Muddy Waters
Mid October, 2009, brought Goleta the first real storm of the winter. Steady rain for
about 24 hours brought close to 4″ to the airport and 9″ on the pass. The rain also
gave all of Goleta’s creek beds a good flushing. And so we go to the ocean….
As proud citizens of Goleta, we like to think our creek beds are fairly clean, natural
environments. We don’t have homeless camps and garbage dumps in our creeks like
some other cities. And while that may be true, we would still would think twice before
diving into this wave.
That was not the case for a handful of hearty young folks that were willing
to take the risk and enjoy the excellent surf the storm provided.
And it was quite excellent.
On any other day, waves of this caliber would be greeted by hundreds of wave
hungry surfers. But due to the conditions, there were more waves than people.
This guy’s glad to be out.
Further up the beach, a couple of guys had it all to themselves.
Whenever we see a guy with a bright colored wet suit, we assume he must
be a pretty hot surfer. This guy did not disappoint, with enough speed to
stay in front of the chocolate curtain.
Matt Beacham?
When a good set came through, they would reach a height that would catch a
slight offshore wind. Beautiful.
Note the earplugs. One surfer said his secret to surviving the “nutrient
rich” water was earplugs, and a double shot of Emergen-C.
Ian Jenkins. He’s almost always surfing Sands and is always shredding!
The cloud cover made it dark early. So we decided to jam over to Campus to see
what it was doing before night fall.
It looked pretty good. But the tide was high and the wind was on it.
And then it was night.
The next morning was gorgeous. Clear skies and crisp, clean air.
Lunchtime at Sands, and there was Ian Jenkins again. Catching the majority
of the waves and trying anything.
The waves had gotten smaller, but still better than
your average day in Goleta.
So there ya go. The first signs of winter and possibly El Nino!
Here’s to a pumping winter.
