Waves here and there

Hello Friends,

Some more postcards for you. This time they’re from Campus point on the University of California, Santa Barbara, near Goleta. We’re having a post-frontal day in southern California, which means strong north west wind and chilly temps under blue skies. The NW’ly is prevailing in the same way as the NE’r in Sydney, so when it blows hard, it can push up a little local wind swell that sometimes gets big enough to refract around headlands like the one at Campus. The waves are quite weak, and small but if you have the right equipment and some skill, they’re definitely rideable.

The picture above is taken looking at the top of the point where a few people were picking up waist plus sections in the strongly sideshore conditions (the wind is coming from the right and that’s Santa Cruz island in the background).

As you come down the point, the land starts to create a wind shadow and surface conditions get smoother. Of course the waves get a lot smaller when you’re right down in the corner. (see below)

About halfway between the top picture and the one above this text, there is a zone called Poles, where the wind’s not as bad as at the top of the point, but where the waves can still have some size.

(above, near Poles)

There were a couple of folks hanging out down there when I checked and they both picked up waves while I watched.

(above down the line from Poles, the surface was cleaning up)

(Above:) this guy actually got a pretty long wave. The pic was about mid-way on his ride…

…and he ended it by tucking into a shutdown pretty much on the sand…

Sydney looked from the cams as though it had a few little waves for the early risers. According to the Bureau, the NE’r will be doing its thing later and across the next few days. So, hit it early or miss out on the quality!