Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Location:		Gaviota Coast
Weather:		After a Spring Rainstorm
Conditions:		Mightly Clean Considering
Swell:		4.7ft @ 17s @ 295°
Surf:		Waist High Sets

Comments: Two days of a cold front that brought in some wind and then some spring rain. The buoys seemed to contain some long period swell out of the NW but the wind still felt an issue. Greg and I canceled plans to longboard after work. Then around 6:15 the wind seemed to die and I figured I'd take the shortboard and see if I could get wet. A no check suit up and a trot down the disengrated granite path, and I saw a kid pull two aerials on the first wave I saw. He came in after that wave and I paddled out, with just a few others in the water. Some rip currents were creating some chopped up water, and the water was a bit brown from the rain, but besides that it was good water.

The light after a rain is great, and the in the afternoon when it comes in perpendicular to you it's even better. Every left I took was a silhoute, and every right was like having fill flash on your. I mostly bogged down on my first few rights, couldn't get any speed or rythem before the suckers closed out on me. Then I had a few fast and fun lefts that ended with a tap off the lip. Then I tried the rights again and by then I had some mo to get going and trying turns or some crazy vertical snaps that would fail.

Surfed until the sun went down.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Just after the Rain
Conditions:		Mushed outside, snapping inside... like yesterday
Swell:		2.4ft @ 17s @ 190°
Surf:		Infrequent Waist High +

Comments: It was still all south swell effecting this spot today. Almost just like yesterday, super long lulls for outside waves, a big no mans land in the middle and then some junky beachbreak. Just like yesterday I speant way too much time in no mans land, impatient for the outside waves which I'd take on my head. The lineup was a moving, shuffling mass, often all sitting outside as if everyone decided they were going to be patient to nab a great one, but then one by one paddling inside to get some small waves only to kick themselves when a longboarder would come screaming down the line. A 47' Coast Guard MLB was outside doing exercises along with the harbor patrol, and there was some sort of lifeguard competition going on with them too. This created something to watch during the long lulls. Update: It was a K38 training class.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Just before the Rain
Conditions:		Mushed outside, snapping inside
Swell:		1.8ft @ 17s @ 220°
Surf:		Infrequent Waist High +

Comments: I think it was only the South Swell that was working at this spot, and it was shadowed towards the south and working better at the 2nd peak further north. It would be flat as a lake for 10 minutes, surfers would start paddeling in to catch some small inside ones, and then a really fun set would come in way outside and offer epic rights and lefts. I was on a shortboard but the lonboarders clearly had the advantage today, they would catch these things long before they would break, almost like tanker surfing, and then make a turn as it started to shoal. Us shortboarders were often caught in the no mans land between the infrequent outside sets and the more frequent yet smaller beach break. Occaionsly I got it right, and was outside with the longboarders and nabbed a fun one, but usually I was paddeling for stuff that didn't break for football fields later. Kind of frustrating but when I did get waves they made it all worth while.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Windy
Conditions:		Sloppy
Swell:		Mixed SW and NW
Surf:		Waist High Sets

Comments: Quick lunchtime session at the pier. Paddled out on the south side but the current was heading north, the first time this spring for me. South side wasn't doing it for me so I paddled in front of the pier and tried to surf the northside. The south swell was working so well that waves were making it thru the pier. The current was maddening, I had to paddle at 50%, both in and towards the pier continously to stay in place. The best takeoff spot was not outside where the sets closed out, but inside near the 2nd Diamond in the pier which created a little sandbar that allowed rights that came in right to the pilings.

Location:		Gaviota Coast
Weather:		Sunny and warm
Conditions:		Confused and bunched up
Swell:		5.6ft @ 17s @ 295°
Surf:		Ankle to Knee High

Comments: Quick evening session down the road. Only a few guys out, had a "peak" to myself. Massive shorebreak on the pebbles, then a giant hole, then a sandbar. Waves coming in from many directions, sometimes to adverse effects. The hole on the inside sometimes was in cahoots with the wishy washy waves and formed weird rips and double ups and madness. Caught many fun rights, hit a few lips, tucked into a few closeout knee high cylinders, and splayed out on blown floaters twice. Waves didn't pack much punch. Dolphins outside heading west. Crazy plover or some bird in a dogfight with a crow. Wood on the beach starting to get organized by beach people, many nice hangout spots and some choice bonfire potential.

