Santa Barbara Area Surf Report
    
  September Overview 1999 Overview  
    
Date/Time: Tuesday, September 28th, 6:00 am - 9:00 am
Location: North County
Weather: Fog, mild temperatures, no wind.
Conditions: Sheet glass.
Swell: Combination swells from both hemispheres: 7+ ft at 11s from 315 and 2-3 ft at 14 s from around 190.
Surf: Shoulder high with sets around head high, some overhead peaks.
Comments: First time out here for a regular session in nearly a year. For those who haven't been reading the reports for that long, North County is the name I give to all the spots between Point Conception and the SLO/SB county line, as a matter of discretion. While all the spots there don't necessarily deserve such discretion, obscuring all of them serves to eliminate hints as to when I'm surfing one of the lesser-known spots as opposed to one of the well-known spots. I do the same for the Ranch and the Gaviota Coast. If you have a "secret spot" east of Elwood, sorry, it's fair game here!

On to the surf. Waves would rumble up, looking like they would pitch, and then fade. I made several drops that I initially thought would get me barrelled deep if I made them at all, but they turned into easy slides across a rather crumbly face. After dawn the crowd went from 5 including Toby and I to around 15. It took about 30 minutes to get over the shock of that, after which I got some great, fast rights, some with a thick, pinching bowl at the end that I mainly tried to avoid. When I did pull into it, I got pinched. Overall a very fun session.


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 9/24/1999.