| December Overview | 1997 Overview |
| Date/Time: | Sunday, December 7th, 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm |
| Location: | Gaviota Coast |
| Weather: | Light SE air with dumping rain, strong onshore clearing by dusk. |
| Conditions: | Fair worsening to a horrible blowout as the winds rolled in. |
| Swell: | Fading storm swell and building swell on the outer buoys, some 25 s. intervals around Point San Luis and Point Conception. About 8-10 ft. |
| Surf: | Best in the Goleta/Gaviota area, oddly enough, chest high with occasional head high sets. |
| Comments: |
Checked it in the AM as well as at Rincon and in town.
Nothing happening the further south I went, which was
quite strange. Waist high peaks with weak shoulders.
Not much better in the cove, and the water likely still dirty
from runoff. A bloated and browned and unidentifiable carcass
was on the high tide line this morning, some small animal, a
possum or a foondoggy, hard to tell.
Headed out after a late lunch with Surfer Bob, our opening day at this spot and my first time in the water along the Gaviota coast in months. Again, I use this generic term to describe any spot between Gaviota State Beach park (westward of which is the Ranch) and Elwood. A building crowd going after the peaks that would jack and fade, had to be in the right spot, followed by a bowly trip down the line. Good shape on some, not-so-good on others, and a little shifty. Picked off an excellent set wave that got hollow and threw a veranda. As conditions worsened found myself struggling, bogging a few drops and deciding that I'd rather bodysurf a few in mid-takeoff -- Surfer Bob wondered aloud how I'd describe that one. The last two to go in as conditions got horrible really fast, a windchop building to 1-2' and turning our fun surf session into a harrowing expedition in high combined seas. Early on during a heavy downpour one of our fellow surfers noted, "at least it's finally not windy," that lasted about a half hour longer before the blowout. A short sesh but fun while we got it. |