Go There: Santa Barbara, California
Ryan Brower
- December 04 2008
- 1,722 views
- 42 comments
The American Riviera
Rincon doesn’t have to have twelve feet of swell at seventeen seconds to be good. Dane Reynolds takes full advantage of an “average” day at the Queen Of The Coast. Photo: De Roulet
Words: Michael Kew
Where: Santa Barbara is a south-facing city of 88,000 people in Southern California, roughly 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
What: A whole lot of cruel inconsistency. Santa Barbara has some shapely reefs, beachbreaks, and refined right-hand pointbreaks, but besides Rincon, they rarely break, requiring large west-northwest swells. The big problem with S.B. is it faces due south (even a bit southeast in some parts), which is the opposite direction of the prevailing swell, so most winter pulses are sheared by Point Conception, and southerly summer swells get blocked by the Channel Islands. In S.B., swell angle is everything, and with a place this sheltered, you can grow old between surf sessions.
Every once in a while a harbor can create a good wave. Sandspit, from above. Photo: Puu
When: Strictly wintertime (November to February), and if you’re hoping to surf a spot like Campus Point, El Capitan, or the elusive Sandspit, you’ll have to plan your trip around one of those big, over-hyped west swells. Rincon is far more consistent, however. If you come during summer, you won’t get wet unless you bring a SUP or a skimboard.
Why: Because it’s the lovely resort town of Santa Barbara—the name alone evokes images of multimillion-dollar homes, celebrities, beach parties, tourists, warm sunshine, and, yes, even that cheesy 1980s-era soap opera. It’s a nice place with lots of shiny, happy people. Heck, even Kelly Slater calls S.B. home in the wintertime. The waves can get good, and the city’s southerly exposure usually provides clean surf (unless a shitty south wind is blowing). And if you manage to arrive during a consistent winter swell, you might be able to sample Rincon with 200 of your best friends. You do want to see where Tom Curren grew up shredding, right?
Kelly Slater warming up for the Superbank with some winter Rincon. Photo: Wolcott
How: You can fly into Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA, flysba.com), but most flights are routed via Los Angeles (LAX), and they can be a bit costly. It’s much easier to just fly into LAX, rent a car there, and drive the 90 miles up to S.B., which is reached via U.S. Highway 101. The Santa Barbara Airbus (sbairbus.com) is a good LAX shuttle option, too. Amtrak (the train) has several daily lines from SoCal and San Luis Obispo into the Santa Barbara station; check amtrak.com. Once in S.B., you could also use the bus (sbmtd.gov) to get around. You will definitely need a car to get to the surf spots, though.
Places to stay: If you want to focus on surfing Rincon, you might consider staying in Carpinteria, which is about twelve miles south of S.B. Check out Motel 6 or the Sandyland Reef Inn (sandyland.com). You could also post up in the campground at Carpinteria State Beach (parks.ca.gov). If you want to try and score waves around Santa Barbara proper, there are dozens of choices for slumber, everything from hostels to five-star inns. S.B. is a major tourist destination, and so many hotels might be fully booked, especially around the holidays.
Places to eat: Like the accommodation, there are dozens (hundreds?) of restaurants in Santa Barbara, providing almost any kind of food you want, from Vietnamese to Mexican to Greek to Cajun. Walking distance from Sandspit is the Brewhouse (brewhousesb.com), a great place for food, drinks, and live music. Also, check out the new Esau’s Cafe (esauscafe.com) on Chapala Street. In the harbor, go to Brophy Brothers (brophybros.com) and the Endless Summer Bar-Cafe (endlesssummerbarcafe.net). If you’re down with healthy, organic fare, the Natural Café (thenaturalcafe.com) and Sojourner Café (sojournercafe.com) are pretty epic.
Rincon too much for ya? Try Little Rincon, then. Photo: Puu
Dudes and babes: Like its SoCal neighbors L.A. and O.C., Santa Barbara is definitely holding in both gender fields, thanks in large part to the two main colleges (UCSB and SBCC), a year-round influx of tourists, and many attractive, sun-kissed residents. Pick a warm, sunny day, and just look around. The nightlife on lower State Street is pretty dang hoppin’, too. You’ll be impressed.
Crowd factor: Santa Barbara is Southern California’s northernmost bastion, but it’s been said that while surfing in Santa Barbara, you might as well be surfing in Orange County. Yes, Santa Barbara gets crowded—very crowded. Why? Because the spots don’t break for the majority of the year, so when they’re on every surfer in S.B. and seemingly half of the surfing populations of SoCal and Santa Cruz flock here.
