Santa Barbara Area Surf Report
    
  December Overview 1999 Overview  
    
Date/Time: Tuesday, December 21st, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location: Stables
Weather: Smoggy, otherwise sunny, with light to moderate side-offshore easterlies.
Conditions: Perfect.
Swell: New WNW groundswell, 10 ft at 20 s from 290 deg on the outside, 5+ ft at 20 s on the inside.
Surf: Head high to overhead, fast and barrelling.
Comments: Is this really the first day of winter? Warm offshores and a blanket of smog rolling up from L.A. coupled with a very long-period swell made it feel like August.

Despite feeling out of shape after more than two weeks since my last session, managed to get a lot of waves and a few trips into backlit golden barrels. Christmas present under my feet -- a new 6'6" squashtail fresh from Channel Islands.

Lots of diffuse glare from the smog and bright sun made the waves harder to judge as they rolled in, and I wound up 50 yards behind sections hitting the reef down the line. Best wave I connected all the way through to the showers, fast and steep, hollower behind me as I outran the curl. No drop-ins on any of my waves, and got plenty of them, a wonderful day!


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 12/21/1999.