From Crashing to Coasting in Five Weeks in Santa Barbara

In my quest to understand the Santa Barbara lifestyle throughout my internship at the Independent, I took on my greatest challenge yet — learning to surf. Luckily, UCSB Recreation was here to help. Their Intro to Surfing class equipped me with the instruction, surfboard, wetsuit, and inspiration to build my surfing abilities.

Every Sunday at 8 a.m., I tested the limits of my brother’s no-brakes, no-gears road bike as I made my way from Isla Vista on the trails to Campus Point Beach. On the first day, some pretty tame zero-to-one-foot waves awaited my classmates and me. We circled up for a quick lesson about wave anatomy, tides, and pop-up practice. Our instructor Sophia shared that she fell in love with surfing by heading out on the water every day during her time at UCSB. For her, that feeling of moving in harmony with mother nature with the push of the waves is truly unbeatable.

Though I mostly caught the waves while kneeling or lying down at first, I still experienced that harmonious feeling. The routine of surfing becomes almost meditative. Paddle out. Get pushed by a wave. Stand up. Fall off. Do it again. The salt water shot up my nose and the overcast skies didn’t exactly match my romanticized view of Southern California surfing, but I kept chasing that feeling.

Along with the five group classes, each student gets one free board and wetsuit rental per week at Campus Point Beach. I trekked out weekly with a new friend from class to use the rental and try to catch waves without an instructor’s help. It was a challenge, but a necessary one. If I was going to be able to reach my goal of “holding my own” among more experienced surfers, I had to practice my timing and build up speed before the waves caught up to me.

My progress wasn’t linear and certainly wasn’t fast. But after a few weeks, I began to feel more confident. I tried the deeper and more powerful waves by the point. I spent about half the time getting smacked off my board, a quarter getting smacked in the face as I paddled directly back out (I now know to go around), and another quarter actually catching waves.

After five classes and five solo sessions, I can now stand up consistently with smaller waves but I still struggle when bigger sets roll through. Though this milestone could probably be achieved without the formal class structure, it’s definitely helpful to have an instructor to get started instead of diving in headfirst. UCSB Rec’s instructors are incredibly knowledgeable, but you have to be willing to ask questions. I appreciated the flexibility — I could get a push before and a tip after every wave or tackle them myself, depending on how I was feeling.

I’m not a pro by any means, but I do think I’ve achieved my goal of holding my own out in the waves. Now, I just need to develop a 24/7 desire to blast the Flume remix of “You & Me” to truly fit in with the UCSB crowd.

More information about UCSB Recreation’s classes and Adventure Pass can be found here.