Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

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With extreme high tides for dawn patrol we go for our 4th mid-morning session in a row along the Ventura PCH. Today however we see signs of the storm that is on our way, at least the wind that will precede it. After 3 days in a row of paddling up the coast to stay in the lineup, today we are pushed up the coast by the wind. It is actually smarter to just paddle outside after a wave and let the wind driven water push you back up. Because of this the lineup was very concentrated near the Three Tall Trees so we tried to make our way down to the Three Short Trees. By the time we got down there it was so blown out the waves were slow and junky.

Saw some crazy battles going out there between two young guys and one older bald guy. The older fellow did a crazily blatent drop in one of the young guys, who was actually trunking it out there. As if dropping in on a guy isn't bad enough, you do it to a guy who is trunking it in 57 degree water. Well trunkin it guy and his buddy decide to lash out against Bald guy and they must of stuffed him on his next 4 waves in a row. It was brutal to watch. Thankfully these guys were soley intent on snaking bald guy and were respectfull of everyone else out there. Steve and I debated on who was more in the right. He claimed Trunkin it guy was totally justified to get bald guy back as often as he wanted while I argued that they had probably proven their point after 1 drop in each. The self policing aspect is one of surfing's most unique attributes as shown here today. Merry Christmas.

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Christmas Day session with Steve and Unkle. No new boards, wetsuits or other gear to model, which made it that much more legit. Ma and Sis came along for a nice beach walk and they took the camcorder too. Perhaps someday will post vid clips from this Christmas Day session which saw plenty of long lines with perfect shape come through.

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Christmas Eve all star session with Steve, Unkle and K-dog. Longboarding at our favorite little spot along the PCH in 70 degree weather with perfectly shaped peelers in abundance.

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Session along the PCH with Steve straight down from North Bend, WA. After 6 months of no surfing, he catches and stands up on the first wave he goes for.

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Deveraux in the afternoon with Rio. Didn't expect much so was surprised by how much fun it was. About a dozen or so folks out there, compacted at the point mostly. We hung out just inside of that and picked of the rogues that swung wide and down towards the block house. Caught a lot of long waves just after the ledge that would take me way down until the wave was only knee high and breaking in shallow water. Lulls between good sets was still quite long, but today at least there was plenty of medium sized sets in between to entertain.

Had the biggest "floater" of my life on a longboard. Had taken off deep trying to backdoor a section, Rio was paddling out after his nice wave, I stalled a bit to give him time to make it over, and then as the closeout section was racing towards me I hit the lip and road the back down for a head high drop and didn't eat it. Tried numerous times to get slotted. Speant a lot of time on the front of my board, a cheater 5 here or there. Tried to get slotted while up near the nose several times. Felt so good. Every session this week I think is my funnest session ever, and this was no exception, it felt great. Sunset wasn't half bad either.

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Woke up feeling pretty good after the company christmas party, but man was it hot. Waves were not in the forecast but I was heading out anyway. After a cup of joe I headed straight to the beach and went out. There was no one out, although a few cats up at the little Point to the North. Caught a million little waves in front of people enjoying their sunday brunch. Waves were small and closed out, and usually I'd drop in and try to tuck into a closeout barrell only to have to chase my leashless shorty into the beach. Lefts and rights, they were all fun.

3 groms came out and sat on me. Boy were they real chatterboxes. Their parents must have a vending machine full of sugar for these cats. One must of woken up on the wrongside of his race-car bed, "water is too cold" and "this sucks" were his most frequent comments. Which surprises me because I think he could of fit his whole body inside a barrell if he really tried.

December in California.

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Speant most of the morning driving along the central coast marveling at empty Well Overhead waves crushing anything in it's path. Tried to find new spots that could handle this swell and I failed for the most part. In the 1.5 hours I drove along 30 miles of coast I found 10 surfers out at 3 spots. My plan for protection along the north coast was foiled. Up there two bodyboarders were sharing waves at a pier, just getting pummelled by lightening fast closeouts being groomed by 10knt offshores. My "regular" spot was empty except for the bombs closing out 100 yard sections of beach. Further driving to try to locate a super protected local reef mostly failed. I may or may not have discovered it but I wasn't surfing it that was for sure.

