Santa Barbara Area Surf Report
    
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Date/Time: Saturday, July 24th, 6:00 am - 8:00 am
Location: Malibu
Weather: Cool morning with light offshore winds and clear skies.
Conditions: A bit of easterly lump and morning-sick look from overnight westerlies.
Swell: Small overhyped southern hemi, 2 ft at 17 s swells.
Surf: Weak and inconsistent, knee to waist high with very rare shoulder high sets.
Comments: Faark. I'm calling this the first overhyped south swell of the season, with a universally late arrival from every forecaster's prediction, including the 'big boys' at Surfline and SurfFax, and 1/3 to 1/2 the predicted size on Saturday, this goes beyond the typical uncertainty associated with wave prediction. Days like these (and the ones where they call it way too low) remind me:
  1. Stop listening to forecasts and just go when the buoys are good.
  2. Stop listening to forecasts and don't go when the buoys are bad.
  3. Remember these days when pay-to-play forecasters brag their accuracy/success rate.
So, on the strength of the forecast and a single jump to 2ft@17s from 1ft@14s on the buoys, I let SurferBob convince me to do the 4am drive, despite it being below my threshold. The buoys didn't lie, it was flat, and it didn't pick up.

Despite that, we had fun at Malibu. The water was warm and the crowd at 1st point was thick but friendly, perhaps philosphical about the lack of swell. I got a few rides in to the sand, even one section towards the end of my session was zippy enough and hollow enough that I popped up to a high line and threw my hands over my head in a spontaneous expression of joy.


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 7/24/1999.