California ....

General Discussion
1

Do any of you guys have a map of California you could post up on the forum please, just to give me some idea of the various counties, the distances, and where some of the beaches are in relation to each other…north / south , and in terms of ‘distance-wise’ [word?] from each other . [ You don’t have to show ‘secret spots’, and EVERY beach, don’t worry !]

I’m trying to get my head around how big or small it all is, and the crowd / travelling time factor between various places. It would be helpful to me and perhaps others on this forum, so that when someone says for example 'I went to ‘blacks’ / ‘trestles’ / ‘baja’ [whatever] on the weekend , and I live in "… " , it would make it more meaningful in terms of distance and time spent travelling to all of us non-cali residents.

I guess this may sound a strange request , but since I’m in touch almost daily with some of you, it would make the pieces of the jigsaw fit together a bit easier, is all …

thanks !

ben

[for example…I’m curious to know where northern california and southern california start and finish, and where the coastline and surf changes ]

2

Hey Chip…

I know this isn’t The Golden State map, but the REAL action is in this region…

This is a combined map of Washington at the top, and Oregon at the bottom…

The break between statelines is Astoria…

We refer to California as Baja Oregon…

BTW…I’m in Olympia, WA…

3

Here you are, Chipfish: a map of California.

Let’s be serious… Some of us ignorant french surfers/shapers might use that, too. But then, YOU should post an australian map, too. And I will post a map of Biarritz with the Eiffel Tower in the background…

4

Chipfish,

You can’t fool us. You just wanna know where Davey boy lives , don’t ya?

Im sorry I can’t divulge that information. I had a map for you, but it was to big a file to post. And, alas, I don’t know how to create a link so you’ll have to type the thing in.(sorry) www.cftech.com/BrainBank/GEOGRAPHY/California.html

Good luck!

5

I’m up in SF (west of Oakland in this pic)

Blacks is in San Diego county (La Jolla). Trestles is at the northern border of San Diego and Orange Cy (might actually be Orange Cy). Malibu is in LA, the first south facing beach north of LA, the next one up is Santa Barbara (where Rincon is, and a slew of other point breaks). There’s no surf from there to Santa Cruz, which houses Steamer Lane, Pleasure Point, and about 30 other point breaks and a gazillion aggro yutes. Mavericks is the only spot between Santa Cruz and Pacifica, and there’s no surf north of the Golden Gate bridge.

Driving times…lessee, with and without traffic? San Diego to LA is 2 hours, without traffic. LA to SF is 6 hours without traffic, in the valley (I-5), add about 30-60 minutes if you go on the 101 instead - the route that goes through Santa Barbara. Traffic can be brutal between San Diego and LA, avoid the 7-9 AM and 4-7 PM windows for travel.

The scenic coastal route is pretty long, maybe 12 hours from SF to San Diego.

HTH

6

Hey Chip,

Maybe they could of taught you guys that in school instead of all the damn state capitals. That still makes me chuckle. I’d post it for you if I knew how.

Paul, does this mean your going to start naming names? I can’t get the picture of the tree lined point out of my mind. With salmon swimming under you. So beautiful it hurts.

Mike the Baja Oregonian.

7
Quote:

Paul, does this mean your going to start naming names? I can’t get the picture of the tree lined point out of my mind. With salmon swimming under you.

Naming names…???..

I could do that, but you’d still have to find 'em…

That, and you’d need to figure out what conditions are REQUIRED for them to turn on…

A guided tour is the best way…

Quote:

So beautiful it hurts.

This time of year, it’s “So cold it hurts”.

8

To add to Blakestah’s post …

#1. From where it says Oakland - go out the bay and up the coast to the first bump. That’s Point Reyes, more or less. It takes about 70 minutes from “Oakland” to get there. There are a couple points, but flaky, sharky, and unpredictable. No webcams or anything like that. 2-4 people midweek, 10-40 on weekends. I surf there.

#2. Way, way up above that you can barely see a dashed line - that’s the State border to Oregon. The cove below the big point that’s just south of the line is basically Humboldt / Crescent City area. Its foggy 360 days a year. Greg Noll lives there. Its about 8 hours from Oakland. The whole coast between the Bay (That spot where the bay meets the ocean is where the Golden Gate Bridge is) and Oregon has lots of rivermouths & points. You can find surf, but its very unpredictable and even when its only 10 miles between 2 spots, the drive might be an hour or more because the roads are so twisty and small.

#3. The big cove on the coast but directly south of the “San Jose” spot is Monterey Bay. Santa Cruz is the top point of the cove, Monterey is the bottom. That takes about 90 minutes from “Oakland”. Midweek, the better waves gather 50 people, on weekends, you can walk from board to board.

#4. The area west of the Los Angeles spot - the big rounded out part between 2 large coves - is everything from Santa Barbara to Rincon to Malibu. It takes about 5.5 hours to get there from Oakland / 1+ hour from LA.

#5. The bottom of those 2 coves and the point below - everything right next to the Los Angeles spot - is all your LA beaches from Santa Monica to Redondo to Huntington etc. There are some points too, (you may have heard of Palos Verdes but there’s no surf there :slight_smile: ) but its mostly beaches. Not much size until you’re down below that point by Huntington, because the big swell direction (NNW) is blocked by those offshore islands. 6 hours to those spots from the Bay Area.

