After The Floods, Rincon Flipped Her Switch

Santa Barbara and Ventura are the most recent victims of a mad, dangerous, and unpredictable world.

From the Thomas Fire last month, to the recent flooding as a result of that fire, the area is in disorder. The people of the region are cut from the sturdiest of cloth, and are already picking up the pieces. But they need our help.

Driving up the 101, on either side of the road, the charred remains of palm trees stand tall, naked and black from bald tip to burnt trunk.

The hillsides are stripped bare, dark; only the roots remain.

For a while, the furthest north you could drive on the 101 from Los Angeles is Rincon. Just past the famed right point, the 101 was closed.

The water at Rincon is sewer brown. Sitting in the lineup, looking down, boards disappear beneath the runoff and debris filled ocean—nothing but thick, brown water with a hint of Hep C.

“I’m super surprised I didn’t get sick,” Taylor Curran—the man responsible for this from-the-water short of The Queen—tells Stab. “I swallowed a lot of water trying to swim! Way down at the Cove, where I was getting in and out of the water, it was like swimming in full on sludge.”

“It’s pretty heavy,” Taylor continues, when asked about the recent disasters. “There are streets in the hills of Ventura where 15 houses in a row are just gone. It’s a crazy sight. Some people’s houses have been burnt to the ground, others’ affected by the floods. Hotels are filled to the brim with mud. It looks apocalyptic.

The recent run of surf was a release and momentary escape for some people. But for Rincon, it was strange. Like, everyone was pumped on how uncrowded it was, but then you’d realize that’s because most of Santa Barbara couldn’t get there because of the mudslide, unless they came by train or boat. It was a dark feeling.”

So, here’s a moody clip, “An ode to the Queen,” starring Luke Davis, Jett Schilling, Yadin Nicol, Curren Caples, Jake Kelly, Griff Colapinto, and Mike McCabe.

To donate to The Thomas Fire and Flood Fund relief efforts head here.