26th Street  Recommended

Just thought I'd inform everyone about a place for skimming in Santa Cruz.  I skim there frequently and recently witnessed a phat skimboard contest with some awesome pro's.  It's definitely not worth a trip from out of town, but if you're going there anyway, and awesome spot is 26th street.  It gets a pretty good shorebreak with some narly waves.  THe beach is also at a little incline to help you get out farther.

To get there take highway 1 to Capitola (bordering Santa Cruz on the south) where you exit at the popular 41st street.  The exit is right in between Santa Cruz and Capitola.  take 41st all the way west till Portola.  make a right on Portola (go north)  Then about 4 or so stop signs down take a left on 26th street.  Go all the way down till it basically dead ends and take a left.
You will run across it shortly on the right, there is a lake and stuff directly across  on the left.  Have fun!!!

Submitted By,   Hanz321@aol.com

Santa Cruz Overview

I hate to give away the local spots but I was sitting here looking for places to skim in Santa Barbara, and your web page is awesome. I'm going from the North to South. The first spot is Seabright Beach (Castle Beach) my personal favorite, which is just north of the Yacht Harbor. This place is on fire with a 4-5 ft tide and medium waves. The best spot is right next to the jetty. The beach gets steep in the summer months with some good shore pound. Take Hwy. 1 north to Morrissey Blvd.. exit over the bridge and continue down to Water St. Take a right on Water and a left on Seabright.  Head all the way down to the end and take a left, up to Third St. and take a right and park at the end. You can check it from the top of the parking lot. The next spot heading south is 26th, which you already mention, which requires the same tides as Seabright, but can handle larger waves. Go back out to Seabright and take a left on Eaton, make a right on 7th Ave. and make a left on East Cliff, both 26th and 3

Lundborg Beach

Nice Beach, go 1 30 minutes before high tide. Waves break close, good for aerials. Not crowded whatsoever. Gets choppy around high tide, pretty steep.

Take freeway to San Andreas road, drive down towards La Selva beach, drive down main road towards ocean until you reach a gate.

Submitted By:  punktagger512@aol.com

38th Ave

Best at high tide. When waves are about 3 to 4 feet it makes a side wave off the cliff. Pretty steep. Good off the face turns.

On the east side of Santa Cruz right by Pleasure Point.

Seascape

There is a spot a half mile from my house called seascape beach it is pretty flat and usually get 2 -3 ft shore break i go about 45 min before high tide.

Exit highway 1 to Sumner road take a left at first stop then u will see another stop sign there is parking to the left

Submitted By: mullett34@aol.com

Flats/Roibeach

I usually hit this beach at mid-high tide.  The shore break is 3-4 ft average it is fairly flat with a little river flowing in so u can get some pretty fun waves. 

Exit highway 1 at Rio exit, then go to a stop sign. take a right keep going till u hit another stop sign. keep going straight then u will hit another stop sign. keep going u will hit a big hill and the beach is right there. enjoy.

Submitted By: mullett34@aol.com

Steamer Lane

Here is an obvious skim spot left off from your Santa Cruz section; It beach on the other side of the light house at Steamer's Lane.  Even when Steamer's is flat, It can have fairly good swell.  Rising tides an hour past low tide are best, usually with peak time around an hour before to an hour after high tide.  Generally there are three or four good breaks down the beach and when the tide is high enough you can find some fun side waves.  Waves usually break right on shore, but on less consistent days you need to gather some speed to get out to them.  Around four or five o'clock It becomes a skim scene, attracting four to eight locals at once.  Be careful of the plethora of dogs and nudists!

Capitola

For winter and early spring skim in the Santa Cruz area, try Old Capitola.  Best time to check it out for wedging liners is high tide on big north west swells or on huge storm swells.  The swells bounce off the cliffs forming the wedges and you can catch them north and south of the pier.  This is a very finicky spot for wedges, so if you are just passing through on a visit it probably won't be working, but it's close to 38th and 26th so it won't hurt to check it.  To the north of the pier you will see a big rock sticking out, there is a beach on the north side of the rock called Hoopers.  This spot breaks liners right around the rock.  Hoopers goes off year round or whenever there is enough sand to make a slope, and the best time is at very low tide 0.5-1.0 ft or coming up from a negative tide, beware of boulders along the cliff that can chew up your board.  So if you are lucky you can skim high and low tide, eat and let your old lady shop all in one place.

Exit 41st ave. go all the way down 41st and turn left on Portola.  Go down Portola until you come into Old Capitola a tourist trap with resturants and shops.  If you want to park close to the beach get ready to pay, all the parking is metered, if you don't want to pay, there is a free parking spot up the hill from Old Capitola on the cliff, but there are only 5-6 parking spaces.  If that spot is full, you can go into the residential area above the rail road tracks and look for parking where permits are not required and hoof it down to the beach.

Submitted By: punchy1002@yahoo.com