The OC Beach Scene

Hey everyone! It’s Monday, which, oddly enough, means that it’s time to do the Sunday Spot Check here at the OC Beach Scene. After our short foray into the local beach culture of Santa Barbara, we’re back in the OC and the weather is…gloomy. With heavy showers expected to keep a damper on things for the next few days, you’re probably going to want to avoid the water, so this week we’re focusing on my favorite spot to shred when the waves are flat and/or contaminated with human waste–the Laguna Niguel Skatepark. (I know, I know–it’s an outdoor park, but I’ll take slippery concrete over poo-barrels any day).

Completed in 2003, the Laguna Niguel Skatepark is a fun, mid-sized concrete park that offers a well-balanced combination of ledges, rails, and transitions. While the nearby Laguna Hills Skatepark–just a five minute drive down Alicia Parkway–is free, Laguna Niguel’s newer, roomier answer to the aging park is well worth the $10 price of admission. Unlike the dilapidated Laguna Hills facilities, the Laguna Niguel Skatepark features fast, smooth concrete, a bowl that doesn’t suck, and high, pointy fences that, for the most part, seem to keep the stoner crowd to a minimum (although some of them seem to have slipped behind the front counter).

As seems to be the case with most Orange County skateparks, the crowd at the Laguna Niguel Skatepark can roughly be divided into two subspecies of skaters–aging soul-bros who have recently rediscovered the concrete glide after years behind an office desk, and pint-sized skate punks who worship the Baker crew and secretly have their moms drop them off around the corner. While the former are mostly harmless and stick to the clover bowl in the back, the latter are loud, obnoxious, and have no problem snaking you on the mini. These kids all have long, greasy hair, spit foul obscenities in squeaky voices, and to top it off, they skate better than you. Seriously, between the hours of 3 and 10, this place turns into a sort of demented daycare full of unruly Dennis the Menaces on wheels. However, if you are able to hit a midday sesh before the after school crowd gets on it, a fun, stress-free time can still be had.

For more information on the Laguna Niguel Skatepark, including hours of operation, head on over to the park’s webpage at www.ci.laguna-niguel.ca.us/index.asp?NID=424.

As Southern California surfers, we live for those magical fall mornings when howling offshore winds groom incoming Aleutian lines into crisp-lipped, barreling peaks; however, the past few days, we have seen the devastating effects that these winds can have on inland communities. Every fall, these hot, dry winds, known locally as the Santa Anas, come barreling out of the Great Basin towards the California coast, leaving perfectly shaped surf, and, less fortunately, prime wildfire conditions in their wake. Now, as we near the midway mark of what has been an uncharacteristically warm Southern California fall, the winds that are a surfer’s boon have become every homeowner’s bane as they continue to mercilessly lash flames toward residential neighborhoods across the Southland. We, as surfers, inhabit a precarious position between devastation and elation, chaos and concord as we tirelessly chase hurricanes and swim into rip currents and willingly take ice-cold set waves on the head; however, tonight, as the wildfires continue to rage in Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara, and Orange County, we pray for an end to the terrible destruction taking place at the hands of Mother Nature. We pray for thick, soupy fog and unsurfable slop. We pray for onshores.

Hey guys! It’s Sunday and we’re heading back up to Santa Barbara to check out more great beaches in the vicinity of this quaint coastal community! Last Sunday’s post was a lot of fun to write, and brought back many good memories of epic winter swells past; however, there is still much more to be said about the enchanting, seemingly endless Santa Barbara shoreline. This week, we continue our journey south down the Santa Barbara coastline to visit the hidden coves of Montecito and the world-class waves of South Santa Barbara County.

Montecito: This exclusive community just south of Santa Barbara proper is known for its towering hillside estates and celebrity residents such as Oprah; however, in my mind, Montecito’s true charm lies in its miles of empty, exquisite shores. Found at the end of oak-lined, cobblestone streets and hidden behind stately, Tudor mansions, the quiet coves of Montecito abruptly appear to the visitor as a revelation–striking in their beauty, yet seemingly out of place amongst a scene that otherwise evokes images of Victorian England or perhaps even the Antebellum South. I’ll never forget the first time I walked down the steps at Miramar, one such Montecito cove, only to be greeted by a woman riding by me on horseback. Her simple smile in response to my awestruck gaze seemed to say it all–”Duh, we are in Montecito after all.”

In case you missed the big news (and I think it’s safe to say that you did), the Oxbow World Longboard Tour Championships were held this past weekend at San Onofre State Beach. That’s right, the World Championships. So why is it that no one knows this except for the handful of “pro” longboarders involved? Why do Surfline and the other surf media outlets seem more interested in reporting local NSSA results than covering this ASP-sanctioned event? And more importantly, why doesn’t the average longboarder care? Blame it on poor publicity, poor venue choice; however, the underlying issue behind the WLT’s failure to garner interest is its promotion of a dated system of judging and a type of maneuver or “trick” based longboarding that is rarely seen outside of competition.

