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Santa Barbara Area Surf Report |
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| The Swell of March 14-16 2003 by Burke | When I checked out our local / nearest spot, IV and Deveraux at about 10am, I called my son, to get the surf gear ready, as I saw overhead waves at Deveraux. We surfed there for 2 hours, and 15 minutes, and caught so many waves that we both had no strength left in our arms. The paddle back out was brutal, as the tide dropped, and the new swell definitely started to show its powers while we surfed from 11am to 1:15pm. Deveraux was easily overhead, and looked to be approaching double overhead, on the outside peaks. My 18 year old son stayed with the pack there with his Channel Islands shortboard, and I slid down towards IV, where I found a sweet inside right, at low tide. The wave was barely makable on my longboard, but I had a great time riding those waves, which reminded me of Maui, where I have ridden screaming rights in shallow water. The quality of the waves was excellent, and it was very consistent. We then drove down to Rincon, after a huge lunch, and were surprised to see that it did not appear that crowded, at about 3pm. It looked to be a solid 3 to 5 feet, with overhead waves at the point. There were times when we watched 9 surfers riding 9 different waves at the same time! We both wished we had surfed Rincon instead, but we were happy that IV and Deveraux had such fun and challenging waves. The next day, after the 5 inch rain deluge stopped, I once again surfed IV, for about 45 minutes near sunset, and the swell was still huge, but not as clean as yesterday. I caught only 3 waves, as my 51 year old body, and 17 year old longboard refused to cooperate. At least the rides were long! I was praying for a channel to appear, to paddle through, but I had no luck. We were going to surf Campus Point on Sunday morning around 11:30, but we ran out of time, due to family commitments. It was easily overhead for the third day in a row. The wind came up, but it did not seem to deter the crowd surfing there. The inside section looked really fast and fun. Oh well, another time. Incidentally, I want to thank and congratulate "Pope" for this fantastic web site. My wallpaper consists of a photo taken from this site on January 5th, of a surfer getting barreled. We surfed that day, through the 7th, at Campus Point, Deveraux, and IV, and the waves were excellent then also. I am a UCSB graduate, and own a second home about a mile across from the campus, so I guess you could call me a "semi-local." (I live primarily on the coast near Santa Cruz.) I love surfing, and have been really stoked by the way you true locals have treated me respectfully out in the water. Since I have surfed for almost 38 years, I have learned to treat all other surfers with respect. Thanks for the kindness. Hopefully, Goleta will become my primary home soon! -Burke | ||
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Created by Tim Maddux, Continued by Pope |