Three California coastal counties in two weeks, that was the scope of the holiday surf trip. This is the first chronicle of the adventure; more will be forthcoming.

For the first installment, the focus is on the waves. Though the same Pacific Ocean laps the shores of San Diego, Ventura and Santa Cruz, other conditions provide for a wide variety of waves. There are remarkable similarities, and also differences that in some instances are quite surprising.

Some of the elements that contribute to the surfing waves are specific to location; bottom conditions along the shore, prevailing winds, tide levels and water temperatures all affect the waves and thus the surfing experience. In San Diego, the prevalence of man-made groins along the wide sandy beaches affects the way the waves break. These rocky breakwaters turn beach closeouts into peelers, and create patterns in the sand bars that force peaks into what would be uniform walls.

Ventura also has groins, but not so many of them. Santa Cruz has few if any, other than the ones by the Yacht Harbor. Indeed these rocky constructions have actually destroyed the wave action at the San Lorenzo river mouth. The fickle hollow waves that sometimes break in the harbor entrance or adjacent along Harbor beach have actually been illegal to surf in past years.

San Diego also has steep crumbly cliffs that create breaks much like those along the cliffs of Santa Cruz. Ventura doesn't have so much of this terrain, but does offer wide sweeping arcs lined with cobblestones. These arcs would be called point breaks execept the curve is more sweeping and graceful. Rincon and Ventura Point are examples of this sort of surf break that just doesn't exist in Santa Cruz.

Apart from conditions, the weather and the swell obviously shape the surf experience. One day in San Diego the wind was howling with gale force; no one ventured into the ocean. On Sunday December 27, a mondo long period swell hit Ventura, turning the point from a marginal fun wave into a hellman double overhead extreme wave.

Following Chronicles will focus on some of the specific days and sessions, along with some of the people in the water and on the shores. You don't have to leave the state of California to enjoy a great surf odysea, as these accounts and pictures prove.

CU Out There,

DogMan