Hey guys been reading the forums as much as I can for the past few months and finally got registered! First thanks so much for the wealth of knowledge on here, as its helped me out quite a bit in a couple garage shaping experiments. I’d like to get some help on a surf related subject that I thought some guys on here would be able to provide a bit of knowledge about. I couldn’t find much in the archives for these but I might have used the wrong terms; so sorry if thats the case.
But the situation is the following: I’m currently a couple years out of college living in a very surf deprived area of the east coast. I have a pretty good job with a resort here, but I’m hoping to move somewhere either on the east or west coast where I could surf basically whenever I wanted (every morning before or after work) and not have my life dictated by the chance of getting some wind-swell once every few weeks. My girlfriend of four years is Canadian and is thinking she wants to go to Grad school as her one year worker visa after college is set to run out in June, and I’ve finally got her thinking about maybe moving somewhere with some consistent surf like California. She was totally opposed to the idea of moving that far from family, but now she seems like she’d be up for it. She had a 3.5 gpa in college, and I’m sure she could write a good essay, that being said I don’t know if she could get into the highest echelon of schools. Was wondering what info you guys might have.
What are some good surf colleges? some schools that aren’t too incredibly expensive? some cool areas? Any light you guys can shed would be great, I’ve done a bit of research thus far and some schools that seemed like they could fit were UNC Wilmington, University of Central Florida, Point Loma, San Diego State, UC San Diego, Cal State Fullerton any and all ideas would be helpful guys.
Sorry for the ridiculous amount of detail in these posts just hope to get something out of this, and figure theres some like-minded people on these forums. Thanks again
Yeah fine if your parents our rich or you just won the lottery. He did say inexpensive and rent alone would cost you big $$$. And also his girls grades would not get her into UCSB right now.
I second that if you want to surf whenever you want the east coast is not the place to live. It does have great days, and I love some of the areas, but the consistency is unbearable. If I could start from the first year of highschool all over again, I would have worked my ass off and gotten a scholarship and gone to school out west. I go to UNC Wilmington and trust me this place is a lie in terms of surf. I would have surfed more and better waves if I had stayed in NJ and gone to school an hour from the beach instead of here.
I grew up and live in San Diego, and went to CSU Fullerton. Fullerton is a good school if it offers the program your girl is looking for. Relatively cheap, but I was paying InState tuition, so I dont know what it’ll set you back. I strongly recommend living in Huntington Beach and having her drive to campus. Getting in and out of the beach areas is insane. I spent my college career driving the 25 miles to the beach while getting above third gear. Point Loma would be ideal. I would have given my first born to go there, but its pricy. LIVE ON CAMPUS IF POSSIBLE! I park on campus there to surf alot. SD State is cool, and cheaper than UCSD. Wherever you move to, the rent by campus is going to be the same as rent by the beach, and I would rather drive to school, and unwind at the beach when I get home from the drive, then walk to school and listen to parties all night.
UCSB… but iguess im partial to it since this is where I go to school…You can live 100ft from surf, campus, food, etc…pretty sweet. Not to mention great academics, and big name spots like rincon, sandspit within a short drive…o yeah, and people have a pretty good time here too. and you can go to jalama for waves when all else is flat.
Thanks for the help guys, still trying to get together more info for her. All the schools sound really good, any areas a bit less expensive than others around there? We’ll definitely try to stay by the beach if we can, so thanks for that heads up. Any more info would be appreciated, or if anyone has any similar moving experiences I would love to hear how your’s ended up. We don’t have any ties or connections in California, but I’d just love to move out there!
Lived in Mission Hills, North Park, Normal Heights the whole time. 10 mins to OB, PB. 20 to La Jolla/Shores/Blacks/Cliffs. 35-40 to north county/mex. Pretty damn nice setup. I surfed alot. Tuition was still pretty cheap, and this was only back in 05-06. If I had to do it over again, I would have aplied to UCSD. Great school…closer to the beach.
I considered UNC Wilmington. Even applied and was accepted. But isn’t it a three-hour drive the Cape? West Coast in a blowout.
A couple of things to consider… as you’re coming in from out of state, tuition will be pretty horrific at any of the UC schools. Even in the CSU system, it’s going to cost you. If you can establish residency first, you’ll obviously save. Take a few courses at a JC while waiting to maintain the visa, if necessary.
I went to UCSD as an undergrad, and have nothing but great things to say about it academically. I’m not sure if a 3.5 will get you in these days, though. Walk down the hill to Blacks, or drop down the road to Torrey Pines… Scripps/shores on a south wind. The reefs… You have a lot of options - I got in a lot of quick sessions just in the two-hour breaks between courses. But, the area is pricey.
