Santa Barbara Area Surf Report
    
  January Overview 1999 Overview  
    
Date/Time: Friday, January 22nd, 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: Rincon
Weather: Sunny and warm, no wind.
Conditions: Excellent water surface. Waves a bit warbly and off.
Swell: Inconsistent NW groundswell and windswell, 9-10 ft at 14 s on the outer buoys.
Surf: Waist to chest high with shoulder high sets.
Comments: This swell seemed to come and go pretty rapidly, but by the late afternoon things looked to be on the rise again. A few good waves coming in with a lot of us pushing our luck, gambling that we could actually see that one last wave we got. Surfing until dark has a certain kind of urgency that dawn patrols lack; while it is nice to be out with a thinning crowd I'm not sure I like having to desperately rush for my last wave.

Waves were strangely warbling down the line with a very flattened-out, weak shoulder and lots of sections. Couple that with me surfing like a tired old man and the performance level was pretty low. Made lots of long waves but didn't do much with them.

But then, maybe nobody saw, in the dark.


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 1/24/1999.