Santa Barbara Area Surf Report
    
  January Overview 2000 Overview  
    
Date/Time: Saturday, January 15th, 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: North County
Weather: Tropical high clouds, occasional sprinkles, variable winds building rapidly to a blowout and then just as rapidly backing off.
Conditions: Excellent worsening to poor as that wind cranked up, then getting good again.
Swell: Fading NW swell, 6 ft at 12-13 s from 300+ deg on outer buoys.
Surf: Shoulder to head high with some overhead peaks.
Comments: Strong northwesterlies on the overnight buoys had me feeling pessimistic about a session today. It wasn't until well past the optimal early morning hours that I noticed the light winds on all the central coast buoys. Got in the water as fast as I could, which was unfortunately a little too late.

An hour or so after I paddled out and got a bunch of good head high waves, fast and pretty hollow, the wind came on hard, blowing sideshore into the waves. Didn't get anything while the wind was blasting, and almost paddled in, but then it just stopped, and everything glassed out. By then the crowd had dropped to me and one other guy, but with the glass-out the lineup began to fill again. Grabbed my last and best wave, a late drop and bottom turn just under the curtain, then raced the lip line for fifty or so yards before getting a fun rebound off an end section. Didn't carve the turn as hard as I wanted, form is off after so little water time these past few weeks, but it still was a great session-ending wave.


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 1/15/2000.