#6. About 2/3 of the way down the big wide smooth area between LA & San Diego is Trestles/San Onofre (“San O”). 6.5 hours from Oakland, 1+ hour from LA.

#7. San Diego is home to Blacks, Windansea, La Jolla (“La Hoya”), etc. That’s 600 miles from Oakland, 2 hours from LA.

#8. Is the Central California Coast. This is a pretty remote area, the dividing area - not line - between the populated areas of the north & south, the line between year-round wetsuits & trunking it in the summer, and where Swaylocks Anonymous was in 2004.

Tahoe is the big lake near Reno. 10,000’ high mountains, 25 ski areas, and 4 hours from Oakland / 9 hours from Los Angeles.

Hope this is what you had in mind…

9
Quote:

Hey Chip…

I know this isn’t The Golden State map, but the REAL action is in this region…

This is a combined map of Washington at the top, and Oregon at the bottom…

The break between statelines is Astoria…

We refer to California as Baja Oregon…

BTW…I’m in Olympia, WA…

     ____________________________________________________________________

Paul… that is some beautiful country up there. I lived in Oregon for a year and a half. They don’t take to well to strangers with California plates up there. I am a totally non-confontational kind of guy but found myself in some bad situations when I had my California plates. Lots of angry surfers up there…It must have had something to do with the cold water and rain rain rain or something…I did meet some really cool people after I changed my plates… .

Ben

10

CA is basically three areas.

NorCal (San francisco/Santa Cruz)

SoCal (LA)

LoCal (San Diego

NorCal hates SoCal, SoCal hates NorCal, but LoCal really hates SoCal.

Most breaks are crowded all the time. 35 million people…most of which surf and nearly all of them live within 30 miles of the ocean.

11

check out www.wannasurf.com Map of the entire state with most breaks.

12

always waves / never crowded

618×522 42 KB

13

Alas it is true… there is absolutely NO surf between Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. It’s ALWAYS cold, windy, sharky and the locals are all assholes.

724×232 18.8 KB

14

Virtual tour of the entire coastline (If you zoom in on the large photos, you can find the Swaylockians’ homes by looking for shaping stands in the rear yards):

http://www.californiacoastline.org/

15

Fly down the California coast by taking all the thumbnails from that site - or big images for that matter - and copy them to your hard drive. Then open Imageready or equivalent and make a movie of all umpteen-thousand plus images.

16

This is to defend central Cal. Yeah the weathers horrible. Its 75 degrees today. Water temp about 58. There are decent spots to surf. Sure there is a shark sighting every once in awhile but it has been 3 months since the last one.

The reason locals are jerks because we have to put up with Bakos for 10 months of the year. They invade our town with $100,000 rigs and completely litter our beaches. I am all about the waves are free and no one person owns them. Best time to surf is middle of the week, middle of the day.

17

Paul,

I’ll buy all the gas and beer. Get a better wetsuit,too. What do you recommend? Can I peek over your shoulder why you build one of those boards? Mike

18
Quote:

Chipfish,

You can’t fool us. You just wanna know where Davey boy lives , don’t ya?

Im sorry I can’t divulge that information. I had a map for you, but it was to big a file to post. And, alas, I don’t know how to create a link so you’ll have to type the thing in.(sorry) www.cftech.com/BrainBank/GEOGRAPHY/California.html

Good luck!

" Davey boy "…one of the Lunada Bay locals, right ?

Yes, I’m sure any minute now they’ll post a map with car parking spots marked, and an open invitation to surf their break. Thanks, guys.

A mate tried to surf there on his one and only trip [from Australia] to America and , well…he got stoned, shall we say !

     ben
19

thanks Benny1 and Blakestah for that…once I hear ‘miles’ and 6 hours drive [I assume at around 50 mph average??] THOSE are the sorts of detail I can get my head around . No-one has really said though…how far would it be, in miles , from say, oregon to the mexican border [south of san diego county, yes ?]

        thanks ! 



          ben

yes, if anyone’s interested , I could post a map of Australia. [IS anyone interested ?] Vienna is the capital, and it’s only a FEW hours drive to germany… did they teach you that in school there ?

[WE just got taught American history, and as someone said, the 50 states and capitals of each]. Surf breaks, tides, and swell season would have held my interest MUCH more as a 10-17yo, THAT’S for sure !

20

Paul,

Just got back from a good session out at Neah Bay ( near the hatchery was fun beach break! and the muddy hike with a big sandy beach has been awesome!!!)… nice and chilly!!! 50 degrees F. The river mouth I saw you at has been around 46 - 48 F. Changing CONSTANTLY!!!

It has been suprisingly good. Look forward to seeing you out this way again ( That goes for Kirk Putnam too) Holly was stoked!!! We rarely see swaylockians in the waters around these parts!!!

It is really fun to put a face to a name.

I had a great session at the river mouth with a bunch of steelhead hanging out in the faces!!!

Chip,

In Washington, Port Angeles to Neah Bay is 1.5 - 2 hrs depending on road conditions…

Port Angeles to Port Townsend 45 min - 1hr. Winding 2 lane roads packed with blue hairs abound on the peninsula!!!

  • Zosurf.