Santa Barbara Area Surf Report

September Overview 1997 Overview

Date/Time: Friday, September 26th, 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Location: Rincon
Weather: Muggy and warm, mixed clouds.
Conditions: Very clean, no wind.
Swell: Combination WNW / Hurricane / Southern hemi swells. Hurricane swell predominant.
Surf: Waist to shoulder high with some head high drops. The lefts looked the best with most of the rights getting mixed up by the swell combination.
Comments: We should have been here yesterday -- actually, I was, but not until about 3 pm. It was still pumping then but the early morning session was "all time backsides" according to everyone I talked to, some of whom were just getting out after 6-8 hour sessions. Even then it still looked epic, well overhead waves bowling atop the indicator and reeling all the way to the sand.

Was hoping for some good early-season WNW lines but the swell just didn't have the juice to make it in. Paddled out with Tim' and Doug and joined the crowd waiting for the sporadic, backed-off rights. Tim' moved over to the lefts and got some good ones before coming back and switching boards with me. He rides a 6'8" pintail with about the same width but a bit less thickness than my 6'6". I didn't like the feel of his board; it really got buried on turns to the point where it was feeling submerged and unstable. Nice feel when pumping hard through a racy section though.

Not much else to say about the sesh; my best wave was one on which I got snaked and we never made it down into the cove. I also foolishly left my boards in the car through Saturday and my 6'6" got a bit of delamination started as a result. Got an order in for a new 6'6" x 18 3/4" x 2 1/2" M-97 Channel Islands now. Should be done in about 2 1/2 months, just in time for the early twitches of winter.


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 9/26/97.