Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Location:	Ventura County
Weather:	Cloudy from a front coming in
Conditions:	Powerful Gut Crunchers
Swell:	5.9ft @ 14s @ 305°
Surf:	Waist High with Bigger Sets
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	62 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments: Meeting of the minds with me, Greggory and Mank. I had the 6'5" Mongrel which was the wrong choice for the day. The lack of rocker on these steep fast takeoffs made for a movies worth of wipeout scenes. Greggory's brought the Bettis Fish which is really a Bus that is a thick plank of foam that could not possibly fit in the shape of the wave. Mank on the 6'4" Dan Taylor had the right equipment. The lefts were the best, they would jack up for a quick breathless drop in and then a down the line screamer. Between the three of us there were only 4.5 turns made during the session. Mank made it the furthest on these waves, ending up way far down many houses worth. The current outside wasn't bad, but if you caught a short wave to the left, you'd get sucked 4-5 houses to the north. We tried to line up on a pink house but soon a rip current developed just north of that house and we got stuck on the other side of it.

Some board swapping, I tried the DT again and felt what it was like to turn. Mank tried the Mongrel and couldnt' stop laughing at how little rocker there was. He claimed the board tried to kill him after missing a few critical drops. I also tried the Bus, and dropped into 3-4 waves in a row where half way down the face as it got steeper the board simply was to wide and flat to stay in it and it was bailorama. Got caught inside with this hunk of foam, actually punctured through an open face on this thing, got a breath of air on the backside, before getting pulled back down a 5 foot wall of water backwards. A few more waves later, I'm paddling in knee high water on a sandbar trying to duckdive into sand. It was ugly.

Swithed up again and caught a few more on my board, before all three of us were pooped. I'm pretty sure Greggory never stopped laughing the whole session at one comment or another of Mank's.