Search for Santa Cruz Surf Spots

[Aligator]

Hey what's up everyone! I'm brand new to this forum (Female - 23 yrs old) and this is my first post!!! I currently live in beautiful San Diego and will be heading up to the Bay Area over Xmas. I've heard good things about Santa Cruz and I'm bringing my board...does anyone know of any good spots I should check out while I'm up there???

Thanks in advance for your help - I appreciate it

[Milo]

Buy a local survey map, size wise 1 : 25,000 (scale). Happy hunting sis

[billie_morini]

Alligator,
There is lots of surf in Santa Cruz. You can learn more about the locations, see web cams, and read twice daily surf reports at this link:
http://www.surfline.com/home/index.cfm

You can also learn some additional informaition about Santa Cruz surf spots with these links:
http://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Ple ... Peak.shtml
http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/North_Ame ... index.html

There is a lot of chaff in the comments at wanna surf; mostly by local elite that believe they own public property. You'll have to separate it from the wheat and then you'll have some useful information.

Around Santa Cruz, I really enjoy Pleasure Point in the town of Capitola. There are several breaks at Pleasure Point. All along the same stretch there also is 38th St, 41st, the Hook and another one or two. If you are experienced, you might like Pleasure Point and a place a little north of it called Four Mile.

I surf in Santa Cruz about twice per month. I find everyone is plenty friendly, the water is warm enough, and there are lots of animals in the water. Did you know there are more than 20 surf shops in Santa Cruz and Capitola? One of the ones packed with stuff is the big ONeil shop very close to 41st street. ONeil is based in Santa Cruz and the large green house at 38th was built for Mr. Jack ONeil.

Another place I like is a little south of Capitola. It's Manresa State Park. Nice beach and, at times, really fun waves.

If you want to go north of San Francisco, the Bolinas jetty is usually very pleasant.

By the way, I envy that you live and surf in San Diego.

[EdenMondo]

Right on, if you had to leave San Diego to go anywhere, Santa Cruz is a great choice.

One of the best things to do: Right when you get into town, take a drive on Westcliff. Then, drive down Eastcliff towards Capitola. You can turn towards the ocean on almost any street [East/south of the SC Boardwalk] that dead-ends at the beach and find a technically surfable wave.

- Capitola: Friendly for beginners (the 'tola jetty is mostly crowded with bodyboarders and tourists during the summer). Smaller surf but you can walk right out and have a margarita on the beach.
- 26th - 24th Avenue - Not usually crowded with nice sets
- 38th Avenue - Mellow spot, mostly locals and friendly. One of the places learned to surf at 20 years ago.
- Cowell Beach: Signature beach of the SC Boardwalk, mellow but nice waves though tends to get crowded
- Steamer Lane: Probably one of the top 10 surfing spots in the world and a great place to watch some epic surfing.
**CAUTION: Here is a quote from santacruz.com about Steamer: "if you want to paddle out at "the Lane", you better be a damn good surfer. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being friendly, the localism factor at the Lane is an 11. When the swell is up, the lane offers world-class waves, at times reaching triple overhead. It's the most dangerous place to surf in Santa Cruz and people actually die out there on a semi- annual basis."

In general Santa Cruz is one of the best locations to live in Northern California, if you can handle the cost of living there. If you love the ocean you'll fit right on.

Hope these helped and welcome to NorCal!

Editor, Surfer Girls

[greg@hoodatsurfco]

pleasure point!

and steamer lane if you got the balls(;)) on its big days.

[temptations_wings]

Things can get very aggressive during the winter, depending on the swell. know your skill level and choose your spot accordingly. Most of the spots mentioned above can get really crowded at times so its not uncommon to see 3 people going at the same time on a wave and none of them will look over their shoulder Please do not be one of those people!

how experienced of a surfer are you?

[grammarnazi]

Bring your hood and booties! Water around 50, and frost on the beach this morning...

[Sillysausage]

good to hear other people are surfig in cold water as well as me!!

[jethrodog]

Things can get very aggressive during the winter, depending on the swell. know your skill level and choose your spot accordingly. Most of the spots mentioned above can get really crowded at times so its not uncommon to see 3 people going at the same time on a wave and none of them will look over their shoulder Please do not be one of those people!

how experienced of a surfer are you?

Been out at Pleasure's when there was more than 300 people out there fighting for every wave. Take a long board that you don't mind getting dinged.

My choice there is "Privates". Not such a long paddle out as Pleasure.

[Aligator]

Hey guys - Thanks so much for the input and advice. Earlier this morning I went to Capitola (it's very near where I'm staying) and went out. The break was about knee, maybe waste high which was pretty fun, but woooooo that's some cold water! I'm still trying to defrost haha.

I also made a stop at Steamer Lane just to check out the action since a lot of you guys mentioned it. The waves were bigger and there was quite a crowd, but I didn't paddle out. I just watched from the sidelines.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy some booties and check out Pleasure Point. Let's pray for good conditions! Thanks again and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!!

[greg@hoodatsurfco]

pleasure point!

Steamer lane is famous... great spot. has some very epic days.:
http://www.surfline.com/video/video_pla ... 012&mv=loc

[Aligator]

Hey everyone. I just wanted to say thanks for all of your suggestions. I had a great time up in Santa Cruz and hopefully will make it back up there when it's a little bit warmer haha. Us San Diegans are soooo spoiled!!! I hope ya'll have a Happy New Years!

Surfs up and take care,
Ali

[billie_morini]

'Gator,
Glad you had a good time in Santa Cruz. Ha, it was cold!

My wife and I surfed and camped much further north on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We went to Caspar Creek in Mendocino County, CA. It was colder than Santa Cruz. You might have found even tougher. After about 3.5 hours, I could not feel my feet! But you know, it's what we have up here (so we have to live with it). Sometimes we talk about moving south to San Diego where is warmer. Your comments about better conditions there inched us closer to the decision.

[Aligator]

San Diego is beautiful there's no doubt about it....on avg it's 70 deg year round with little rain, a few heat waves, and a few cold nights. You're close to the beach, only hours away from some good snowboarding mountains (Mammoth and Bear!!!), and a short flight away from Vegas!!!

Where abouts do you live now if you don't mind me asking?