Sliding Liberia, is about surfing in war-torn West Africa while the second is One California Day. There will be a joint after party downtown at The Sandbar on State St.

Bustin Down the Door
Bustin Down the Door will show again tonight at 7:30pm at The Arlington. An afterparty and benefit for Surfrider will be at SoHo at 8:30pm with Tommy Curren. A Video of the World Premier which has interviews with all the big wigs is now up on the SBIFF's site.

Bobby Martinez
We write so often about our local hero Bobby Martinez that some members of the real press think we might have his contact info. We don't, but we'd like it for a story someday.

Morgan's New Website
One of our favorite local young surf photo/video guys, Morgan Maassen, has a new website up at www.bogus08.com. You can also check out a trailer of his new surf movie, Burnside, and order a copy. You can keep up with Morgan's goings on (including his recent Hawaii trip photos) on his blog.

Timmy Curran Benefit

Submitted by Mario of SD: The first annual Momoo benefit with live and silent auctions combined with the music of of Escalera (Bob Burnquest and Danny Way) and the Timmy Curran Band. Mr. Timmy Curran came up with the idea and all the big names came out for this event filled with great music and positive energy. Among the the famous that came out to participate or show support were Damien Hobgood, Corey Duffel, Chris Cote, Ryan Sheckler, Rob Derdeck, Benji Weatherly, Rizal Tanjung, Taylor Knox, Bob Burnquest, Danny Way and Timmy Curran. The benefit included all kinds of interesting skateboard, surfing and music equipment signed by various pros in it's live auction. After it was all said and done, this event raised over $15K help feed families in Africa. To see some pics from this action packed evening, check out www.sandiegosurfpics.com. For more on how you can help this organization visit www.heifer.org

Trestles Update
Surfers are gearing up for one big meeting down in SoCal this Wednesday, February 6th. Here is the scoop:

The time to Save Trestles is now!!

On Wednesday, February 6, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) will hear the application for the Foothill-South toll road that will run through San Onofre State Park. This project threatens precious coastal open space, water quality and the surf break at Trestles, and it would set a dangerous precedent for YOUR State Park system. Join hundreds (if not thousands) of Surfrider Foundation activists and other opponents of the toll road for a rally at the CCC hearing. Come help us send a clear message that our State Parks and open spaces deserve saving!

This is literally THE most important hearing in regards to protecting Trestles and San Onofre State Park. We need an enormous crowd to attend. Please help spread the word to all your family and friends in Southern California.

The Surfrider Foundation and partners are renting buses and organizing carpools in San Clemente and San Diego. We are also providing lunch, tee shirts, and posters/sign for all supporters. Surfrider has it all organized�you just need to show up. If you have questions about the hearing, or are interested in organized transportation, email Stefanie Sekich at: SSekich@surfrider.org

What: Crucial Vote to Save Trestles at California Coastal Commission
When: Wednesday, February 6, 2008. Please arrive by 9am.
Where: Del Mar Fairgrounds�at Wyland. Hall 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd. Del Mar, CA 92014 - Just off the I-5 in Del Mar at Via de la Valle exit.

Rain, Snow, and News

2008-01-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Photos of Rain and Snow
Edhat: Snow on Front Range, Mud Surfing at the Mission

Rincon Photo
Turns out the wave in the last post about a Rincon cleanup set on January 12th has been identified as Rincon regular Josh Stichter.

Campus Point Boat
Kathy captured an image of the boat "Waterbase" that is grounded at Campus Point now, and the artwork that was added to it last week by a local graffiti artist.

Trestles
The Save Trestles folks are asking for help from their neighbors to the North in their fight against the tollroad. You can check it out on the Surfrider site.

Film Fest Events

Happy Hour With Legends
Tonight, Thursday January 24 @ 5pm @ Stateside

Join SB Surfrider for a remarkable Happy Hour at The Stateside Restaurant & Lounge (1114 State Street) on Thursday, January 24 at 5PM Mark Richards ("MR") and Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew, on their first visit to Santa Barbara, will be present with Shaun Tomson in conjunction with a SB Film Festival event. This will be the ONLY opportunity for the general public to meet these surf legends! Admission will be $5, as a benefit to SB Surfrider. All ages are welcome.

