Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Comments:

After the frustrating dawn patrol session with Pete at a filled to the brim Deveraux I needed an afternoon session to get some real waves. I could hear the waves before I could see them, big bombs snapping offshore in fits. When I first saw the sets come in, it was breathtaking. Giant multi-wave sets were coming down the coast, almost like one huge point. The waves looked BIG, dwarfing the surfers on them. I'd classify the average set wave as well overhead, and even go out on a limb and risk my credibility and say the bigger set waves were 1.5X overhead and more.

The waves were fast, very few surfers were able to stay on the sets thru all the sections. Most had a very nice drop in and pointed down the line until they got swallowed up in a barrell. I started to paddle out, and somehow made it out without too much incident. I sat off of the pack at first and tried to grab a shoulder to warm up. This didn't work out too well as it was tough on the timing and too stressfull double checking that you weren't snaking some guy buried deep in a tube. I headed over the main pack and started to earn my stripes by taking off in the thick of things.

My first wave was the biggest wave I'd ridden all winter. It was a hairball drop, one of those drops where the water is coming up so fast you really think you don't have enough board under you. It didn't feel like I was dropping into a cylinder, but more like a 10' skateboard ramp with 4' of vert at the top. I am even surprised I made that drop, and every drop after that. Water was coming up so fast, and the lip was starting to pitch out so quick that it was complete instinct. Scratch for a wave and stand as quick as you can.

Naturally i was so slow getting up on my first few waves, that although I made the drops, I got left behind in the caboose of this frieght train. An angled drop next to a wall of water, when it was clear I wasn't going to make the first section I should of tucked in for the barrell of my life but instead straigtened it out as the wall of water went WHAM a few feet behind me and exploded in the air taking me down soon after. Power.

I pretty much repeated that for the next 6 big waves. Every drop being the drop of my life, every racing down the line had my heart going, fight or flight being the only thing keeping things going forward. These waves seemed like short rides, but really they were just fast long rides. My last wave of the day was the longest, it was much smaller and offered an oportunity to shake things out, make some turns and have some fun.

When I got out of the water I stuck around to watch a few sets as the sky grew darker. Everybody on the beach completely wiped out with a zen like calm in this, the most memorable session of 2005. So far.