Cigar over Santa Ynez, CA

The report, as filed

Driving out of Santa Ynez at midafternoon I came to a stop at hwy 154. I looked left, looked right, then looked left again. There was no oncoming traffic. As I robottically entered a right turn on the highway it dawned on me that something was wrong with the picture. Something uncommon caused me to have a glance back. Approximately 1.5 miles to the west, above Los Olives, was what appeared to be a blimp. These do fly the coast rarely. The shape, however, was closer to resembling a large jet without tail or wings. I immediately pulled over to get a better look. Upon closer inspection it became clear that this was neither blimp nor jet. Distance from me estimated at 1.5 mi. The shape was long and cylindrical, cigar style. The velocity was approximately 10 mph horizontal and northbound towards the mountains. The elevation estimated to be 500 ft. The color was indefinable neither light nor dark. Overall length estimated to be at least 1000 ft. It was much longer than its elevation. There was no noise associated. After 5 minutes of watching this apparently huge thing drift against the light wind for 5 minutes I left so as to make my appointment in Santa Barbara. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #138898). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.