Location:		Montecito Coast
Weather:		Partial Clouds against hills
Conditions:		Fairly Clean, some bump from high tide
Swell:		10.4ft @ 12s @ 310°
Surf:		Thigh High Sets

Comments: Months and months of solely surfing Goleta or the Central Coast and it's time to break out and head down to the gentle soothing breaks down near Santa Barbara. A fair amount of windswell on the buoys as well as some SW, but I'm not sure what we were seeing out there. Little knee highers were breaking inside and along the beach. Fast with good shape and although small still worth catching. Every 10+ minutes or so a real fun set would break up and outside. Thigh high, maybe a waist high one or two, they were sectiony and fast.

I was out with Greggory, both on our longboards. The water got super warm compared to last week. The sunset was nice, the hills softly filled with color, the water refreshing, all things I miss about surfing down in the protected spots.

A couple of fun set waves with some walking, got shut down way too much and stuck in the wash. There was a guy out there that needed to learn wave ettiquette, probably should of given a tip or two about priority. Would continually paddle past Greggory and I, take off on the best set waves and completely blow it, leaving Greggory or I scrambling to to takeout the insurance policy. Then after blowing it, would still paddle deepest. At a well policied spot this would not happen.

One of the better set waves came thru towards the end, I was deeper than Greggory but yelled out for a party wave. We both took off side by side and the wave was so fast it was apparent we both couldn't keep up thru the sections and not run into each other so I took one for the team and cut back and headed left although there was no left. Greggory went to the beach on that one. It got less and less crowded, we caught a few more fun ones and then headed to the Blue Collar Bistro which we found out is closed on Monday nights. Rats.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Sunny with wind picking up
Conditions:		Bumpy
Swell:		2.0ft @ 1s @ 185°
Surf:		Chest High Sets

Comments:

Looked like crud out near the rock, but went away. Worlds best paddled out in the outfall of the power plant which skirts you out thru some a bumpy secton and spits you out into the lineup. I took turns sitting at the southern and northern peaks. The southern peak would get the bigger sets and have the bigger and longer lefts, while the northern peak would have rights and lefts and was less crowded. Without a doubt my best two waves were on the southern peak, screaming fast lefts with an intial duck down and then a few turns, trying to avoid people paddling out stuck in "the hole." In between sets the lineup would completely dis-assemble as people tried to catch stray waves inside or the north. As soon as the set came there were lots of people stuck inside which usually made taking off sketchy. Then right after the set the lineup would be full again, until people lost interest and hunted down stragglers. Patience was key. Caught a super long right in, and although I did nearly nothing on it like bump on a log, kdog did see it from the beach and said it was rad.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Windy
Conditions:		Often Mushy
Swell:		4.4ft @ 8s @ 310°
Surf:		Thigh High

Comments:

Crudy little shortboarding session out in beachbreak waves. Occaionsal moments of brillance coupled by many more moments of maddening mush. Amongst the groms once again, I made new enemies by my radical style of trying to share waves. Although I had a super time and was jazzed up afterwards, in retrospect it was an unmemorable session.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Warm Air coming out of the valley
Conditions:		Onshore, sideshore, offshore wind?
Swell:		6.4ft @ 11s @ 305°
Surf:		Thigh High

Comments:

Lunctime session, where the wind was howling down the valley we live off of, coming straight in from The Bay. Flags were pointing straight like arrows inland. However heading down around the corner the wind was shifted a little, and really warm, as if it was coming straight in from Santa Margarita or something. The water was a mess from all the wind, but was actually getting cleaner as the wind was seeming to shift to sideshore/offshore. Only me and one other guy for a while, trading the lefts that were short unless you could connect to the inside. After 45 minutes of this I headed in and saw kdog shredding it on her neon boooogie board, so then I boooogie boarded the shortboard and went agro in the double ups inside.

Location:		Gaviota Coast
Weather:		Sunny with light onshores
Conditions:		Slight Texture outside, clean inside
Swell:		7.7ft @ 12s @ 305°
Surf:		Thigh High

Comments:

Up the coast a little bit to a spot I surfed like an addict a few years ago because of it's quick access to beach break waves. Since then the access has been significantly hurt because of parking conditions and what used to be an easy check has been more difficult. Every time I do check it the sand is all wrong so I haven't been out here. Today I was heading up to SLO and couldn't do the long walk to Sands so just stopped by to get wet real quick. A lot of cars and boards in the parking lot so I figured there was something so headed out blind.

