California Surfing - Looking Down from the Pier to Surfing Action Below

California Surfing Season is a year round proposition. From Mavericks, home to the big wave competition, to Encinitas where Swami's keeps them coming back day after day, the waves in California are best after a storm but the competition circuit heats up in the spring and summer (February through September). While many competitions garner great publicity such as the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach which is tied to 10 days of additional sports, the waves have been so small during late July and early August that one pro surfer actually went an entire heat without catching a ride in 2005, the first time ever! So just because it's warm outside, it doesn't mean you'll catch a ride. Groups such as NSSA, ISA and competitions such as the World Qualifying Series that travels the globe are a few of the great surfing organizations that measure the seasons by contests and results. For the novice surfer, get a wetsuit in the winter, definitely. When the water hits 65 to 72 degrees at summer peak, you can enjoy the temperature without a wetsuit.

sports - surfing
 

About the California surfing craze:  This growing industry provides a natural sport that allows youth and adults to enjoy the natural environment much as skiers love the snow. The boards, the fins, body suits and gear have changed and progressed in a similar fashion to the snow ski industry, making the sport not just a thrilling challenge but also a fashion statement. Groms or surfing youth grow into competitive surfers who seek sponsors to sport their names on products and promotions. Surfing is a difficult sport to turn into a career choice and many professional surfers look on the horizon to other career activities to support them through their lives as surfing may sustain an individual only for a limited time. As a pleasure sport, tourists can enjoy surf camps for the kids, surfing lessons for the family and individual surf lessons to learn the basics and be out surfing in one session. Many of these classes provide beginners with a board and wetsuit for a minimal investment to determine if you really like the sport. For photographs, surfing is not only an art form, it provides sporting photography challenges and gives a very local flavor to travel pictures.  California Beaches & Cities - BeachCalifornia.com has included a few of our hundreds of surfing and surfer photos for you to look at.

California enjoys not one but at least three surfing museums. The surfing museum locations include San Diego County's Oceanside, Orange County's Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz County's Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz County, surfing is the game for thousands of sports enthusiasts who enjoy the waves at places such as Capitola and Privates.  By the numbers, San Diego garners perhaps the greatest number of surfers. Local neighborhood surfing spots include Ocean Beach and Tourmaline Beach, home to surfing legend Skeeter Malcolm.  Surfers from throughout California and even around the globe go "down the coast" to San Diego to surf.  Swami's, named for the Self-Realization Fellowship Retreat Center next to the surfing beach, is a favorite surfing spot. There's a small parking lot which usually overflows onto the roadside parking on Coast Highway which is recognized as an historic route in that neck of the woods. Surfers and beach-goers must go down a set of wooden stairs to gain access to the beach.

Next there's a close tie between Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Redondo Beach enjoys a surfing tradition recognizing local hero George Freeth as the first surfer in the United States. Nearby Hermosa Beach is not to be outdone. They have a statue commemorating a hero of their own, Tim Kelley. Huntington Beach claims that they are the mainland surfing capitol, though 500 surfing destinations along the California coast will beg to differ. The marketing ploy seems to expand like a wave.  If surfing is truly your game, you know that surfing is best where the waves are.