Bustin Down The Door
Sunday, January 27th @ 7pm @ Arlington

From the hallowed shores and notoriously hollow waves of the Banzai Pipeline in the mid-1970�s, comes the most important surfing documentary film of our time - �Bustin Down the Door�, which premieres at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday January 27th at 7:00 pm, at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara.

Shaun Tomson Boarding House Visit Story

Shaun Tomson paid an impromptu visit to the final 2007 summer Boarding House Mentors event in Santa Monica. The distinguished guest talked to the group of Mentors, Mentees from South Los Angeles and BHM volunteers about the intense meaning of surfing in his life, the metaphor of surfing in all of our lives, various Swahili greetings and his "Surfers Code". Shaun was greeted by the BHM crew with "Sawbona"......a Swahili greeting that has been used by the BHM folks for five years. Simply, it is "hello". It's true meaning is "I see you".....an acknowledgement. The response being "yebo sawbona"...I see you seeing me.

Shaun was approachable to all, grounded and connected to our entire group immediately. For those of us who have read characterizations over the years about him being erudite and aloof, his presence and kind gesturing displayed something distinguishably different. He was warm and openly human. He was laden with humility as well. Shaun closed the session out by emotionally reading a moving passage from his book about the sacred circle his son had created and related it to the circle that BHM closes each session with.

His exit was coupled by a statement of "Ngiyabonga", which means "thank you". BHM responded in kind and wants now to acknowledge Shaun's contribution to our group as well as the surfing community. Hopefully the world will gain further insight into the gifts of his character while also acknowledging his surfing accomplishments.

More info on Boarding House Mentors at www.boardinghousementors.org

Rincon Cleanup Set

2008-01-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

Jon Shafer sends along a photo shot by Warren Barrett last Saturday, January 12th of a Rincon cleanup wave. Awesome.
(Update: The surfer has been identified as Josh Stichter)

Surfing In Local Media
The Santa Barbara Independent continues to impress with surfing content once again in this weeks issue. Stories by Ethan Stewart and photography by Dan Merkel.

Big Waves, Beat Downs. SB Independent, January 17, 2008
Books by Kidman and Curren. SB Independent, January 17, 2008
Martini's and Bikini's Review. Edhat, January 17, 2008

USS Ronald Reagan Wrapup

2008-01-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

From Surfing The U...

We've setup a gallery of photos of the Ronald Reagan from SBS readers which includes some nice sunset photos of the Reagan and some surfers at Leadbetter with the Reagan in the background.

Recent Surf Photos
Jon has some great photos from recent days at Rincon up the Rincon Surf Blog. A reader writes in to ask if anyone has photos of 'The Set', that came through at 2-2.5X overhead at Rincon on Saturday.

Anthony has some photos from last Friday, January 11th, including Dane Reynolds, Bobby Martinez, and Adam Virs.

Bacara Continues To Threaten Beaches. Meeting Jan 17
The Surfrider Foundation as well as your local surfing friends are asking for help with the Goleta General Plan and Bacara's tweaking of it. You can read all about it on the Surfrider site, and from there you can get the email's of the Goleta Council to express your opinion before the meeting tomorrow. We wrote to the City Council before the last meeting and they were very receptive to the publics opinion.

mbennett@cityofgoleta.org
jblois@cityofgoleta.org
raceves@cityofgoleta.org
eonnen@cityofgoleta.org

Ether Book Signing
Thursday at 7 pm is Andrew Kidman�s 'ETHER' book signing/art show at the Dan Merkel Gallery � 632 State Street.

Campus Point Shipwreck
Tom writes in to let us know the backstory on the boat washed up at Campus Point (that just recenty has some pirate grafitti added)

Its home port is Oxnard, and someone stole it for a joyride I guess. The owner knows it�s there but hasn�t got around to picking it up yet. That�s according to the Valley Voice, roughly.

The Daily Nexus has a photo and story about the boat also, although no pirate photos.

