Santa Barbara Area Surf Report

2003 | December Reports | Latest Report

Date/Time: Monday, 22 December 2003 12:30-1:30
Location: Gaviota Coast
Weather: Cloudy, not earthquake weather
Conditions: Choppy and Pitching Marching Lines
Swell: 8.4' @ 17s @ 305°
Tide: 2.0 and dropping
Surf: Overhead Sets w/ Rogues a few feet over
Board: Roberts
Wetsuit Sessions: 046 ($5.43/session)

Comments:

Hadn't surfed since Friday night, this would be the opposite of the weekend warrior for me. We had an earthquake earlier in the day, a magnitude 6.5 that was 11 miles out of San Simeon. About 30 seconds of our building here in Goleta rolling but no damage. Some major damage in Paso Robles and 2 fatalaties. Buoys were dead in the morning but came alive later on, Pete called outta the water and it was sizeable at Coal Oil. Headed up to the Gaviota Coast to a spot I hadn't surfed since last winter.

On the walk I saw fast perfectly shaped waves pitching down the coast. I paddled out as the only soul but it didn't look big at all. As soon as I got out there a huge set came in outside. 4 waves in a row, all overhead and peeling down the line. I took it on the head on each of them then proceeded to catch a smaller one after them. For the next hour we had 3 of these cleanup sets that were well overhead. In between those sets was chest to head high waves that often sectioned out a lot. The big ones held up better surprisingly.

I never caught one of the bombs. I was always either caught inside or taking off too late. I needed a buddy out there to fire me up cause I was taking it way to easy. A guy walked by with a yellow longboard, I was hoping he'd head out to inspire me but he kept going. The waves I did catch were fast and fun...I got in a lot of turns and a few head dips. Tommorrow...surfing with buds to motivate me to drop into the bombs.



Santa Barbara Surfing

Created by Tim Maddux. Continued by Pope

Santa Barbara Surfing
Home
Surf Reports
Surf Guide
Surf Source
Gallery
Weather
Surf Links
Email pope

Surf Reports
2003:
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr
May | Jun | Jul | Aug
Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999
1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995