So instead I went south for an afternoon session where the swell was smaller from refraction. A reef break that has 3 seperate peaks, I hung out at the middle one which was less crowded but had the bonus of a submerged rock in the take-off zone. I was OK with this rock until I was caught inside during a set and duck-dived into this rock. Either my duck diving is getting way better or that is one shallow rock. Some flesh wounds on my right hand from getting stuck between my board and the rock, but mostly the wounds were psychological.

Got a lot of mid sized waves at this spot, which is similiar to the ledgy takeoff at the Deveraux point. Takeoff is a little hairy where it boils up at the rock, then you drop into a bowl sucking up, perhaps go for a cover up, otherwise make it out the shoulder, make a cutback and then figure out what to do when it closes out inside.

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My first session along the Gaviota Coast this winter and I have the Poison Oak to prove it. Cut out early for the drive to SLO and stopped along this beautiful stretch first for a nice session. Lineup was more crowded than expected but so many quality waves came through that all were satisfied. Wave was a long, long right that cranked down the coast. Sometimes the first section closed out but usually one had a long ride. Wasn't pitching out usually but on the takeoff one had an oportunity for cover up. A lot of good surfers with good attitudes out there.

Caught a lot of fun waves but then had two blown takeoffs back to back. Afraid this would ruin the cred in the lineup I proceeded to give up a lot of waves to gain goodwill again before finally roping in a nice head high wave that offered plenty of setions. The sun was almost down, I should of gone in but instead I sat out there for 15 more minutes and the sea went flat. Got caught inside settling for a small wave and headed in. Exhausted. Sure this swell was not as forecasted but still awesome.

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A rare Deveraux dawn patrol. Leftover spring tides making the mid morning session un-workable so met Petey and Greggory for some Coal Oil Point fun. Sand was cold on the feet walking out but the water was warm. Very consistent waves, lots to choose from in between sets and the sets had several waves that broke outside and on the inside of the ledge. The tide was rising fast, but the ledge was still influencing things big time, making for teapuhoo-esque drops that were make or break. Saw some epic wipeouts over that ledge, and experienced a pretty nice one myself. Took off way deep and tried to backdoor a peak and as it sucked up and the bottom dropped out so did I.

Pete had an awesome set wave, he was shortboarding in about a 50/50 mix of LB to SB's and Greggory and I had the longboards. Greggory had some pretty epic long rides, trimming, stepping, getting to the nose. The sunrise was shining off the lips as you headed down the line. Two days in a row of casual photogs shooting some film. Glorious wave after glorious wave was coming in so although it was a bit crowded it was keeping most of us busy. Good times.

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Yet another fun surf day in Santa Barbara. Warm sunny skies and warm clear water are good reasons why surfing here is so great. Another reason is the great shape. By contrast to the giant closeouts I've experienced along Central Coast beach breaks, Santa Barbara contains some of the most fun point breaks ever. Although Deveraux is often snubbed as a slow longboarder wave filled with stu's, it continues to be a great place to surf for me.

With the giant tidal swings still in effect I tried to hit it up in between the high and the low. It wasn't too crowded out their a dozen or so strung from the block house out to the point. The tide was getting low enough for the rock ledge to start sucking up and so the waves at the very outside were quite often not the best choices. Rather the next section often led to the longest and funnest wave. My first wave was the best wave, one of those waves that is so good you half just want to get out cause you know it ain't going to get any better, and you half paddle back out expecting the same exact thing again.

Some sets were close to head high. Over at sands the shape looked good too, saw some fast A frames close to head high also and some talented aerial attemptors. This was supposed to be the flatest day of the week. Sweet.