Sandspit will put sand in places you never even knew you had. Photo: Puu
Stuff to bring: There are several surf shops in town, so if you forget something, don’t fret. Since you’ll likely go in the winter, pack some chilly-weather (S.B. rarely gets truly cold) clothing and a 3/2mm fullsuit (maybe some booties also—the water can dip into the mid 50s at times, so you might prefer a 4/3 to a 3/2). Hiking shoes are good if you want to explore the mountains and their many trails.
If the surf is flat: There’s lots of stuff to do, really. Since you’ll be near the harbor, take a sailing lesson with Santa Barbara Sailing Center. On land, the zoo is an interesting spectacle, and the harbor itself is rich in maritime history. Over on East Beach you can join a match of volleyball or go skateboard at the waterfront skate park, or relax on the white sand and get a tan. The mountains above the city are good for hiking and scenic vistas. Stroll along State Street for window-shopping and people-watching. Go wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley. Last but not least: pray for surf.
Sandspit is an option when the surf is huge. If you plan on catching more than two waves though, better start a squat regimen now, ’cause your quads will be burning. Yadin Nicol. Photo: Dorsey
More information: The Insiders’ Guide To Santa Barbara (3rd edition, amazon.com) is chockablock with good information, but the Internet is also loaded—check out santabarbaraca.com, santabarbara.com, santabarbaraca.gov, and sbchamber.org. A good surf-oriented site is santabarbarasurfing.com.
Of course you don’t have to surf the big-name spots. There are some very good ones that aren’t visible from the road, where you can launch without the fear of landing on two longboarders and a kneeboarder. Tarik Khashoggi. Photo: Glaser
»
December 4th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
don’t come here. don’t surf here
December 4th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Hes rite, it sucks and never has waves. Only people who surf there are collage jocks.
December 4th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Take it deep anonymous peachfuzz
December 4th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Seriously, i highly recommend not going up there when these big, overhyped swells hit, it’s so crowded that it’s beyond frustrating to get one decent wave, and when you do get one, your guaranteed to get dropped in on.
December 4th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
these guys are just trying to keep people from surfing their part of town… but this is the season to go… beautiful swells, just great waves… quite a few beginner spots too!
December 4th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
screw u haters—dont come to sb
December 5th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
cant wait to get some swells up there! i love taking waves from the from all the chumps that surf rincon! if you cant surf good you dont deserve to surf there, go down the beach, it wont make a difference in your ride anyways
December 5th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Funny that two of those shots are in Ventura, not SB, including the one of Dane in the cove, which is in ventra county. that’s a shitty photo, too.
SB sucks, the least amount of surf in California, and it’s the most overhyped and crowded. Better off to go to Santa Cruz or San Diego.
December 5th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
santa barbara surf is legit! stop hating
December 5th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Michael Kew, you are a marked man. Watch it! We know who you are….
December 5th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I love paddling around Rincon and ditching my board a lot when it’s really crowded.
December 6th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Kew is the man. “CI Crew” can go fuck themselves.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Santa Barbara spots remain strictly off-limits owing to the fierce determination of locals (both native and ex-pat) to fiercely protect their beloved waves from the invading hordes of board-toting vacationers (and SBCC students)
Surf journalist Mike Kew calls this insidious process “Californication”; a tribal practice endemic in parts of Southern California in which a small crew of locals will claim they “own” a particular stretch of beach. Michael Kew is now considered one of the board toting vacationers.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
it is not worth hit to visit here. the waves are never good, and if they are you get snaked. michael kew is a punk bitch.
December 6th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
sb’s waves are always sloppy and inconsistent. rincon is a lake for 95 percent of the year, and when it does go off you will have to battle all the so-cal bro morons for a wave.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
SB haves a lot of people who “surf”. A few days ago there where head high wave in the cove (rincon) and well over a 100 people out, out of that 100 people about 15 were catching waves. I saw 2 fights and one stomped surfboard. So come and enjoy the great waves and talent (kelly slater….) santa barbara has to offer. After you sit out at rincon you can find a lot of great food spots just down the road in the town of La Conchita.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Us locals in santa barbara ARE KILLING IT, if you come here me and my crew will light you up, we OWN it. Don’t forget this when your tires are flat. Kew stay in the OC.
