Santa Barbara Area Surf Report
    
  December Overview 1999 Overview  
    
Date/Time: Sunday, December 26th, 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location: Rincon
Weather: Sunny and warm, no wind.
Conditions: Perfectly glassy.
Swell: Small combination of W (6 ft at 14 s from 270) and SW (2 ft at 17 s from 200) swells.
Surf: Waist high with very sporadic sets to shoulder high.
Comments: Headed for Ventura, was lured out here by a perfect set of three head high waves reeling through the cove right as I drove by. If I'd stopped to check it like I usually do, or if I'd been a few minutes earlier or later, I probably wouldn't have seen the set and would have kept on going.

But I saw it, so I did the U-turn halfway to La Conchita and got into the water as fast as I could. Not a lot of people out, but not a lot of surf. That set was the set of the day, and nothing came through the Indicator that was even close to that good while I was out. Instead, waist high waves with excellent low tide shape were what I found. The few shoulder high sets that came in were thick with 6 or more people on each wave, so I kept after the smaller ones and occasionally got lucky with a section or a little wave that built up into a decent one in the rivermouth. One or two of those at the most by the time it got dark.

Tomorrow I won't look out the window when I pass the point. Ah... who am I kidding? I have to look!


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 12/26/1999.