Santa Barbara Area Surf Report

December Overview 1997 Overview

Date/Time: Thursday, December 4th, 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Location: Goleta / Gaviota Coast
Weather: Mild with howling southeasterly frontal winds.
Conditions: Victory-at-sea everywhere. SE wind bump dominating everything.
Swell: Around 6 ft at 12 s on the outer buoys. Not much to speak of.
Surf: Around waist high, maybe bigger, unsurfable.
Comments: Prowled around looking for a spot with some shelter from these winds or perhaps some kelp and didn't find a thing. Conditions are likely to get worse as this cutoff low rolls right over us.

Friday update: Rain! It's gotten worse, with sideways rain rolling through early this AM and the SE winds holding. Winds at the coast are reading offshore this afternoon (2pm) down along the west-facing beaches of Ventura, but I'm not going down there to take a look. On the plus side, our low has fetched up a 9ft 17s west swell that we're not likely to see underneath all this wind unless a miracle happens for the weekend. Keep your powder dry and stay away from flowing storm drains and creek mouths.

Saturday update: Rain finally giving way to sunny skies and continued southeasterlies. There's a sizable WSW in the water off this storm, but totally unsurfable everywhere from Refugio to Mesa... spent about two hours looking at every spot I could think of.


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 12/5/97.