A big old storm came thru on Wednesday, dumping 3.5 inches downtown and double that in the backcountry. The next day was a big old swell with the Harvest buoy 20ft 17s. I had headed to work that day knowing a swell was due but underestimating it's size. I had my longboard at work and the shortboard at home. I got into work, saw the buoys and knew it would be tough to concentrate on work without getting wet first. I worked till about 9:30 or 10:00 and then headed to Deveraux with my longboard. Wow. There were less then a dozen souls out, spread from the point to past the stairs. Big, offshore bombs were raining down. Probably 1.5X overhead from my 10 minutes of watching. This was no place for a longboard. I saw a guy with a broken longboard walk by with a bummed expression on his face. I took a few shots then headed home to get the shortboard.
Once I had my shortboard I wanted to check out every spot, but I just headed to the montecito coast, hoping it would be sheltered and clean. It wasn't much cleaner, but it seemed easier to manage. The size was about half of what I was seeing up at Deveraux. Overhead sets but nothing much bigger. The current was horrible. I was out for 2 hours and I never once stopped paddling. Got about 6 nice waves and the rest of the time was paddling. Didn't get any pics of this spot.
This day had the largest amount of SBS email from readers all amped up about what they were seeing out there. Here are pics from two of them along with mine. If you have any you want posted, go ahead and email me.
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| Sandspit, Stephen Stasiuk | Sandspit, Stephen Stasiuk |
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| Sandspit, Stephen Stasiuk | Sandspit, Stephen Stasiuk |
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| Sandspit, Stephen Stasiuk | Sandspit, Stephen Stasiuk |
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| Don's, Glide Gibson | Don's, Glide Gibson |
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| Don's, Glide Gibson | Don's, Glide Gibson |
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| Don's, Glide Gibson | Deveraux, pope |
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| Deveraux, pope | Deveraux, pope |
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| Deveraux, pope | Deveraux, pope |
All photos belong to thier respective owners.