Worst December Flat Spell of the Century Dampening Holiday Spirits For Surfers


     We typically see more color on the swell model chart in August than we've got right now. Most of the surfers I know are becoming symptomatic. You know, depressed mood, irritable, anxious - symptoms more common during the dog days of summer, not wave-rich wintertime... And the worst part is that with high pressure currently stationed above the Eastern Pacific, there is little hope for things to change dramatically any time soon. 

     Back when I was in high school growing up in Goleta in the mid-70's, and long before Internet surf forecasting I had a group of buddies who used to get together during times like these and they'd perform a ritual to appease the surf gods who were obviously angry. They would find some beat-up old longboard and then meet at the cliffs high above More Mesa beach at sunset. A bonfire would be lit, and when the flames became intense the board would be thrown in and would burn, sending a plume of thick black smoke way up into the atmosphere. The surfers, while clutching their bottles of Schlitz Malt Liquor ("The Bull") would then starting dancing around the fire chanting like tribal warriors, and this behavior would continue until the fire burned itself out.  I'll be damned if there wasn't always a solid swell in the days following these rituals...


Chumash leader Mati "Little Hawk" Waiya performs a ceremony at Rincon last March.

If anybody has any ideas or wants to get together to conduct a ceremony to help "Raise the Waves", just add a comment to this blog entry and we'll make it happen. 


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