Santa Barbara Area Surf Reports

Location:	Sands
Weather:	Warm and Sunny
Conditions:	A bit junked up
Swell:	11.3ft @ 11s @ 305°
Surf:	Head High Sets
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	52 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments:

Sands looked like a confused beachbreak during a storm. It looked to be holding the swell ok, even saw some sick pits, but it was shifty and bumpy. Upon paddling out it was bigger then it looked from the beach, and after catching some waves it was more unmakeable then it looked from the beach. Kyle took 3 consecutive lefts where he'd disapear into a wall of water, and come up saying he'd almost made it. He got drilled.

Two hours earlier I was under the knife, having the dermatologist carve a 5mm ball out of my chest. With 7 stiches in my chest, I was a little hesitant to takeoff on anything that would rag doll me. I caught two or three fun long ones. The best was the last wave, after we had drifted down from the bar to Outer Stu's. I caught a long driving right that offered a few lip trysts, all the way down to the cliff.

Location:	Montecito Coast
Weather:	Warm and Sunny
Conditions:	Perfectly Clean and Fast
Swell:	10.6ft @ 20s @ 300°
Surf:	Chest High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	51 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments:

A 6:15 session with IanI, this time the crowd was much smaller than yesterday, but the size had dropped has had the consistency. Sets were a lot longer in between and not as much to pick off in between. My last 3 sessions at this spot has featured Branden Arroyan, this time he surfed a red fish looking thing. I was still on chip, and got it wired this time. A lot of fast driving down the line, trying to make the sections, this chip can be fast if you know how to coax it down the line. Like yesterday the sets closed out deepest so it made sense to wait for them to swing out.

Got a lot of waves. Awesome session.

Location:	Montecito Coast
Weather:	Warm and Sunny
Conditions:	Perfectly Clean and Fast
Swell:	7.6ft @ 14s @ 285°
Surf:	Head High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	50 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments:

I wasn't alone in choosing this spot to surf the newly arrived swell at. It was a high tide morning and there were 30+ surfers at this tight lineup. A lot of very young groms packed tightly on the inside and outside were the heavies, the guys you see all the time like Branden Arroyan and some complete shredsters out there. Sets were very consistent, rolling thru all the time. Very fast takeoff, a race down the line. Further outside some sat, and sometimes these would connect thru, but most often shut down at the main peak. It was so crowded it was worth trying anyway.

First session after sitting out of the water for two days from a cold, I wasn't quite ready to get re-introduced to physical activity in this intense of a situation. It was a good nasal passage cleaner though.

Location:	Sands
Weather:	Clear Cool Morning
Conditions:	Clean with slight offshore
Swell:	9.6ft @ 17s @ 300°
Surf:	Waist to Chest. Some Bigger Sets.
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	49 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments:

Dawn Patrol at Sands with Kyle on the shorties. Bike ride out there was chilly on the exposed feet and hands No one out, surfed alone for most of the time, one other guy came out for awhile. The main peak at Stu's was shutting down mostly, although every now and then there was a picture perfect right peeling there. We were down to the East more, in front of the fallen down tree on the cliff. Here there was one of the best lefts I've surfed at Sands ever. It was a bit inconsistent, many times closing out on the bigger sets and having some long lulls in between sets. However it was worth it because when you got one you had a racetrack down the line. If you could get up quick enough and distribute your weight correctly for speed on your backside, you were locked into a thrill ride that would let up towards the end for a turn or two. If you worked it all the way to the shore you'd be past where the Snowy Plover Docent usually sits (which by the way today's docent showed up at 8am, that is dedication.)

After a few frustrating crowded sessions in a row it's nice to surf with no crowd to get the rythm going on the small board once again. It's amazing how many critical sections you can make when you can takeoff in the correct takeoff spot, as opposed to getting into positional battles that leave kooks like me stuffed behind the peak. Sunrise was epic, to the West was a blue layer and on top of that pink, to the East we had orange and red. The windless morning turned into light offshores when the sun rose, bringing spray off the back and maybe they got kinda hollow but no barrels were scoored this day.

