Everything you’ve heard about Southern California is true: ridiculous crowds, plenty of pollution, appalling congestion, hideous strip malls, hundreds of square miles of houses, freeways, lofty living expenses, image paranoia, bikinis, and…relatively weak surf. Although Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties each boast a handful of heavy surf spots, the general consensus among those who’ve surfed SoCal all their lives is that the surf really is quite marginal on the West Coast wave scale.
However, consistency is a virtue; there’s always somewhere to surf (okay, you may have to use a longboard, but at least it’s surfing), as long as the pesky afternoon onshores lay low. Early morning offshore winds are commonplace, especially during winter Santa Ana conditions, but tend to slap down the size of approaching swells.
Here, the concept of a secret spot is an oxymoron. It seems like everybody in SoCal surfs – after all, this is the birthplace of modern surfing and home to most of the sport’s industry. Surfing in SoCal is mostly an urban experience until you get into Santa Barbara; a pastoral landscape exemplifying what the rest of SoCal must have looked like before the blitzkrieg of bulldozers and concrete. But if it’s mild weather and easy waves you seek, SoCal is still a good place – if you don’t mind crowds and high prices. At the very least, you’ll feel a part of surfing history.

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