Exclusive Mavericks Surf Coverage
From March 2007
Community Comments
Santa Cruz and More
Righteous, Gnarly, Swell
By Darcy Totten
Photo by Neil Michel
With world-famous swells, surf competitions such as February’s infamous “Cold Water Classic” and the upcoming “Santa Cruz Surf Kayak Festival,” Santa Cruz is the ideal spot to get that gnarly rush you’ve been craving. Just 70 miles south of San Francisco, via either scenic Highway 1 or Highway 17, you’ll also have a better-than-good chance of catching some righteous rays (the city gets around 300 days of sunshine annually).
Hangin’ 11
There’s a special kind of history in Santa Cruz’s laid-back charm. Nearby are 11 world-class surf breaks. American surfing was launched here more than 100 years ago when three Hawaiians rode the break at the San Lorenzo river mouth, thus creating a kind of surfers’ mecca.
You can view the evolution of surfboards and wetsuits at the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum in the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse at 1305 E. Cliff Dr. “One of our most popular attractions,” says employee Jessie Shank, “is a surfboard bitten by a shark (most likely a great white) back in 1987.”
Experienced surfers can check the swell forecast daily through the National Weather Service before heading north out to Steamer Lane, which is not a beach, but rather a world famous surf break and home to all kinds of competition. Wintertime brings huge waves to this break and the guardrails are often lined with spectators. Many inexperienced surfers have lost their lives to this particular break, considered by many to be one of the most dangerous in the city.
Novice surfers can take classes at the well-known Club Ed Windsurf School Rental, 5 Isbel Dr., in Santa Cruz, before heading out to the calmer waters of the municipal wharf in front of the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel that some locals still refer to as the Dream Inn. The Santa Cruz Surf School, at 322 Pacific Ave., teaches classes all day, every day, and year round near Cowell’s Beach, which is a great place to embrace the art of the longboard.
The Hook, a stretch of shoreline off Pleasure Point at the end of 41st Ave., is a popular spot to watch the locals. But water lovers beware, this is not a beach for beginners. Between The Hook and 36th Ave., there are tons of waves to go around, and the area is usually crowded. Finally, 30th Ave. and East Cliff is a great spot to watch some of the local elite surf. This is a spot for very experienced surfers only, so it provides a wonderful vantage point to watch folks pull some amazing rides. If you’re lucky, you might even get to see a few local aerial champs out there.
Beyond the Beach
By Patricia Kutza
Sometimes you just need a day by the ocean. With beaches, boardwalks and plenty of indoor and outdoor attractions, Santa Cruz is the ideal spot to get that breath of sea air.
If you’re not pressed for time, take Highway 1 and savor the ocean views from the many pullouts along this route. Once you reach Santa Cruz’s city limits, ditch your wheels near West Cliff Drive and join the eclectic stream of hikers, joggers, cyclists and inline skaters that flows along this fantastic two-and-a-half mile stretch of pavement from Natural Bridges State Beach at its southern end to California’s oldest amusement park, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
At the boardwalk, get reacquainted with Laffing Sal, the cackling automated diva who used to grace the fun house at San Francisco’s now-defunct Playland at the Beach. Sal guards Neptune’s Kingdom, greeting visitors who’ve come to celebrate the boardwalk’s 100th anniversary.
There’s plenty to investigate in downtown Santa Cruz. At the Museum of Art and History at the McPherson Center’s special centennial exhibit, you can see art and artifacts from Beach Boardwalk’s history. The Santa Cruz region boasts more than 40 wineries. Sample some at VinoCruz, a wine tasting bar adjacent to the museum that serves only local vintages. When hunger sets in, there are many casual and fine dining restaurants to choose from or follow the locals to Tampico’s, where you can enjoy a tasty chimichanga at a decent price.
Longer summer nights beg for a stroll on the wharf and beachfront hotels, such as the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel with its ocean-front balconies in every room, expand on the feeling that you are staying in one super-large resort. At the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, walking distance from the Boardwalk, visitors can see Monterey Bay denizens and touch sea stars and other sea life.
Small Towns, Big Trees
Santa Cruz’s proximity to a number of smaller-scale cities offers interesting side trips. Close by to the south is Capitola, another beachfront enclave with a generous promenade, the Esplanade, that invites visitors to linger and relish some phenomenal sunsets. Shoppers tend to flock to Capitola Village and the upper Village Area for one-of-a-kind locally crafted products. The town’s relatively tiny footprint also attracts boutique hoteliers, such as the Capitola Hotel; its seven uniquely decorated rooms are located a short block from the beach. Across the street from the hotel, check out the whimsical murals painted on the side of the BeachFront Restaurant that highlight the town’s candy-hued cottages.
Inland in Felton, a half-hour’s drive from Santa Cruz, the big story is the old-growth redwood groves that are part of Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Its 80 miles of hiking trails include the 35-mile Skyline to the Sea trail, which takes hikers from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.
Santa Cruz Resources
Tampico Kitchen & Lounge
822 Pacific Ave
Santa Cruz
(831) 458-2821
www.tampicokitchen.com
Capitola Hotel
210 Esplanade
Capitola
(831) 476-1278
www.capitolahotel.com
Santa Cruz Surfing Museum
701 West Cliff Dr.
Santa Cruz
(831) 420-6289
http://www.santacruzsurfingmuseum.org/contact/index.html
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
400 Beach St.,
Santa Cruz
(831) 423-5590
http://www.beachboardwalk.com/home.html
Coast Santa Cruz Hotel
175 West Cliff Dr.
Santa Cruz
(831) 426-4330
(831) 427-2025
Reservations: (800) 716-6199
www.coasthotels.com/hotels/usa/california/santa_cruz/coast_santacruz/overview.html
Big Basin Redwoods State Park
http://www.bigbasin.org/
Museum of Art and History at McPherson Center
705 Front St.
Santa Cruz
(831) 429-1964
www.santacruzmah.org
VinoCruz
725 Front St.
Santa Cruz
(831) 426-8466
www.vinocruz.com
Seymour Marina Discovery Center at Long Marine Lab
End of Delaware Avenue on the Westside
Santa Cruz
(831) 459-3800
www.seymourcenter.ucsc.edu
Upcoming 2007 Events:
Art at the Beach, Capitola
Every other Sunday, May through October
www.ci.capitola.ca.us
Santa Cruz Film Festival
April 20-26
www.santacruzfilmfestival.com
Santa Cruz Longboard Invitational (surfing competition):
Memorial Day weekend
| 2007 Mavericks Surf ContestThe Last Dance at Mavericks?Prosper Magazine has been paddling out to Mavericks, the west coast's premier surf contest, for several years. Watch our video from last year's competition. As conservation groups make progress on banning motorized watercraft in the marine sanctuary where the Mavericks Big Wave Surf Contest is held each year, the 2007 contest may be the last. Contest organizers are going the extra mile to make sure the event leaves as little impact as possible on this famous break near Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco. The 2007 Mavericks Surf Contest will take place on 24-hours notice (when the conditions are right) between now and March 31. Learn more about Mavericks |
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