I did my teaching credential work at SDSU, and found that you get out what you put in. There are some great and some less-than-great teachers, but overall I had a good experience. Not quite the same academic environment as a UC school, but a pretty good school in which to spend a year or two.
Biscuits’ experience in the central area is a great option as well. I lived in University Heights and liked both the area and the quick options for surf. Once you’ve settled on the school, there are tons of options in SD. Ocean Beach, north PB, really depends on what kind of environment you’re looking for.
Or you could really take a leap and move to the Pays Basque… there is a nice little college in Bayonne… I did some work with the University down there this summer and loved it.
You won’t get to surf whenever you want in California, either. Surfing is still surfing and dependent on the myriad variables that make it, ‘surfable.’ The whole state below Santa Barbara is a crowded, polluted zoo. It’s the price of nice weather. Central California is better, but getting worse. Anything near the coast is going to cost you. My advice, for what it’s worth, is marry the girl, get the professional needs finished without going into a bunch of debt, then decide what kind of lifestyle you both can afford and where you want to live it. Not that I’ve followed my own advice. Good luck. Mike
not that i want more people in the lineup here, but…u are a swaylocker, so u can’t be all that bad.
so a little info about central florida. this is what, Feb 05. 3 hours or so this afternoon in baggies and a longsleeve rashguard. water in the lo 60’s air in the high 70’s dead of winter don’t ya know. at one of the more well known PAFB sites. maybe 20 people out. waist high little peelers. never the biggest surf, never the best surf, but except for the dreaded summer flat spell, someone who lives beachside can go surf something like 3 - 5 days a week. more if u don’t mind chop. sebastian inlet. the streets. ocean avenue. balsa bay. canaveral pier. ungodly numbers of worm rock/sandbar breaks from the south end of the AFB to mlb bch. free parking in the county parks. 72 miles of coastline, all open to the public…unless a shuttle is going off. then the north county beaches may be closed.
cost of living: buy a place beachside (somewhere between the river and the ocean) for under 100K. rental houses can be found for 850 and up. apartments cheaper. walk 1 blk to the surf at 5th street south from your 500 a month “place in the sun” apartment.
speed limit on A1A is 45 except on the AFB (55) and cocoa beach (35). buy decent basic transportation for 2k from Augie Peluso at his place just down the street from the cop shop in CB.
ucf is in east orlando about 45 - 60 minutes depending on the time of day and your speed. big school. not the highest echelon but not so bad. out of state tuition will be a pain in the ass tho. financial aid is available for those who qualify…hehehe. inside joke. lots of work in oville. not so much on the coast.
summertime is travel time. cheap flights to central america will get u tuned up for hurricane season.
garage shaping u say. cross the 2 rivers to the mainland and usblanks are available at the former clark warehouse. fiberglass florida just down the road for resin/glass needs. several world class glassing operations in the area. to say nothing of the shapers.
on the other hand…no fantastic point breaks. june /july can be FLAT for 6 weeks. weekend summer crowds are not to be believed in terms of watching the incredible array of the variety of the human species behaving foolishly.
I went to UCSD/UCI for undergrad, then CSUF for grad school. I think your gf needs to look at the grad programs for her major first (did I miss it in the original post?).
just wanted to write to say thanks so much for the help with this guys, I’ve been scouring the internet and I feel like some of the most important info for this I’ve gotten from here. This is what’s so rad about this site; how damn helpful everyone is!
The girlfriend is leaning towards UCF and Orlando for a couple reasons and after PeterG’s post I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with that. I’ve realized I may have been a bit too optimistic about my surfing hopes, but Central Florida still should be a huge improvement over what I’m used to here in South Carolina. UCF has the hospitality management program she is looking for, and would be a bit less expensive for us. So right now it looks like we’ll go do some volunteer work in Nicaragua for a couple months than get to Florida and try to get everything sorted so she could enroll in Spring 2012 classes.
Thanks again for the help, any more thoughts, ideas, or insights into this issue or central florida in general and I’d love to hear them.
Rooster, clearly you havn’t lived on the east coast. We will get weeks straight where there is literally NOTHING over ankle high, not waist high and shitty onshore and swamped with the tide, not chest high and closed out, complete and utter flatness. It may be shitty in CA but you can always drive an hour to surf something. What Californians consider flat, is surfable east coast. What CA considers crappy is fun over here. What CA considers fun, is pretty good here. When the east coast gets epic, CA wouldn’t complain, but they get those days a lot more than 4 days a year.