Tropical Goleta

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010.
Sunrise.
After a long, hot and nearly sleepless night, we got up early and headed for the beach.

Before the sun even showed itself, you could tell this day was going to be special.
The clouds were surreal. The air was thick with humidity.
And a soft, warm breeze blew in from the East.

It felt like vacation, somewhere in the tropics.

But it was good old Campus Point.
And the swell that had come in the day before looked to be relaxing a bit as well.

Rewind to the day before. Monday, September 27th, 2010.
A heat wave was in full force. Downtown SB hit 107 and the airport reported 100.
So after a sticky day at work, we bee lined it straight to the ocean.
And there were waves.

The rumoured North swell had arrived, and just a few of Goleta’s finest
surfers were on it.
And they were squeezing every last drop of stoke out of it.

These guys had been on it all day long, but they were still going strong.
Bobby Morris, Adam Rondepierre and Vinny Leonelli;
they always seem to be at the right place at the right time..

We didn’t get too many photos cuz we had to get in the water as well.
Even at the beach, it was HOT.

Hot, humid and glassy.
It doesn’t get much better.

Now back to Tuesday:
The heatwave continued, as did the swell.

The wind continued to come from an Easterly direction, so if you
found the right beach, it was blowing straight offshore.

Evidently, we weren’t the first guys to figure that out….

Along with the unusually high humidity came these cool clouds, which made for some
weird lighting, that made shooting the surf a little difficult.

While most guys were still wearing their full suits, the water has
warmed up quite a bit, finally.

You can never look back.

Around this time, we’re sitting on the sand, shooting away, when the omnipresent
Plover Nazi approaches. He says we can’t sit between the ropes and the ocean.
Can we stand? No.
But we can walk through? Yes.
So…….. can we just keep walking back and forth?
….Yes.