The lineup was filled, almost 90% longboards although the waves came down with some authority. I had my shortboard and managed to usually get up in time to duck into a closeout pit or hit the lip and fall. Water is still cold. Sunset was amazing. Crowd was good people, this lineup certainly represented more a cross section of our surfing community than does sands with people of all ages and sexes.

Favorite wave was yet again a left. Are lefts my favorite because I am sketchy going backside and so it is just exciting? This one was a late takeoff on a peaky bump that was funnelling off of a sandbar near a rip. I dropped in and ducked down, outside rail grab and my board compelety lost all grip as I slid sideways down the wave as it came over. I gave out a solitary hoot because I thought it was all over but somehow some fin grabbed and I headed down the line towards the sunset in a rollercoaster race for the shoulder. I wasn't fast enough and the lip folded up and landed on me, splaying my body across the surface of the sea and then pinning me against the soft sand bottom like a flyswatter. Yep, not much as changed in the year since I surfed this beachbreak. I'll be back again soon.

Location:		Sands
Weather:		Sunny with moderate offshore/sideshore
Conditions:		Peaky, Fast and Sectiony
Swell:		9.4ft @ 12s @ 315°
Surf:		Chest High+ Sets

Comments:

Working underneath the flightpath of Santa Barbara Airport has it's advantages. Such as mid-day today, when I noticed the planes were no longer coming in over our building on approach to land, but rather over our building after takeoff. A quick check of the windsock out near the taxi-way confirmed: Offshore. The wheels were put in motion for a sunset session. The wind wasn't perfectly offshore, and it was blowing pretty good, so who knew what conditions would be like. Once at Sands it looked similar to the last few days, but with a little more size and wind combed peaks with spray off the back. Not as awe inspiring as our fall offshore events with warm air and water, but no complaints for an offshore event in spring in the afternoon. I paddled out at the wrong time, took a lot of freezing cold waves on the head, then waited out in what seemed like flat conditions. Soon the sets came rolling in, nice peaks jacking up with spray coming off the back. A few pits here and there and a few guys getting cover ups. My best wave was a late takeoff going left where I felt like I slid down the face sideways, while grabbing the rail and looking for the cover up. It never came. After that it was a series of mildy successfull rights and lefts where I'd typically get few turns in and then blow it coming off the top at the end. Braveheart wasn't out there today, but another regular was out there, more of a hack like me in ability whom we'll call Joe. He and I got stuck inside on a freak bomb that broke top to bottm with a lot of power. I barely slipped under it, felt it try to take me with it, but then it lost it's gripped and I successfully poppped out the back, whilest Joe who must have been a second or two later than I got ripped apart, but was pretty stoked to experience some power in spring. Surfed until past the sun went down, my hands were numb and incapable of dexterity.

Location:		Sands
Weather:		Air: Warm. Water: Freezing
Conditions:		Peaky Windswell.
Swell:		6.8ft @ 11s @ 300°
Surf:		Waist High

Comments:

Petey and I head out for some shortboarding at sands during an evening glass off. While checking Deveraux along the cliff I saw three whale spouts out in the water up towards the point. A lot of activity in the parking area, a lot of people gearing up to go out. Deveraux was longboardable yet looking a little peaky and disorganized. Sands was it's typical sprintime self, peaky windswell that would ocaiosonaly produce a nicely organized peak. Pete and I traded rights and lefts for an hour and froze everything off ourselves. Had some super screaming fast rail grabbing lefts and failed to hit the lip backside, but managed some cutbacks to the wash. Frontside was easier and even got a tiny little head dip down in front of the cliff where it was jacking up a little bit. It was mostly stu's out there, but one of my favorite Sands ripsters was out. A guy who wears a lot of sunscreen on his face whom I've dubbed "Braveheart". Braveheart shreds out there.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Breeze coming up but sunny
Conditions:		Ocainsonal perfect peelers. Ocainsional
Swell:		10.1ft @ 11s @ 310°
Surf:		Head High Sets

Comments:

