Sunday, April 30, 2006 @ 9:00 AM

 

Rincon With IanI

Location: Rincon
Weather: Overcast
Conditions: Cleaner and Bigger
Swell: 6.0ft @ 8s @ 315°
Surf: Thigh to Waist High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 117 Sessions
Comments: IanI came this morning and the lineup was pretty empty and chilly today. Waves seemed a little bigger than yesterday and maybe cleaner too. We caught a few fun ones at the Indicator, I actually getting something that made it past the rocks and down towards the Rivermouth. Then we shift South below Indicator a big and traded some of these. Often times we'd get stuck behind the peak when the shifted to the south. A confusing day, figuring where to sit. Rewards were good as we both caught a lot of waves and surfed well.
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Saturday, April 29, 2006 @ 9:00 AM

 

Cold Rincon Spring

Location: Rincon
Weather: Overcast
Conditions: Somewhat Junky
Swell: 3.7ft @ 10s @ 300°
Surf: Thigh High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 116 Sessions
Comments: Cold and empty lineup up on this overcast saturday morning. Paddled out on the backside and paddled over past the Indicator into the Rivermouth where I settled into some fun waves above the mouth. Two longboarders came soon and sat outside of me. Hooded shortboarder sat at the Indicator and picked off the lefts that were squeaking through. Rincon continues to make one surf like a superhero, with fun drops, speed down the line for some lip hits and then an opportunity for a big cutback into the foam. One or two of these waves can improve one's surfing more than all week at a peaky beachbreak. Or so it seems.
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Friday, April 28, 2006 @ 12:00 PM

 

As Small As Possible

Location: Goleta Beachbreaks
Weather: Overcast
Conditions: Clean and Consistent
Swell: 7.1ft @ 11s @ 305°
Surf: Knee to Thigh High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 115 Sessions ($2.17/session)
Comments: IanI and Greggory tried to dawn patrol the low tide at Deveraux today but it was too small. I was expecting bagels too, but higher tide at lunch at a beachbreak was actually surfable. Similiar session to last night, maybe a little smaller but cleaner too.
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Thursday, April 27, 2006 @ 5:30 PM

 

Dozen Groms and I

Location: Goleta Beachbreaks
Weather: Overcast
Conditions: Fairly Clean and Peaky
Swell: 8.1ft @ 11s @ 315°
Surf: Thigh High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 74 in replacement suit
Comments: First time I've surfed this little dinky beachbreak in months, to me it was all but non-existant this winter. This was the first time the rain and wind were gone and we had some amount of swell in a couple of weeks. About dozen people in the water, almost all groms on shredsticks. You could tell the lineup's alegiance to Surf Country by gear in the water: Rip Curl wetsuits. In fact Doug himself was out there. Paddington Bear was out there too, which confused me. I thought he was a Carp local because of how often I see him tearing up Rincon and his A Frame sponsorship. Once I saw him at Sands and I just figured he was with his buddies. But today, by himself, at some dinky beachbreak in Goleta. I don't think Paddington Bear is Matt Johnson, I think he is some other NSSA shredster and the research must continue. We cannot complain about the waves. They were clean marching down the coast from the West. A lot of them were gutless and somewhat frustrating but some would pitch out a little bit like early morning glass. These were not the Hero waves one can get used to at Rincon, where the waves hold up so well you pull moves above your level. No, these waves made you surf below your level. You'd drop in, see nice wall, pump down the line and then the wave would just fall apart when it left the sandbar.
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Sunday, April 23, 2006 @ 8:00 AM

 

Sleeper Session

Location: Rincon
Weather: Overcast
Conditions: Shuffled
Swell: 5.9ft @ 11s @ 300°
Surf: Knee to Waist High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 73 in replacement suit
Comments: A sleeper session at the Rincon. A paddle out on the backside of Rincon and the waves looked completely cruddy. A paddle around the Indicator into the Rivermouth and suddently consistent waves are coming. I surfed alone the whole time except for a foreign guy on a Roberts I traded waves with for a half hour. A grom was past the Rivermouth and a few longboarders were in the Cove, but besides that it was a sleepy spring day at Rincon. Although small and not the classic shape of Rincon, the point break did put out some serious hero waves, letting me surf above my ability. Caught a million waves.
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Thursday, April 20, 2006 @ 6:00 PM

 

Worst Ever

Location: Sands
Weather: Cold and Cloudy
Conditions: Small and Crumbled
Swell: None
Surf: Knee High every 20 minutes
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 72 in replacement suit
Comments: Worst session ever. Long walk to sands on sore feet. Cold, cloudy and windy. Got there. One guy out. No waves in sight. Paddled out anway. Got 4 waves in 20 minutes. Walked back to car. Worst session ever.
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Wednesday, April 19, 2006 @ 5:30 PM

 

Get Used To This

Location: Sands
Weather: Sunny in the 70's
Conditions: Clean and Small
Swell: 3.4ft @ 8s @ 315°
Surf: Knee High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 71 in replacement suit
Comments: Warm, sunny weather and small, playfull waves at Sands. This could be what the next 5 months look like around here: being satisfied by knee high windswell at the local beachbreaks. With the small waves came warm water. The Stearns Wharf gauge was reading 59° a few days ago although now it says 54°, which I don't believe. A couple dozen surfers spread from Stu's down to Sandbar, with some consistent knee high rollers and every now and then a thigh high set would thrill the crowd. A lot of folks on the beach, running the trials, and playing guitar, finally getting outside after weeks and weeks of junky weather. Water was pretty clean, not too much tar and clear enough to see fish swim through the peaks of the waves and they lulled by. Some offshore operation going on between Sands and Platform Holly, a funny looking boat doing something of some sort, could of been working on the seep tents or some UCSB research.
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Sunday, April 16, 2006 @ 9:30 AM