December 6th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
oh man, i’ve never heard of rincon, sandspit, little rincon, or any of these famed breaks before. michael kew ruined it for all you sb locals. now it’s really going to be crowded. ha, yea right. it’s crowded, and yea it’s probably a bitch to deal with as your local spots, i feel for all you there, but by no means is this one article going to send thousands of surfers into your lineups
December 6th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
oh the secret is out SB HAS WAVES and ass holes.
kelly slater burns people, and whats up with ratboy surfing sb
December 6th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Stay out of SD there’s enough people here already.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Seems like in this terrible economy people would be stoked to get tourists and visitors to their towns.All the waiters, busboys, valet parkers, shop owners, and anyone who makes a living off tourists and surfers alike should be stoked that Transworld is sending them business. Think of the big picture here.
December 7th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
fuck yeah brah, watch out for the gnarly SB locals. You can have your shitty crumbly points full of zit faced college students “locals” who’s mommy and daddy shipped them away from their reality tv shows in the oc for their useless degreees if bullshitology. that place is the fucking worst. what a waste of coastline. you rich little fucking pricks. i hope you die of elephantitus. on the other hand, fuck you kew for trying make a quick buck. i hope your bong hits are filled with shitty mexi weed.
December 7th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
God, what a bunch of fucking retarded posts on here. Only SFT had something intelligent to say. The rest of you need to just shut the fuck up and go surf Rincon with 150 of your OC bros on the next Internet hype swell. Surfers are fucking retards.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
ho brah, intelligent post brah. Support tourism brah. Free SUP board to the 100th surfer to paddle out Sandspit.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
LOL at TWS’s map… Lompac? What’s the education requirement for that Ed job, anyway?
December 8th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
hey Mr. kew! I really hope you made enough money off this to buy yourself a ticket out of Santa Barbara… Everyone needs to just forget about SB…
December 8th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
kew is a kook! clipped!
December 8th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Oxnard, Go there…
Santa Cruz, Go there…
Palas Verdes, Go there…
Feel’s good eh.
hoyahualahu
December 8th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
I burn Will on every wave i see him. tourism ya we love having 50,000 more japanese here not tipping in our restraunts. fucking kook. (SFT)
December 8th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Ya this is my favorite place to go get photos while i burn these super conpit loc crew. kew thanks for giving me an other shot for 08. Didn’t make the CT so might need a few more shots at SBAR thanks KEW.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I suggest quit surfing. take up FMX and move away from the ocean.
plus the sand bar at Rincon sucks this year. as far as you know its a close out. Keep LA 100 Miles away
December 9th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
kiss kews ass a little more rainbow boy
December 19th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
damn, surfers need to travel its in all our blood but remember to show some respect when visiting breaks that arnt your home turf. Make friends and earn your place into a line up and if your a kook dont bother paddeling out it just raises the stress level in the already crowded surf go find some ankle beaters to pefect your goofy stance. Most importantly stop bitching about mean locals its what keeps the soul of surfing alive and the crowds down and if your getting called out then your a kook and deserved it.
hope everyone scores some slabs this winter in cali im staying put in south sd keeping the soul alive
December 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
CI Crew do you have info on kew? where he lives? we are seaching for him as well
January 14th, 2009 at 1:47 am
the funny thing is kew fucking rips and outsurfs anybody on any given day out there
January 29th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
fuck off… that doesnt meen that transworld has the right to be exploiting all of santa barbara’s waves. its flat most of the year but when we do get waves we get LA and SD people with it. sure rincon is always crowded when its good but they have no righto be talking about sandbar which barely EVER breaks. STAY LOCAL
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
ey if your really the pit crew then youd kno that kews lived in SB his entire life…. get a clue
February 17th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
San Diego is fucken crowded too and its all fucken kooks brah shit sucks
April 29th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Eh bruddah, stay out of my waves haoles. I am claiming a naturally occurring phenomenon as my personal property. Don’t breath my air, that’s mine! Dude that dolphin just dropped in on me…should I punch him? Watch out for paddle boarders, they’re hard to swerve around…kinda like whales….slow migraters. Smoke some ganja brah.
October 3rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
mjUUfD sielcmyokunq, [url=http://wbsbepgxsxno.com/]wbsbepgxsxno[/url], [link=http://mveqxdgtotpz.com/]mveqxdgtotpz[/link], http://hnujhasqejvs.com/
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 pm
straight faggots
October 28th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
How do I get hold of Michael Kew?
Thanks,
JL