Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Location:	Campus Point
Weather:	Mostly Cloudy
Conditions:	Some backwash from high tide but not bad
Swell:	10.1ft @ 14s @ 290°
Surf:	Overhead Sets
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	10 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments:

Today was a dawn patrol with Greggory and IanI at Campus. G: 9'2" Longboard. I: 6'6" Rocketfish. P: 6'2" Fish. Greggory headed to Poles while IanI and I paddled to Campus. At first is wasn't too crowded and the waves were awesome. My first wave from the outside lineup was a medium sized one that was fast and long. The fish is fast, I kept outrunning the wave and having to cutback, although I think the outrunning had more to do with me trying to not get smacked by the errant lips. Greggory then soon moved over to the cove at the point, and we crossed paths often, although only going opposite directions. He was charging into some big stuff for that board and pulling it off. I'd keep trying to paddle back out to IanI but a mid-sized beauty would always come through that was too good to pass up.

On one such occasion I was paddling back out after a catching a nice overhead sneaker that swung wide, when I saw the wave that would earn IanI the MVP award. I saw him drop in and slide into the pocket (apparently his hand was in the water too, as if stalling for some tube time but he was trying to get balance). He was standing mostly straight up with a little crouch, and the wave was a couple of feet over his head, and pitching out with a big thick lip and a gaping hole behind him. I couldn't tell at the time if he even knew the giant barrel that was just a few feet behind him if he just stalled some more (he did) but soon enough the tube caught up and curled over him, and for a fraction of second he was in the best pit I've seen this winter. The remaining 33/64ths of that second though he got taken out by very thick lip. I made it out the furthest lineup once more and caught something a little overhead that almost got me pitted, I ducked and tried to stall but nothing. Having not surfed Campus in a long time I forgot how easly you can outrun the pocket, but in waves this big it takes a little more cajones to do a big cutback and go towards what you were running from. Instantly after that the waves shut down, and the crowds came. It got so inconsistent I was sitting near the rocks just to pick off waist high waves for entertainment. I got 2 waves in a row that dumped me out near Poles and surfed with G while IanI came over too, and we all got one in the stairs in A-Bay. Great Session.