Santa Barbara Area Surf Report
    
  February Overview 2000 Overview  
    
Date/Time: Monday, February 14th, 6:30 am - 10:30 am
Location: Stables
Weather: Cloudy with light drizzle and dead calm air until late morning.
Conditions: Excellent, glass until midmorning when the south winds built.
Swell: New WNW swell, 12 ft at 20-25 s from 290+ deg. on outer buoys, 6-7 ft at 20-25 s on inner buoys.
Surf: Setty, overhead to double overhead.
Comments: South lump already evident at Rincon, improving marginally as I continued down the road. The 5 am Weather Channel reports showed light offshores in Ventura, so I rushed to Stables, knowing it would be big. "If it's clean," I thought, "I'm out there!"

It was clean, and big! Ran out past ten or more guys and their cars, watching and drinking coffee and for some reason not going out. Fine, more for me. Less than 10 people spread across the lineup, so it was easy to start grabbing the sets when they rolled through the point. Hollow, fast sections, and on a couple of waves I have to admit kicking out the back rather than charging as the walls torqued towards me and bowled.

The sections meant many waves weren't very long, didn't get a single one to the showers but several to the parking lot and end of the bike path. The real thrill was in the size and power of these waves and negotiating all that on my little 6'6" squaretail.

Eventually wandered down to C Street. After some protracted negotiations with the shifty and slumpy waves got my last one from the pipe to the base of the pier. Big drop followed by slow determined carves on the slopey face. Could feel the southerly frontal winds land as I made my way down the line, so I opted to prone out and head in when I got to the pier. As I walked back, I saw a few waves breaking around the end of it, new extension and all.


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 2/14/2000.