In an era when few are making money from longboarding and even the sport’s top names are forced to supplement their incomes through other ventures such as art or music or clothing lines, the idea of a “professional” longboarder is becoming harder and harder to define. However, it is clear that the 40-odd “pros” competing in this year’s World Longboard “Tour” (it’s hard to call a two-leg championship series a “word tour”) no longer represent the best or the most progressive of today’s longboard community. Sure, these guys all have a full bag of tricks, including chop-hop airs, radical off-the-tops, and slo-mo carving 360’s; however, none of it is really progressive. It’s formulaic, its point-grovelling, and it was all done by shortboarders over 20 years ago. The real innovators of the sport–guys like Alex Knost, C.J. Nelson, Joel Tudor, and Dane Peterson, guys that are pushing longboarding from the tip as well as the tail–have wisely opted out of this farce of a professional tour. A telling moment in this weekend’s event came in Round 3, when 17 year old trialist and San O’ local Joe Aaron took down reigning world champ Phil Rajzman–and on a single fin, no less. Contest specialists like Rajzman, Josh Constable, Harley Ingleby (sorry, Harley)–guys that are highly touted by Oxbow and the surf press–are not the best in the world; in fact, they wouldn’t even garner a second look at your average California point break. They have merely exploited a system that has long been out of touch with modern longboard surfing.

On a final note, congratulations to Bonga Perkins, winner of this year’s WLT San Onofre and newly-crowned world champion. This angry diatribe is in no way meant to take away from your tremendous achievement and years of service to the longboard community. World title number two has been a long time coming–you deserve it!

The Sunday Spot Check heads north! I just got back from visiting some friends at my alma mater of UCSB, so I thought it would only be fitting for me to review some of my favorite Santa Barbara beaches for this week’s Sunday Spot Check! For those of you who have already visited Santa Barbara, you already know that this beautiful seaside town has some of the nicest beaches in the state! For those who haven’t, this short overview really doesn’t do justice to the miles of pristine coastline that Santa Barbara has to offer; however, I hope it inspires you to make the short trip north soon! While most visitors to Santa Barbara never make it out of the State Street/Stearn’s Wharf area, I encourage you (especially those surfers out there) to do some exploring on your next trip to the area! Below, you’ll find my take on some of the best beaches in Santa Barbara County.

Goleta/IV: While the working class town of Goleta, just north of Santa Barbara, may lack the ornate Spanish architecture and palm-lined streets of its neighbor to the south, for my money, it has some of the nicest, best preserved beaches in the county. While Santa Barbara city beaches can get crowded in the summertime, the always-empty Goleta shoreline provides a great escape from the hustle and bustle of this tourist hotspot. Sands Beach, at the north end of student-dominated Isla Vista, not only offers a seemingly endless expanse of untouched sand, it also provides fun, fairly consistent waves in an otherwise swell-starved region. There are also several fun, occasionally epic point breaks in the Goleta/IV area; however, truly good days at these spots are few and far between, and are always punctuated by thick, student-speckled crowds.

Santa Barbara (Downtown): If you’re looking for the classic California beach experience (think pier, boardwalk, beautifully groomed white sand), then head downtown to the Stearn’s Wharf area. With world-class shopping, great food, and bike/board rental shops all located within close proximity, the wide, sandy beaches of downtown Santa Barbara offer plenty of entertainment for the whole family. If you’re a surfer, checkout Leadbetter Beach, situated just north of the marina and across from Santa Barbara City College. This is a quirky, sometimes challenging righthand pointbreak that, when the conditions are right, can be a lot of fun on a longboard.

Hey guys! I hope that everyone is able to make it out to vote on this historic election day! As all of you California voters know, we not only have a heated presidential race going on; we also have several very controversial propositions on today’s ballot that will have a profound effect on our state’s direction in coming years. For those environmentally-conscious voters among the electorate, today marks an imporant opportunity to make the right first step towards renewable energy, the acceptance and use of alternative fuels, and ultimately, a greener, more eco-friendy California. Here is my take on some of the initiatives on today’s ballot that could have a substantial environmental impact:

Prop 1A: High Speed Rail Bonds
This initiative would provide $9 billion for the construction of a high-speed railway system in California, the first of its kind in the United States. Not only would electric-powered high-speed trains remove an estimated 12 billion pounds of CO2 and greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, they would also substanitially reduce traffic congestion and eliminate the need for the construction of new roads such as the Trestles Toll Road.

Prop 7: Renewable Energy Generation
While I think that most would agree that renewable energy is a good thing and an important step toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil, Prop 7 is so poorly written that it would actually act as a hinderance to our efforts to become energy-independent. Unfairly biased against small wind and solar energy companies and unnecessarily allowing for increases in energy prices, Prop 7 is opposed by many leading environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund.

Prop 10: Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy
This proposition would provide $5 billion in bonds to fund research and production of renewable energy technology and stimulate consumer interest in high fuel economy and alternative fuel cars. Approximately $3 billion of this money would be used to provide rebates for consumers who purchase alternative fuel vehicles. Like Prop 1A, this initiative would not only reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but would also help to reduce greenhouse gases through the its support of renewable energy research and the alternative fuel vehicle market.

Prop 6: Police and Law Enforcement Funding; Criminal Penalties and Laws
While this initiative has nothing to do with the environment, I still feel the need to say a few words about this misguided, potentially dangerous attempt to curb gang violence. Not only does Prop 6 ignore the myriad problems facing inner-city youth, it also fails to uphold our constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. If we truly want to decrease gang activity in local communites, we should be investing in youth outreach programs and public school facilities, not sentencing nonviolent offenders to life in prison and trying 14 year olds as adults.

Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope to see you guys at the polls! Orange County voters, visit www.ocvote.com for information on where to vote and expected wait times.