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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Sup44 on February 05, 2021, 03:54:09 PM

Title: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: Sup44 on February 05, 2021, 03:54:09 PM
Hi folks,

I am leaving San Clemente and moving to Santa Cruz. Aside from it being much colder and having a few more landlords... what can you say about it? My asshole surfing buddy said Santa Cruz doesn't take to SUP surfers well. Is that true? Are there any spots that are considered no go, and SUP friendly (or tolerant)? My favorite places to SUP in San Clemente were 204s, the pier, and state park. Not exactly SUP friendly, but definitely tolerant.

Thanks in advanced!
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: southwesterly on February 06, 2021, 06:12:44 PM
There are only a few spots in town that are a hard NO. You can find those easily by the talent in the water.

Most breaks are open to anyone that shows common courtesy and wave knowledge.
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: Beasho on February 07, 2021, 06:41:02 AM
You will figure it out.  I am going to forecast you will like it.

Having been a SUP'er for 12 years and a foiler for 4 I remind people "Just because I am a werewolf doesn't mean that I like other werewolfs." 

Don't be a werewolf and you should be fine and happy.

Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: daswusup on February 07, 2021, 07:56:00 AM
The sup opens up a bunch of lesser known spots there that you can paddle to that is farther than surfers want to paddle, mostly North of town. Suping in town is fun at Private's/Sharks. Like many crowded breaks, if you just watch it for a few minutes before you go, you will see that there are many beginners just bobbing around with great waves going right past them for the taking. All said, there are fewer people in the water compared to SoCal and a much better chance of finding uncrowded peaks. I would highly recommend taking up a wind sport like kiting or winging, as the offerings around SC are world class.
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: slsup on February 07, 2021, 10:24:12 AM
I've never sup in socal but I shudder to think of anywhere more crowded than santa cruz. Like everywhere this year has been the worst for crowds on the water especially in town. Depending on your tolerance for crowds and conflict you can pretty much go anywhere, but I would look for other sups, isolated times/locations or stay far out of the way until you get a feel for the various spots. Wind, chop, limited tide windows are often an issue, thus the windsports advice.

The good part is you should see more consistent swell than down south, and you can be alone on the water with a bit of driving n. or south if you want to brave trickier conditions and or beach breaks. Most of us sheeple prefer the cleaner and easier reef/points in town where we can bicker together and complain about how crowded it is.

Good luck and see you on the water!
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: clay on February 07, 2021, 12:37:37 PM
Winter in Santa Cruz is phenomenal, ridiculously high concentration of quality breaks with tons of swell.  Summer can be very depressing, weeks of flat and foggy followed by a good swell with 100+ people out at every break all scratching for the same 3-5 wave set every 15 minutes.  North and South of town are wide open with lots of big sharks.  Regularly windy in the summer, so wind sport can be a game changer.  Oh and high tide puts a lot refraction/backwash into the waves, very challenging to stand on sup.

San Clemente in the summer blows my mind, warm air and water, sunny, lots of waves, not that crowded...

Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: Fuzzy Boy on February 07, 2021, 12:43:05 PM
Check the Manresa cam.  Amazing sand bars there in La Selva in the winter.  Not many town guys go south.  As mentioned, if you share and have a great attitude, no problems.  Great surf town for sure.  Have fun.
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: PonoBill on February 07, 2021, 01:12:55 PM
It's a weird year, everyone who ever surfed is back in the water, and the weekdays are almost as crowded as the weekends. I paddled along the beachfront at La Jolla Shores yesterday and couldn't find a spot where I wouldn't kill someone if my leash broke. So I paddled through the pier, found another few hundred people scratching for weenie waves, and wound up paddling all the way to blacks, picking off waves all along the cliffs--no one in them but me.

for surfers, access is everything. free parking = crowds. I just keep going until I'm out of range of a kid on a Wavestorm.

BTW, Wavestorms are like belly buttons now. The new Gerry Lopez non-wavestorm softop at Costco is a nice looking board for 99 bucks, and probably as tough as the original wavestorm. Next time I go to Costco I hope they have a few left. I'd like to grab one for raw materials if nothing else.
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz.. Jealous!
Post by: supsean on February 07, 2021, 02:26:23 PM
all I can say is California Problems....

I'm in NYC, and watch the Steamer Lane Surfline cam far to often with complete jealousy for the number of surf able days.

ALTHOUGH the conditions are very similar tomorrow to Steamer Lane, except that its 5 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT WITH WIND CHILL!!!!

But I shouldn't complain. At least I live fairly near waves...

And yes, we have alot of surfers, but the winter they thin out. And everybody is pretty nice, and there are about 5 sup surfers for 10 miles of beach break...
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: sflinux on February 08, 2021, 03:10:31 PM
I'd stop by a SC SUP shop and they should be able to point you in the right direction.  (i.e. Covewater).
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: jondrums on February 08, 2021, 10:03:40 PM
Lots and lots of places to SUP if you have thick skin and you know the basic courtesy of priority and positioning.  At almost every break you'll get attitude and stink-eye from somebody, but its a minority of people and the vast majority of people are not like that at all.   Everytime someone gave me attitude, there was a few others who paddled over to tell me to ignore it and that they didn't mind me being there at all.  It helps to go to the same spot several times to get to know the regulars.  Every break has a handful of people who go every day and have been doing so for many many years.   The few peaks you will need to avoid suck for SUP anyway - you should be on a shortboard to make the steep hollow late drop.  Welcome!
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: Sup44 on February 15, 2021, 09:11:32 PM
Wow. I was away from the forum for a few days and got a ton of great responses. Thank you everybody!

And sounds about right for everywhere else I've SUP'd. 70% of places are ok as long as you don't act like an asshole + occasional stink eye everywhere by the minority.

So....how sharky is it? Lol. Do the SUP'ers on this thread actually see em?
Title: Re: Moving to Santa Cruz..
Post by: clay on February 16, 2021, 11:14:59 AM
I've seen half a dozen in as many years.  One great big one that spooked me big time, it a was a remote spot known for big marine life.

Up north at a popular begginner spot a juvenile 8-10 footer was swimming in and around a 100 people, the prone surfers were to low to the water and couldn't see the shark.  That same spot has had many sightings in the past few years and no attacks.

Last year there was a fatal attack of a prone surfer at manresa, we had sup foiled there a couple months before, none of us have been back there since.  In recent years there have been tons of sightings near the cement ship of juveniles, my theory is those sharks have grown up and stayed in the bay.
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