Went out at the Southside of the pier in Bakersfield by the Sea. I can see why the local groms are a pretty tight knit and tough to penetrate group: tourons. So many tourists descend upon town, it displaces the residents. The water can get crowded with people in over their heads, as seemed the case today. If you take the channel out on the southside you can get wisked out beyond the breakers, which today was past the end of the pier. Once out there you drift south a little bit and get to a nice peak. Catch a long wave here and you pull out in no mans land, looking back out to sea at wave after wave coming towards you. After duck diving a half dozen waves in freezing cold water that makes your head stay stop, you realize you are not making much progress. Eventually the sets let up and you scramble outside. Next time you'll pull out a little earlier unless the wave looks epic. And this is for experienced surfers. With all the respect I have for those that make this place home, I still got pissed at Mr. Hooded Kid who spun around in front of me right as I was about to drop in. He gave me two choices, one get up and run over his back, or two pull out. I choose option two, and he took off all the while snickering. After that he made a nice point of paddeling real close to me when jockeying for waves. I certainly wouldn't the pier to be known as my local spot, but holy crow it sucks when you've put time in at a spot and still get stuffed. The good part of the story is my last wave, in which I pulled one of the best floaters of my life, hit it and landed the timing nicely and didn't eat it. Well worth getting sat on by Mr. Hooded Kid.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Sunny with wind coming soon
Conditions:		Blown Out Messball
Swell:		17.6ft @ 14s @ 315°
Surf:		Head High

Comments:

The swell was big enough to go to a secluded area that handeled the wind and swell better. Yesterday I learned the proper name of all 3 peaks while I was checking it out. I was correct on one of the peaks, had the other peak off by one, and learned a totally new name. I still haven't surfed the northermost of the peaks near the storm drain, it's a much more packed lineup and a non-local is probably best served at the peak in the middle which serves up rights and lefts and shifts enough to break it up. Fun rides, the 6'6" being a great board for this break, even when I totally bog it into the lip when trying to come off the top. Good crowd. Water cold as hell.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Raining
Conditions:		Blown Out Messball
Swell:		8.0ft @ 12s @ 305°
Surf:		Head High

Comments:

A late lunch session along the central coast. It had been sprinkling on and off all day and it looked like the wind was picking up. The protected reef breaks were not looking good at all so I went out at a beachbreak and tried to find some corners. It started raining pretty good, coming down softly at first but then sideways after ahwile. There were only a few of us out, but once the rain came things were calmer and quieter. That didn't mean there were that many makeable sections, but I certainly had some fun backsiders and big turns going frontside. Everytime I think winter is over and I get ready for summer we get more rain up along the central coast.

Location:		Sands
Weather:		Sunny and breezy
Conditions:		Small Peaky Sections
Swell:		5.7ft @ 17s @ 315°
Surf:		Thigh to Waist High

Comments:

Another day at sands. Better get used to this, peaky afternoon shortboarding on windswell. Smaller than yesterday but also less crowded. Found a spot outside the crowd where I could score short rights and lefts. I'm realizing how waterlogged my Goleta shortboard was. I thought the waves just didn't lack the punch that they did up along the central coast, but now that the central coast board was down here for the week I've been able to not suck. How much better would my surfing have been this winter had that board not been slowly sinking all winter as I failed to repair it from the dozens of dings I was giving it? Answer unknown.

Plenty of oil and tar in the water. Had a really nice left that sucked up and let me ride along the lip as it closed out. Worth the price of admission.

Location:		Sands
Weather:		Sunny and breezy
Conditions:		Peaky yet clean lines available
Swell:		6.2ft @ 12s @ 315°
Surf:		Waist High Sets

Comments:

Shortboarding session at sands after work. First post-work session in 6 months, thanks to Daylight Savings time. We've had a lot of wind the last week. That dropped the water temperature and brought some blown out conditions. Tonight though the wind was under control, and although paddling was a little choppy it wasn't half bad. The sets were pretty fun for some afternoon short period swell. Every now and then a waist high or so set would come in, offering rights and lefts that were often short, yet allowed for some tuck in and lip smacking attempts. A much better session then last week on my longboard out here.

Location:		Central Coast
Weather:		Sunny and Blowin Straight Onshore Hefty
Conditions:		All Mixed Up
Swell:		9.7ft @ 14s @ 315°
Surf:		Chest High+

Comments:

Took out K-dog's funboard for a much needed session after having speant a listless weekend doing the old college buddy drinking thing. We didn't head out there until after lunch and it was blowing something good. There were only a few surfers out strung along the miles and miles of beach. Made it out there through the mess without incident and speant the next hour wiggling my way thru whitewash and foam to get a makeable wave. There were makeable ones, mostly really fast lefts that would suck up with much force, or a slower right that would close out with equal ferocity.