Storm Window
February 7th, 2009
After a couple of days of nice, steady rain, the anticipated swell showed up
right on schedule. An early morning surf check showed “Victory at Sea”
conditions, but by afternoon, things cleaned up nicely.
By mid afternoon, the wind had died and blue sky prevailed. Because the swell
was so well predicted, there were surfers at even the most remote locales.
But at this spot, the majority of set waves went unridden.
Despite the great surf, the crowds weren’t too bad.
Our guess is the masses checked it in the morning, and wrote it off
due to the foul conditions. Who knew it would clean up so quick!
Just made it that much better for these guys.
This guy got some fun ones. He’s burying the rail deep here…..
The dude above is getting pretty stylish sliding on some nice glass, while the
guy below is watching the roof cave in on him. Hope he kept his mouth closed,
that’s some fresh creek mud mixed in there…
Which brings up another reason the lineup probably wasn’t too crowded. Lots of surfers
realize that the first solid rain of the year is when all the gutters and creeks get
flushed out into the ocean, increasing the chances of getting some sort of infection.
Many surfers, however, don’t seem to be too concerned with such matters.
We at Goleta Surfing don’t recommend paddling out right after the first rain of the year.
Especially if you surf with your tongue hanging out…..
As the afternoon wore on, a slight offshore breeze kicked up, making things even better
for surfing and for photography.
Now there’s a nice drop.
So take these nice waves and add an offshore breeze and top it off with that
cloud formation and you can see why we took way too many pictures this day.
Sunday Morning we got out early to find the stormy conditions had
returned. The front end of the next system was moving in.
After a short tour of some western Goleta spots, we ended up at good old Campus.
It was somewhat protected from the cold northern wind, at least for a while.
But the swell had diminished a lot, and the conditions were crumbling rapidly.
Shen Meinhold was owning the rock up top, making the most of every set.
By late morning Sunday, the wind was just too much to contend with.
So if you were lucky enough to be on it Saturday afternoon, you got the cream
of the swell. At least that’s our humble opinion.
Here’s to the next one!