Santa Cruz - C.A. - Short visit, need your tips

[tirosh_sk8er]

Hi all,

I'm coming for a work trip to Sunnyvale California next week, for ~2 weeks, (from Haifa IL)
I checked the map and saw that it's about 40 min driving south to get to Santa Cruz

I will not have a lot of time but.....I wanna give some sessions there

A bit about myself:
- regular direction
- short board 6.2
- intermidiate surfer

need to know
- water temp (what wetsuit recommended)
- best spots to start with...

if someone can help in this...

Tnx
Assaf.

[kremerica]

How did I miss this?

The waves in Santa Cruz are so much easier to ride than waves in Israel. They are consistent, long period (compared to Israel), and have very reasonably paced shoulders. If you can get out on a weekday, I'd say go to the Hook or Pleasure Point. If you're stuck with weekends, you can still go to the popular point breaks, but you'll have an easier time getting waves at a beach break like Manresa.

The water is cold. Like, way colder than anything you run into in Israel. To put things into perspective, I surfed in Israel for a about year and didn't need my wetsuit, even in December. Here, you'll need a full 4/3 and booties. Some people wear hoods and gloves, too. You'll want softer wax as well.

If you've only surfed Israeli waves, welcome to surfing Valhalla.