Fat Friday, January 30th, 1998

The midpoint of a six-to-seven-week run of swell rolled through around the 30th of January with the biggest waves in Southern California since Big Wednesday, two seasons previous. The entire coastline lit up with epic-sized surf and a bit of southeasterly wind that ruined a few spots.

While the magazines called this one the "swell of the decade," the waves didn't quite match up to Big Wednesday. Here's a comparison of the buoy data from the two swells off the West Santa Barbara Channel buoy:

	Big Wednesday	Fat Friday
Midnight 3 am 6 am 9 am Noon 3 pm 6 pm 9 pm	16 ft, 14 s 22 ft, 14 s 22 ft, 14 s 22 ft, 14 s 24 ft, 17 s 23 ft, 17 s 24 ft, 17 s 25 ft, 17 s	11 ft, 14 s 11 ft, 25 s 14 ft, 25 s 15 ft, 20 s 18 ft, 20 s 22 ft, 20 s 21 ft, 20 s 22 ft, 20 s

This swell was distinctive in that it was registering longer periods, including some 25-second readings which we rarely see on even most Southern Hemis. In theory, the long periods should have nearly made up the difference, with the waves having about 90-95% the breaker height of Big Wednesday's. The clincher was the angle; coming in a bit steeper from 280 degrees on Friday as opposed to 270 for the Big Wednesday swell.

So, Campus Point and the Gaviota Coast weren't looking nearly as large as two seasons ago. The Ventura Pier didn't lose any more ground, and while the outside bombora at Rincon was breaking, it didn't turn into a surf spot like it did on December 13th, 1995. Just mowed people who were inside of it on the Indicator every hour or so.

Great surf, the best of the season, but for us not the best of the decade. Why all the hype? I suspect the K2 contest had something to do with it. Extra coverage, the advance hype of the '97-'98 El Nino storm season, more photos; this swell was certainly better-covered than Big Wednesday which got really short shrift in the mags. Eddie almost went on this swell two days before in Hawaii, and both Maverick's and Killers were huge.

So even though it wasn't as good as Big Wednesday, which most described as the biggest Santa Barbara surf since 1969, it was still pretty epic! My surf report for the day lays down all the details. Here's the eye candy. Unfortuately, I lost about six shots which for some reason got completely overexposed to the point of total whiteout on the film.

Enjoy the photos. When you're done checking mine, see what others have put online.

Jose Borrero got more than he bargained for at Rincon and some excellent shots of Ventura and La Conchita piers.

Stanley's Surf Gear also has some shots of the Ventura points and reefs up to Rincon.

Santa Barbara Surfing | Last updated 10 Oct. 2002.