Santa Cruz Surf: Hiding From The Storm

Filed in archive on January 14, 2006

In order to hide from the giant swell and high wind that are so characteristic of winter storms hitting Northern California in December, a surfer who is salivating at the chomp to get wet must seek the shelter of Santa Cruz. No matter what is happening up north -- devastatingly high winds and torrential downpours included -- there always seems to be somewhere to get waves down in Santa Cruz County. Spots that would ordinarily be too flat suddenly spring to life, and even though it is a long round trip drive, surfing down in Santa Cruz is sometimes the only option.

Well, unlike last year's Christmas vacation, when Ocean Beach cleaned up for a stretch of ten days that were absolutely some of the best and most consistent waves I have ever surfed in one place for one period of time, this year was different. The storm track in the Aleutian Island range was pushing not just the swell into the Bay Area, but also the rain and wind that associates with these big, open-ocean events. The year prior, the storm track was heading north of us, but the swell came straight in, with clear, sunny blue skies and offshore wind. No such luck for the grand conclusion of 2005.

So a buddy of mine and myself, disgruntled with the lack of surfing opportunities locally, hopped in my truck and headed down the coast to see what we could find. We wanted to get wet, and carve some oceanic walls of water. It is a passion that runs deep. The adrenaline, the satisfaction, the thrill of successfully navigating winter waves is something that becomes a necessary part to one's life once one has felt that liberating experience.

Some of the spots along the coast on the way down were going off the Richter scale! Suicidal paddle outs into fifteen to twenty foot waves! Not quite what we were looking for, so we snapped shots, goggled, commented, and kept driving south until we got into Santa Cruz's west side.

Outer Swift Street was breaking. I have never seen it break before, 95 % of days in Santa Cruz it is merely a ripple out to sea. Today with swell large enough to push significant waves over a hidden outer reef, the place was throwing down! My friend was more of a "barrel-hog", and did not mind surfing The Cove, which was breaking in a very Hollow manner, but with substantially more guys out trying to snag them.

Jumping off the rocks is the only way out on a big day, and this was my first time trying to surf this spot, so of course I prematurely leapt off the rocks and was immediately inundated by a long set of crushing balls of white water. I fought through them, and then had to paddle another quarter of a mile further than my entry spot in order to get back out to the outer reef that I was eyeing from the cliff as we decided where to surf.

What a fun wave! Like other outer reef spots, the swells jack up almost out of nothing and throw over kelp beds and shallow holes in the reef, so you have to be very focused and concentrated on which waves to go for, and which waves to take off on. Throw in about ten other guys fighting for the same result, and you have a bona fide surf rodeo! Well, I caught several long blue bulls to ride that day, and the smile was hard to erase off my face for the rest of the long road trip home.

ER Harris