Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Comments:

Yesterday was such a blast I had to go again, and Pete managed to wiggle out of work early to join me. Felt a little bad for leaving longboard friends out of the loop, but this was no place for that much foam. When we got to the spot I surfed yesterday, Pete was impressed with the size but thinking it was too fast to be much fun. He, being smarter than I, realized those bombs I kept trying to make yesterday were nearly umakeable. He was right. We found another peak that was much more makeable, although not pitching out as much and paddled out thru the backdoor. During a set, of course.

We took a minor drubbing but made it out pretty quick considering. The heavies were heaving outside and to the right, but the really makeable stuff was inside a bit. I sat out the first set, trying to get a feel for where to be. Luckily there were enough folks out there to give a good indicator of where to be. Heavies kept coming in and surfers of far superior ability were effortlessly stroking into them. Someone needs to invent a surfboard cam because these were cover quality moments, now burned into my memory. I'm pretty sure my mind expelled my entire 7th grade experience in order to fit these images in.

The timing is mostly a blur, but it was a repeat of my last session in that I floundered on the first couple of attempts. A few missed waves, a few late drops in unmakeable sections. Then the switch came on and I started to get into makeable waves. The drops were not as gracefull as yesterday, some poor foot placement made for some poor manuvering. The drop had a racing section after it that was both fast and furious then a smaller inside section where you can relax and do some turns. The wave went forever and you had to decide when to kick out depending on your arms.

Towards sunset the crowded lineup was just Pete, I and two other guys. A big set came in, looking feathering outside and looking big and mean. Pete and another guy were stuck inside while I and 1 guy traded looking down into the abyss of what were closeouts. Finally a big one came in that was makeable and he was off. I watched the next 2 come in to closeout. In retrospect I should have tried one of those, they would have become my new biggest wave of the winter even if they went nowhere.

We surfed until the sun was down, caught a few smaller ones and once again that sense of calm and peace was overwhelming in the warm dusk air.