Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Location:		PCH
Weather:		Overcast and glassy
Conditions:		Closing Out
Swell:		NW windswell
Surf:		Knee High

Comments:
Met Unkle down along the PCH the first time in forever. A lot of cars down there, a lot of people thinking some south might be in from activity off of Mexico. The tide was low and the waves looked small and closed out. We went out anyway. The water was freezing, and combined with the overcast weather, springsuits didn't quite cut it. We surfed for about an hour, catching a few small waves until they either closed out or disapeared in the deeper water sections. The whole coast looked small on the drive back and later in the day when we hung out at the beach in Santa Barbara there was nothing also. Many, many days of no waves.

Location:		Emma Wood
Weather:		Sunny with Onshores
Conditions:		Crossed up and Confused
Swell:		Long Period SSW, NW Windswell
Surf:		Waist High At Best

Comments:

I saw the south swell coming in last night in Pismo.  It was really long lulls, but big long sets.  I figured this would not be hitting  SB or Goleta so after work I headed towards Ventura.  All the way down it didn't look like much.  The NW windswell and onshores winds were making the water a mess and I'm not sure the South Swell was making it in.  Today I read this from wetsand:   "But as mentioned, not all breaks are able to work our current swell. The long-period nature of this southern hemi ground swell has size differing greatly from one break to the next, all depending on that break’s particular bathymetry. As spotty as it may be, there are some good sets to be had at the standout spots with good exposure to 205 degrees and able to handle this swell’s mitigating factors." Looks like I choose the wrong spot when I parked at Emma Wood to head out.  A guy just getting out of the water warned me by saying it was horrible out there, but when you drive a half hour for waves, you aren't going home empty handed.  I stayed out for less than an hour, caught less then a dozen waves and once again seldom caught a wave long enough to take a breath on.  Emma Wood is quite oftened crossed up, combing south and north swells into a washing machine.  This sometimes make for some fun rides.  Not today, the windswell was dominating everything, I'm not even sure if I saw any south swell out there. If so, it was covered in slop.  No memorable waves, they were hard to catch, I was slow to get up on them, and they lacked any power for manuveurs unless you were a 14 year old shredder.

Location:		Pismo
Weather:		Sunny, Warm, Windless
Conditions:		Closeouts
Swell:		2.2ft @ 20s @ 205°
Surf:		Head High+ Rogue Sets

Comments:

A Pismo bodyboard session with K-dog, Bill and Haggarty on a rare fog-less, windless Pismo afternoon. Haggarty and I trunked it while the rest fullsuited it. We only lasted for a half hour and only saw one set in that whole time. Waves were a meager knee to waist high for the first half of our session. Then, half way thru, after all of our smack talk that this long awaited south swell wasn't here yet, a 10 wave set came marching in with head high waves that pounded us and our sponges to pieces. It was awesome. We waited for another one, for one last glorious ride into the beach, but the waves having travled thousands of miles were spread out into some very defined sets.

Location:		Montecito Coast
Weather:		High Wispy Clouds
Conditions:		Clean
Swell:		Near None
Surf:		Knee High at best

Comments:

Although last night was not epic, it did show potential, and I thought perhaps it would build overnight and would rule on a low tide. Not so. Anything that was from Tropical Storm Blas was now gone, the tide was too low, and I was all alone shortboarding in 18" of water. I caught 6 waves that combined lasted 20 seconds. Still, I was taking the day off so it was better then work.

Location:		Montecito Coast
Weather:		Hot and Sunny
Conditions:		Clean
Swell:		Steep South
Surf:		Knee High w/ 3 Chest High Sets

Comments:

Tropical Storm Blas was swirling around off of Baja a few days ago with 50mph winds but it didn't look like it would produce anything. Sure enough checking the buoys this morning everything looked flat except for this tiny bit of juice coming from the south. Pete, Greg and I headed out in search of waves, and were prepared to play tennis if we couldn't find any. We springsuited it along the Montecito Coast. It was high tide and really, really flat. Greg had more fun surfing the waves going out then the waves coming in. Still, every once in a great while a set would come in that held promise. We had our longboards so we'd catch a few of these set waves, haul on down the line and try to tuck into the barrell in the shorebreak. Pete witnessed two of my calf barrells right before I got crushed. I saw him tuck in also. It was getting cold, we were tired of waiting for waves, and right as we were coming in the best set of the day came in. As if on cue, these two shortboarders who were surfing further up the coast managed to get these waves and surf all the way down to us, showing us why a shortboard was a better call for the day as they manuvered in the fast waves.

Location:		PCH
Weather:		Sunny
Conditions:		Mushy
Swell:		Maybe some NW windswell
Surf:		Knee High

Comments:

A drive down towards Ventura and everywhere was sleepy. Stopped along the PCH and went out to get wet. Almost trunked it and I'm glad I didn't cause it was freezing. My legs and arms were numb from the water. Wicked coastal upwelling. Caught about a dozen waves that were breaking in shallow water and the whole session was unspectacular but woke me up.

Location:		Bay St. Santa Monica
Weather:		Sunny
Conditions:		Mushy and Dirty
Swell:		Swell?
Surf:		Knee High

Comments:

The 4th of July session, but without Mank. Complete opposite of yesterday's Malibu session. The water was disgusting. You could find all sorts of plastic goods and everything that went in them out in the lineup. The lineup was crowded and it was foggy. Bummer. But better then not surfing. Greg and I had a few fun longboard waves and then got coffee and went to the Santa Monica Famers Market.

Location:		Malibu
Weather:		Sunny
Conditions:		Glassy and Clean
Swell:		Swell?
Surf:		Knee High

Comments:

Greg and I headed down the coast on the way to LA and searched for waves. It had been forever since waves had lapped against our shores in SB and we were hoping for some love down south. County Line and Sequit didn't look so swell and we got to the 'bu around sunset. We needed motivation, it was small, and greg provided it. Out came the trunks, off came the leashes and we were surfing Malibu proper for the first time in our lives.

Having never surfed Malibu, I had thought it would be crowded with a lot of attitude in the water. Not so it turns out, but maybe we got lucky. There were about a dozen or so surfers in the water, probably a few more people out there that were more like bouys though. We each caught a few knee to thigh high ones, the water was clean and clear and you could see the cobbled bottom. The waves were glassy. We made a friend out of a talkitive local guy who was super stoked we weren't dropping in on him and that we giving up a lot of waves, being at a new place and all. He kept getting snaked by the same guy on the inside, and that was a good conversation topic.

We only surfed for a half hour or so, each catching 1 or 2 good waves and a few others. It's amazing what a half hour of surfing will do to one's attitude.