Ronald Reagan Edition

2008-01-11T16:55:00.000-08:00

The USS Ronald Reagan is in port here in Santa Barbara once again, and we wanted to extend a warm welcome to any sailor surfers arriving on our shores. You can check out the SB Navy League for any events that are ongoing while The Reagan is in port from today until Sunday. Of particular interest to circles Pope floats in is the US Navy flyby that is scheduled for sometime between 1-3pm on Saturday. We're working on getting that ETA. In visits previous it seems we've seen some WWII plane restorers fly their planes up the coast in the mid-morning, so keep your eyes peeled if you are at Rincon on Saturday morning.

Martinis and Bikinis
If fashion and booze is more your thing, the Surfrider is holding an event to raise money for the Gaviota Coast on Saturday from 7-11. Check it out or buy tickets here.

Rincon Surf Blog
Jon has some more great stuff up on his site. Some photos from last Saturday the 5th and an entry about photographer John Goodman which includes a photo of a massive Rincon wall.

Goleta Surfing
Tom has some photos up on his Goleta Surfing site also from the same swell. Tom has some nice running dialog, including the boat that is stuck at Campus Point (if anyone has backstory please email, we've seen it there all week), and photos of NSSA shredder Demi Boelsterli, photgrapher Glenn Dubock, and Surf Country's Doug. What a star packed session.

NSSA Gold Coast Explorer Results

2008-01-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

The NSSA (National Scholastic Surfing Association) just unveiled their newly re-designed website for the new year. It is a nice improvement over the old version.

The NSSA also has the results up from the Gold Coast Contests #5 and #6 from December 22nd and 23rd at C Street in Ventura. A lot of Santa Barbara County surfers placed in the event which we'll highlight below. Lakey Peterson was on fire, claiming 1st place in both divisions in both contests she surfed in. Kokoro and Parker also had some impressive standings. The full rankings aren't up yet on NSSA yet so we don't know how these results effect the overall picture, but congratulations to all surfers.

Lakey Peterson
1st Place @ Event #5 Explorer Womens
1st Place @ Event #6 Explorer Womens
1st Place @ Event #5 Explorer Girls
1st Place @ Event #6 Explorer Girls

Kokoro Tomatsuri
1st Place @ Event #6 Explorer Mens
2nd Place @ Event #5 Explorer Juniors
2nd Place @ Event #6 Explorer Juniors
6th Place @ Event #5 Explorer Mens

Parker Coffin
1st Place @ Event #5 Menehuene
2nd Place @ Event #6 Menehuene
2nd Place @ Event #6 Explorer Boys
6th Place @ Event #5 Explorer Boys

Chris Keet:
1st Place @ Event #5 Explorer Masters
1st Place @ Event #6 Explorer Masters
2nd Place @ Event #5 Explorer Mens

Demi Boelsterli
2nd Place @ Event #6 Explorer Womens
3rd Place @ Event #5 Explorer Womens

Samson Anderson Magazino
5th Place Event #5 Explorer Longboard
4th Place Event #6 Explorer Longboard

Glennie Rodgers
5th Place @ Event #5 Explorer Girls
5th Place @ Event #6 Explorer Girls

Gabe Biancone
1st Place Event #5 Explorer Longboard

JP Garcia
2nd Place @ Event #6 Explorer Longboard

Shayne Millhollin
3rd Place Event #6 Explorer Longboard

Trevor Gordan
4th Place @ Event #5 Explorer Mens

Rachel Harris
4th Place @ Event #6 Explorer Womens

Decker McAllister
5th Place Event #6 Explorer Menehuene

Brandon Smith
6th Place Event #6 Explorer Mens

Happy Holidays

2007-12-21T08:49:00.001-08:00

Santa Barbara Surfing will be mostly without updates until the New Years. Happy Holidays to all. A few last bits of info:

Nick is selling a 7'2" Yater in the classifieds for a buddy.

Doug is selling a 6'3" Bill Johnson for his son.

Edhat links to this great montage of Sandspit Wipeouts from December 5th.

Thanks to all who submitted photos of the Dec 4-5 swell.