 

Easter Erased Swell

Location: Rincon
Weather: Cloudy, some South Wind
Conditions: Junk
Swell: 9.0ft @ 17s @ 320°
Surf: Knee High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 70 in replacement suit
Comments: Easter Sunday, who stole the swell? The Harvest Buoy was doubled over yesterday, yet the swell was nowhere to be seen, even smaller than yesterdays small session. The south wind didn't help, making any waves that did make it through into complete junk. About a dozen rides all worth about 2 seconds each. Gave up early and started building a driftwood fort on the beach while Bear was running.
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Saturday, April 15, 2006 @ 9:00 AM

 

Lefts From Nowhere

Location: Rincon
Weather: Cloudy, some South Wind
Conditions: Reddish Brown Chunky Lefts
Swell: 3.6ft @ 10s @ 305°
Surf: Knee High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 69 in replacement suit
Comments: The no-look-because-you-know-it-will-discourage-you session, with a suit up and a walk down the upper lot stairs to a lineup empty of surfers and waves. The water was a reddish brown color that looked like the slurry leftover from a red brick factory. Backdoored the 'lineup' on the Fish and sat out for a long time trying to figure out if I could catch a wave before hitting the rocks. Nursing a mild hangover from celebrating IanI's promotion to Major last night left me a little slow to begin with. Soon some two wave sets were pouring in to break over the Indicator reef to make fast fun lefts. I was joined by a nice fellow on a longboard from San Diego who was staying at the house we were surfing in front of. We traded these two wave sets for the remainder of the session, both the longboard and the Fish seemingly both being ideal tools for the lack of waves. My most consistent backside surfing on the Fish ever. Much progress made.
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Thursday, April 13, 2006 @ 12:00 PM

 

Sands Cranks

Location: Sands
Weather: Second Day Of Sun
Conditions: Smooth Peaks
Swell: 9.4ft @ 12s @ 300°
Surf: Chest High Sets
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 68 Sessions in Replacement Suit.
Comments: In between rainstorms session with Kyle at Sands after yesterdays fun session out at Sands and Deveraux. On the Fish and caught awesome waves right off the bat. The left that was peeling off of Stu's was amazing, a perfect chest high freight train that was picture perfect. A lot of good surfers out today just killing it, with big smacks off the top and a few little mini aerials on display. So fun, and so energy draining.
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Wednesday, April 12, 2006 @ 6:00 PM

 

After Work Swell

Location: Sands and Deveraux
Weather: Sunny, Some Offshores
Conditions: Great
Swell: 10.9ft @ 14s @ 295°
Surf: Shoulder High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 67 Sessions in Replacement Suit.
Comments:

With IanI just back from Costa Rica, I hit it with him and Greggory. We started out at Sands, but the swell was little too big for Sands on this tide. Head high closeouts were pretty unmakeable, especially on the equipment we all had on us. A couple of banzai takeoffs but nothing pretty. After a half hour of this we walked to Deveraux and paddled out. We were paddling out and we saw some brazillian kid drop in on an old salty Goleta longboarder. Then, in what I thought only occured south of the the Ventura County Line, the old Goletian jumped off his board and starting punching the Brazillian kid. It was loco. He then paddled back out. Meanwhile I caught a great wave then paddled out to the point. They were arguing, the kid apologizing yet saying "what was that all about", the Goletian just pissed. Certainly brought a vibe to the water. I caught a lot of fun waves in the first half hour, then the crowd was unbearable. I lost IanI and Greggory, had no idea where they went. Around sunset I headed in, thinking they were on the beach looking for me. Not so, I guess they were still out. Great session, fights and all.

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Sunday, April 09, 2006 @ 2:00 PM

 

Rincon Classic

Location: Rincon
Weather: Overcast
Conditions: Mixed Up
Swell: 4.9ft @ 8s @ 320°
Surf: Waist High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 66 Sessions in Replacement Suit.
Comments: Surfed Rincon while the Rincon Classic was running. The contest was going on below the rivermouth for the most part so I surfed the Indicator. When it switched from boys to girls, the girls started surfing up near the Indicator. It was ruthless, the guys at the indicator were taking off and not really letting the contestants have any priority. Eventually the girls drifted down to the Rivermouth where the rest of the contest was running. Some fun fast waves, a little south wind making them junky but not bad for a mid-day in the spring.
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Saturday, April 08, 2006 @ 6:30 AM

 

Santa Claus Lane

Location: Santa Claus Lane
Weather: Overcast
Conditions: Small and Weak
Swell: 5.4ft @ 10s @ 305°
Surf: Knee High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 65 Sessions in Replacement Suit.
Comments: Mank and I went to Rincon for a dawn patrol, hoping to catch it before the Rincon Classic started. It looked small and too high of tide from our inspection. We drove all the way to C-Street and saw no waves. On the way back I forced him to surf Santa Claus Lane with me just to get wet. I had never surfed this lane before and we had a good time. Small little peaks breaking near the first house to the West. Clean, fast lines at or under knee high. Warmish water, no leash. I had a great time.
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Thursday, April 06, 2006 @ 6:30 AM

 

Old Roomate Reunion

Location: Montecito Coast
Weather: We have Sun
Conditions: Somewhat Clean
Swell: NA
Surf: Waist High
Rip Curl Bomb Wetsuit Life: 64 Sessions in Replacement Suit.
Comments: Dawn Patrol with Mank and Greggory along the Montecito Coast. We weren't the only ones thinking this would be a fun place to surf after the storm that came through. Even with the crowds we all managed to catch some fun waves and keep the momentum up by moving around a lot. More groms than usual. More people than usual.
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