Santa Barbara Area Surf Report
    
  January Overview 2000 Overview  
    
Date/Time: Tuesday, January 25th, 11:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: North County
Weather: Rain, light frontal winds clocking into clearing winds by early afternoon.
Conditions: Good early but only fair at noon and getting blown out.
Swell: Small NW swell, 6-7 ft at 14-17 s on outer buoys.
Surf: Overhead.
Comments: First real rain of the season had the late night news crews talking about slope instability and mudslides in the hills denuded of vegetation by the recent fires. This morning I checked out some of that up close and a bit too personally as I slid 20' down an embankment with the consistency of wet snot and nearly went off the edge another 10' straight down into a ravine. Would have been the biggest drop of the winter so far, but I probably wouldn't have landed it right.

After I got the glommy layers of mud off my wetsuit, fins, and board, I managed to get a few good peaks before the wind made it unsurfable. Overhead drops from behind the shifty peak with usually makeable walls if you picked the right ones. Peak crowd of 5, with 3 of us looking muddy, and all of us feeling stoked. No hassles, no drop-ins, hardly any conversation as the waves stayed consistent enough to spread us out. It was worth the toboggan ride.


Santa Barbara Surfing -- Last updated 1/25/2000.