Santa Barbara Area Surf Report

November Overview | 1996 Overview


Date/Time:
Wednesday, November 20th, 3:00 pm - dark
Location:
Gaviota Coast
Weather:
Foggy, overcast, drizzly. Light storm winds sometimes offshore sometimes onshore.
Conditions:
A little wintry and stormy. Bump approaching 1'.
Swell:
Head high to overhead and punchy.
Comments:
Missed this morning. Woke up with a sore neck from yesterday. Passed my oral screening examination by 1:00 pm, got good vibes from the committee and am now looking forward to the candidacy exam in a few months and from there to my PhD defense in ?!? years.

Got plenty of notice that the swell had landed. Met up with Surfer Bob and headed with no delay to a great righthander that I'd never surfed before. The sun was on its way out as we clambered into the water, and the surf was pumping!

A little sketchy at first, very reminiscient of Abaloneville from south of the border. Lots of paddling to make it over the hump then a steepening drop that bowled out. From there it was a powerful drive that sometimes gave room for cutbacks and rebounds and sometimes just screamed.

Saw one great barrel out there, deep and for a couple of seconds. Epic!


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 11/20/96.