Santa Barbara Surf Report Archive
1997 Overview

A stoking cheater-five at Depressions, by Tim Maddux
With decent surf all year round and some truly epic days, 1997 rounded out to be a good year of surf. A good winter season was topped by an all-time January. The typically poor spring was balanced by a series of El Nino-powered chubascos that pumped the late summer. Things were looking good into fall with consistent surf as the next year's classic El Nino winter began to flex its muscles.

Out of 106 reports, got good surf 54 times (51% of the time). Waves averaged around shoulder high. The highlights follow:

Top Months:
(Most Reports)
  1. January, 18 reports
  2. February, 13 reports
  3. November, 12 reports
  4. March, 12 reports
Top Months:
(Most Good Surf)
  1. January, 14 reports
  2. November, 6 reports
  3. December, 5 reports
  4. October, 5 reports
Top Months:
(Best Good Surf Percentage)
  1. September, 3/3 (100%)
  2. January, 14/18 (78%)
  3. August, 5/7 (71%)
  4. October, 5/8 (63%)
Top Months:
(Biggest Surf on Average):
  1. November, Head high
  2. December, Head high
  3. January, Shoulder to head high
  4. March, Shoulder high
Most Surfed Spots:
  1. Rincon, 53 sessions
  2. Sequit, 17 sessions
  3. C Street, 10 sessions
  4. Stables, 10 sessions
Longest Sessions:
  1. February 15th, 5 hours
  2. March 19th, 4 1/2 hours
  3. January 20th, 4 1/2 hours
Most Sessions in a Row:
  1. 6 sessions, January 9th to January 14th
  2. 4 sessions, January 1st to January 4th
  3. 4 sessions, March 19th to March 22nd
Biggest Sessions:
  1. January 27th, Rincon, 1.5-2x overhead
  2. March 29th, North County, 1-2x overhead
  3. March 26th, North County, 1-2x overhead
  4. August 7th, Sequit, 1-2x overhead
Best Sessions:
  1. January 1st, Rincon
  2. January 19th, Gaviota Coast
  3. December 22nd, Rincon and Stables
  4. September 25th, Hurricane Nora
Favorite Reports:
  1. The Man's Tryin to Keep Me Down
  2. Abused in the Green Room
  3. Night Surfing
  4. Blue Foam Board D-Day

Monthly Archived Reports and Overviews
Jan. Feb. March April
May June July Aug.
Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 7/20/1999.