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The swell dropped in half today so I headed to a more exposed place but it was still big and closing out there. I went out anyway. There were only 3 or 4 of us spread out over this half mile strand of beach. It was a tough paddle out. A lot of duck diving, but I made it out. My first few waves looked like good shape but once I dropped in I saw nothing but a lip coming down on me. Soon I was more cautious and got a few waves with shape. Fast lefts that jacked up and closed out and fast rights that offered a turn or two before going ballistic. I had so much water shoved up my nose from getting trashed underwater that my sinus's were jacked up for the next 12 hours or so. I continue to wish for point breaks up here.

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Today was obviously going to be a big day of surf. With 13ft swells showing up on Harvest I headed to a more protected part of the central coast, where waves are usually half the size as my "usual" spot. It was still overhead and I couldn't good shape really so I just headed out to a new place that I thought looked like a reef break. Perhaps I should have studied this new spot longer because once I was out I only got about half a dozen waves, of which only two had any face to work as the others closed out on me in a rush of water. Big bombs came in outside and offered nowhere to go. My duckdiving improved by leaps and bounds today, that was about the only thing that did, as my total time up on the board was 30 seconds.

I need to find a point break or a real reef in this location. Perhaps it was the swell direction but it was tough to get a good ride.

Comments: Session with Rio and Greggory at Campus Point. Greggory skates down from his cozy office on his skateboard that is missing an entire bearing. The siezing of this wheel, and his adjustment to it, ending up giving him a sizeable advantage in the kelp strewn lineup, with all of it's over the bars hiccups that kelp gives.

Greggory advertised the conditions as chest high from his mid-morning check. It didn't look it, campus point looked pretty small and a few out so we went to the empty Poles on our longboards. Rio was awarded MVP of the session with his both-arms-out balancing act, his late drop ins, his late standups and his large wave count. For a guy who hand't surfed in 6 months till Monday, he was owning it.

Waves were small, but had some speed. Kelp was a mess, made taking off tricky and would often ruin any chance of making a tough section. Waves seemed to pick up towards the end, perhaps building for the awesome waves on Friday.

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This, the first real swell I've gotten in the Santa Barbara area of the fall, but it's already December so maybe I never caught a good fall swell, and this is our first winter swell. More on the way too. Got a call from Mikey in the am who said it looked good outside his window in the am. So Rio and I headed down for some Deveraux longboarding. Just a quick 1 hour in the water session, in the 3/2 without booties and it felt so nice and warm.

This was my 2nd longboard session in 3 months, so it took some getting used to. A lot of blown turns where I thought I was on my shortboard and cut too hard and just ate it. Had some real fun drops, the waves had a lot more power to them than I remember for Deveraux. Took off one big macker out near the point, blindly made a bottom turn and headed down the line. The wave jacked up a little bit over a ledge and started to pitch out. I tried to tuck but something took me out and took me down. Under water I relaxed for awhile but the relized my board was stuck in the whitewater and I was being dragged for what seemed like yards and yards. I finally popped up way far from the impact zone. Rio confirmed my dragged under water feat. I then proceeded to get in the way of the next two guys coming thru as I gather my board and myself.

There were certianly some barrells to be had but most of us were denied. The takeoffs were fast and fun but often the waves petered out. I caught one more fun wave near the point that went on and on, down past the blockhouse.

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Another morning along the Central Coast, but this was one of the rare occurences where the water has been textured when I've arrived. Instead of offshores we had a mild onshore condition which gave the water some bumpy patches and exposed the rips a little more clearly. The waves didn't look too promising but went for an hour session anyway. Waist high waves, a little lumpy and slow with an occaisional surprise thrown in.

Dolphins again, and this time I saw the strangest thing. A pod of dolphins appeared from nowhere, heading North quite casually. Behind them was a Seal or Sea Lion that was just a few yards behind them and keeping up with them, apparently following them. This Seal was actually "dolphining" out of the water like a dolphin, where every few yards it would dive out of the water, get some air and keep it's forward progess. This was either one confused Seal or a very smart seal staying with a pod of dolphins to avoid the Man.