Location:	Montecito Coast
Weather:	Sunny and Warm
Conditions:	Clean and Fast
Swell:	11.5ft @ 14s @ 295°
Surf:	Chest+
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	48 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments: A crowded dawn patrol along the Montecito Coast with IanI. Must have been 30 guys strung out along this peak that can't really hold more than 10. You could tell the regulars (you know, the guys with hoods) were a little irate with their spot being so crowded. Branden Aroyan was out there, usually sticking to the most outside position and getting some nice waves for himself. ST was not present. Some fun rides, but pretty kooked out my session on my small board, getting stuck behind the peak on all too many takeoffs. A few fun drops, wrangled in one nice set wave, took a pump or two down the line then it was dumping on the reef so I tried to pull-out and took a lip to the lap. My future generations did not appreciete that one.

Location:	Gaviota Coast
Weather:	Sunny and Warm
Conditions:	Clean and Fast. Texture Later
Swell:	9.6ft @ 20s @ 290°
Surf:	Waist to Chest
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	47 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments: Crammed in a lunchtime Gaviota Coast session with Kyle. We walked out there, it didn't look but there was no one out so we went. We had fun in what seemed like waist high waves by ourselves. Then two by two surfers walked down the beach and paddled out. I've never seen a spot go from 0 to 10 in under an hour in the middle of the day. This spot could only handle 6 surfers at post, so those last two groups of 2 really should of taken the peaks to the East or West but they blindly paddled out into our midst. However with the crowds came waves. There were some really good sets, some head high or so, and just peeling down the line. The first peak shut down a lot so Kyle smartly sat at 2nd peak and picked up some of the best rides. A lot of past paddling and back paddling going on, which kept pushing the lineup way to far to the right, meaning we were all stuck behind the peak. What a waste. A guy I see at Sands a lot was out there, and he was the worst offender, continually paddling past people and taking off too deep with a 25% success rate. Wave was too fast and critical to take out an insurance policy on him w/o the possiblity of seriously stuffing him. I eventually roadblocked him so bad that he had no choice but to pull out mid-paddle and I got the wave. Message delivered.

Location:	Sands and Deveraux
Weather:	Sunny
Conditions:	Somewhat Shuffled
Swell:	11.1ft @ 17s @ 310°
Surf:	Shoulder to Head High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	46 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments: Sunday early am session with Greggory and IanI in the Volvo. Sands was the call, but that was a mistake. It wasn't crowded but the tide was too low and the swell too big to work. We got the snot beat out of us on 2 second rides for a half hour before we got smart and went to Devearux. Life on a potato chip at Deveraux amongst big boards was tough. You tire easily scrambling for deveraux waves when you don't have any foam. Got some fun waist high ones, but this was a session about making a lot of bad decisions.

Location:	Rincon
Weather:	Overcast
Conditions:	Super Perfect
Swell:	6.6ft @ 12s @ 300°
Surf:	Chest to Shoulder High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	45 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments: Low tide at the 'con, a very rare opportunity for a weekend morning session as of late. A lot of high morning tides have been shutting things down in the am, making for no crowds yet no waves. Today there were low tide screamers, and a lot of surfers after them. Surfers strung out from the Indicator way down into the Cove. I hung out at the top of Rivermouth mostly and worked the wide swinging peak there. Paddington Bear was out, he has new Rip Curl wetsuit with Gold if I'm not mistaken. Still manages to get himself more waves than anybody else out there, that's for sure. A great session at the Rincon.

Location:	Mesa
Weather:	Clear and Warm
Conditions:	Small and Clean
Swell:	7.5ft @ 17s @ 300°
Surf:	Knee High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	44 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments: Super warm out. Cut out early, met Bear at the beach, and surfed for a half hour or so in small waves with a lot of groms. Closing out nearly every time, drop in, grab the rail and try to get under the curtain. Would of been an epic session had it been in the middle of summer.

Location:	Sands
Weather:	Warm and Windy
Conditions:	Blown Out
Swell:	9.6ft @ 14s @ 315°
Surf:	Thigh High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	43 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments: Didn't look windy from the window. Was supposed to turn offshore mid-day. Went for it, and the closer to the ocean the more apparent it was windy. Suited up anyway. Saw kite-surfers and almost got blown off the bike on the ride. Got there, one guy out, totally blown out and beaten down. Jumped in to get wet. 5 minutes, 2 waves.

Location:	Sands
Weather:	Sunny and in the 70's
Conditions:	NA
Swell:	NA
Surf:	NA
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life:	42 Sessions in Replacement Suit.

Comments: I don't remember