Santa Barbara Surf Report Archive
1996 Overview

Setting up the rivermouth, by L. Paul Mann
1996 was the first full year of archived reports. Overall it was fair, with a disappointing winter season and mediocre fall bracketing some pretty good summer surf and an exceptionally clean and fun spring.

Out of 136 reports, got good surf 69 times (51% of the time). Waves averaged around chest high. The highlights follow:

Top Months:
(Most Reports)
  1. April, 16 reports
  2. May, 14 reports
  3. October, 14 reports
  4. November, 13 reports
Top Months:
(Most Good Surf)
  1. May, 10 reports
  2. April, 8 reports
  3. November, 7 reports
  4. June, 7 reports
Top Months:
(Best Good Surf Percentage)
  1. August, 6/7 (86%)
  2. May, 10/14 (71%)
  3. June, 7/11 (64%)
  4. January, 6/11 (55%)
Top Months:
(Biggest Surf on Average):
  1. February, Head high
  2. November, Shoulder to head high
  3. May and June, Shoulder high
Most Surfed Spots:
  1. Rincon, 62 sessions
  2. Sequit, 33 sessions
  3. North County, 10 sessions
  4. C Street and Bates Beach, 5 sessions each
Longest Sessions:
  1. July 2nd, 6 or more hours (2-session day)
  2. November 26th, 4 hours
Most Sessions in a Row:
  1. 5 sessions, April 3rd to April 7th
  2. 4 sessions, April 14th to April 17th
  3. 4 sessions, May 31st to June 3rd
Biggest Sessions:
  1. November 19th, North County, 1-2x+ overhead
  2. March 13th, Rincon, 1-2x overhead
  3. February 17th, North County, 1-2x overhead
  4. July 2nd, Malibu and Sequit, 1-1.5x overhead
Best Sessions:
  1. March 13th, Rincon
  2. February 6th, Rincon
  3. June 11th, Sequit
  4. July 18th, Sequit
Favorite Reports:
  1. April Fool's Stoke
  2. whump
  3. Retro Reaction
  4. First Time: Malibu

Monthly Archived Reports and Overviews
Jan Feb Mar Apr
May June July Aug
Sept Oct Nov Dec

Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 5/26/98.