Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Dawn Patrol at Campus Point with Greggory, both on our Fish. My first Campus Point session since last Tuesday, and in the meantime Michelle Housego drowned here on Sunday. We wanted to enjoy ourselves and respect this newly formed scared place. I checked the buoys at 6am and the swell was by no means big but it was significant. Problem was, winds in the channel had been steady at 20-25knts all night, and even the airport reported 17knts at 3am. This swell would be severly beaten down and dis-organized and perhaps not even worth chasing. We went anyway, what else were we going to do, sleep?

Sure enough, the visual check showed smaller conditions than the raw buoy data might suggest, but it was connecting much better than expected. Us along with 3 others were first in the water, and started to surf the 2nd and 3rd peaks down. Here it was significantly smaller than up top, but the shape was better, rides were longer and crowds were nil. Greggory can still count on one hand the number of sessions he's surfed a board shorter than 9 feet yet he brought along his A game. Perhaps the quickest Long to Short board transition I've ever witnessed. He had one wave, where he was heading down the line, driving for some speed and then as it closed out he hit the foam and got a mini little 6" floater. Impressive for a guy who was a circus act a week and a half ago.

Got some fun waist high waves with a green glass sheen to them on the inside. Outside had much chop and churn on it yet up to shoulder high at best. Did two laps to the top and back, then G suggested we head in via Poles, then into Anacapa Bay and up the stairs. We caught a few downstream and then sat outside of the shower house. A few nice waves came in that we missed or were out of priority for. I was watching the Rocks where Michelle got tangled up in, respectfully keeping my distance yet trying to understand what went wrong. I then caught perhaps the best wave of my life at Poles. It certainly was my longest and best wave there on a non-longboard. I screamed down the line, pumping for speed and never once took a turn to bleed speed, it was just that fast. I drove past those haunting rocks and came towards two surfers on the inside who were hoping I'd fall or not make the next section. The green curtain started to rise, I ducked down and petted the wall, it never came over me but I had a half-pipe view of the world for awhile. I came out of that section and was back to driving for speed. This went on and on and it ended with a little floater. I was down not quite to the stairs, but to the place the cliff caved in and you can't see the fence, perhaps a hundred feet from the stairs. However cheesy or cliche it may be, that glassy and green thrill ride will forever stick in my mind as for Michelle Housego.