Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Location:		Sands
Weather:		June Gloom
Conditions:		Glassy with Cruddy Water
Swell:		Leftover NW Windswell
Surf:		Thigh High

Comments:

Pete and headed to the Mesa on Monday after work but it didn't inspire us so we didn't head out. I then threw in the towel on surfing for a few days which was a big mistake. Apparently Tuesday and Wednesday at some beachbreaks was very fun. Pete and I then showed up today too late for the party but still willing to get wet. We treked down to Sands, basking in the glory of free parking while we can get it. June Gloom came fast and strong, it was socked in and not only was the weather gloomy, but it severly limits my motivation. Pete had to flip a coin twice to convince me to go out. Only about 4 guys out at Sands, really glassy and really small. Tons of oil and chopped up seaweed in the water. It smelled and tasted horrible. We sat in rings of shiny oil, continually trying to find patches of clean water and waves.

Waves came every now and then, some fun sets that sometimes got waist high but usually were quite small. Pete somehow managed to find smackable lips but I was stuck with pumping and cutbacks. A few waves pitched out, little thigh high waves pitching out into knee high water with rocks. I'm stoked UCSB is out, Sands seemed so much quieter and nicer. Must take advantage of it while I can.

Location:		PCH
Weather:		Sunny and windless
Conditions:		Sorta Choppy for 6:30am
Swell:		NW Windswell, some SW groundswell
Surf:		Thigh to Waist High

Comments:

A Saturday dawn patrol with Unkle down towards Ventura. First of these sessions in a few months, and first time since Steve moved up to Seattle. 6:30 and pretty warm and the sun was nearly up over the hills. No one out, and very few waves. We paddled into a choppy section without a noticeable place to lineup. We shifted around for a few hours, trying to get a handle on where to be, using the trees to lineup on, but the peaks were shifty from the wind in the channel. Small, slow rides that would get a little racy at the end when they sucked up over the sandbars. Brought my shortboard leash on accident so it was kinda tough to longboard with a 6' leash on. No animal sightings nor other surfer sightings. Just a slow summer dawn patrol.

Afterwards some breakfast at Arts.

Location:		Mesa
Weather:		Sunny with Strong Offshores
Conditions:		Choppy and Messy
Swell:		NW Windswell
Surf:		Waist High

Comments:

Pete calls at Mesa and says he's going in so I head down there. The freeway is nuts from the fire I presume and once I get to La Cumbre a fierce wind sets in. On the mesa Eucalyptus trees are being shed of thier leaves and seeds, and these end up inside my car when suiting up. It's wickeldy windy and I'm wondering what Pete is thinking. Good for us the wind wasn't bad once in the water, altough the water is a mess with lots of chop and the offshores pushing water over the backs of the waves.

Flounder for a good half hour before catching a few waist high waves, perhaps a bit bigger that suck up and carry me down the line. Lots of double waves, lots of fake waves, lots of lips that disappear when you go to hit them. Made a few nice roundhouse cutbacks that felt glorious, but usually wasted all my speed on them and nothing saved up for recovery. The smoke from the fire was getting pushed out over the ocean, you could see it way up the coast and it looked like it was getting bigger and bigger. I ran over a kid once, I was blinded by the offshores dropping into a rogue and he tried to duck under me, but his butt was still sticking up in the air and instead of running over it I bailed.

Soon all the kids left and it was just Pete and I for 15 minutes, before the next wave of surfers came out. Pete and I split a peak on the way in, I going left in with a rail grabbing squat into the sun. Good times.

Location:		Mesa
Weather:		Sunny
Conditions:		Disorganized
Swell:		NW Windswell
Surf:		Waist High

Comments:

After several days of shortboarding on the Mesa, I head back there with the longboard and with Greg. It was way more crowded then the previous days, and was also not very clean. Disorganized and peaky, but breaking in more places. We hung to the left of the main pack and picked off somes strays. Every now and again a nice sized set would come thru, often closing out but sometimes peeling off. I ate it a lot on the LB, trying to figure out how to turn on it after shortboarding most of the last week. Springsuits once again, but it gets cold after about an hour and when the sun gets pretty low.

Location:		Mesa
Weather:		Sunny
Conditions:		Clean
Swell:		Short Period NW, SW maybe adding
Surf:		Waist High

Comments:

Driving up the coast from LA in the afternoon showed the SW swell lighting up the entire coast all the way to Rincon. Rincon even looked rideable. After getting home I wasn't about to battle traffic, albeit very reduced from the fire, so K-dog and I headed to the Mesa. She ran, I surfed and everyone was happy. About a dozen guys out there, mostly kids and mostly shortboards. I was glad I had my shortboard, as it was good for shortboarding but not much power so there were many time when you had to pump to get some speed. Caught a half dozen or so really fun ones all the way to inside that allowed for some lip smacking and rail grabbing barrell attempts. The rest of the waves were short closeouts or squandered on my sucky attempts to get some speed.

Location:		Sands
Weather:		Sunny
Conditions:		Slight Chop
Swell:		Windswell
Surf:		Waist High

Comments:

Petey and I head to Sands to see if it is picking up more then the Mesa was. Indeed Sands had more out there to offer, but a lot more kids to deal with. We headed to the 2nd peak past the rocks, and paddled out into the chilly water in our springsuits. Infrequent, pop up waves, totally windswell style. Peaky, sometimes here, sometimes there, you had to turn quick to catch a wave. You also had to get up quick and I got pitched twice. Had a little bit of pickup on the inside, enough to hit the lip or pull a floater an get driven into the sand.

Location:		Mesa
Weather:		Sunny
Conditions:		Clean
Swell:		NW Windswell
Surf:		Thigh High

Comments:

I talked Pete out of Nite Moves and into a surf session on the Mesa. Not so sure it was a good idea, cause the waves were pretty small and we didn't get many. Was nice to springsuit it with shortboards in the summer in town without driving anywhere though. A few kids out in the water with us. Many yappy dogs on the beach.