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Stretching from the reeling rights of Rincon, to the playful peaks of Staircase, Ventura County offers a phenomenally diverse surfing environment. You’ve pretty much got every wave format imaginable: peeling point breaks, river mouths, wedges, piers, outer reefs, beach breaks, submarine canyons, jetty sandbars, and even a handful of mystery spots that are stirred to life when the conditions are in line.

From a seasonal standpoint, fall and winter are the best times of year to be a surfer in Ventura County. Predictable wind patterns and consistent swells have a tendency to ignite nearly every break in the region from September through February. And to top it all off, the local geography interacts splendidly. The bulk of coastal Ventura County is characterized by the Oxnard Plain; a large, flat expanse of sediment based land formed by the Santa Clara River and its family of tributaries. Primarily during the fall, high pressure forms inland and funnels warm offshore winds through the local mountains and canyon passes. These dry winds, known as Santa Ana’s, gust across the Oxnard Plain and run smack into the overlapping swells yielding hollow beach break peaks at many of the exposed sandbars. This pressure gradient anomaly is most prevalent from October through January. The prime season also serves up the Aleutian juice necessary to jump start the north county points and reefs. Spots such as Pitas Point, Mussel Shoals, and Rincon absolutely crave pulses of north Pacific ground swell.

As springtime rolls around, a high pressure ridge often asserts itself just off the coast ushering in northwest sea breezes. While the mornings usually still make for clean conditions, the onshore winds pick up by midday and shroud the surf under a curtain of afternoon crumble. These same northwest breezes also trigger upwelling that can drop the water temperatures back into the fifties... so don’t pack away your full suit just yet. Also keep in mind that spring is a transitional time of year, which means both hemispheres are likely to be cranking out energy. Surf spots capable of pulling in combo swells will enjoy quality surf throughout the spring season as the southern pulses are often crossed up by northwest wind swell.

Summers in Ventura County are Mediterranean in nature, with sunny skies and water temps pushing into the mid sixties. Inland valley heat drives ravenous crowds to many of the popular beaches in the area. Keep in mind that the Ventura coastline is partially shadowed from a direct hit of southern hemisphere swell activity due to the Channel Islands. Fortunately, many of the steeper south lines that pass up the majority of southern California surf spots plow straight into Ventura County. The eastern end of the Santa Barbara channel, between the Ventura coast and Anacapa Island, is a conduit for those infamous 165 – 185 degree hurricane swells. Many breaks all the way up to Carpinteria (southern Santa Barbara County) are actually capable of pulling in these odd-angled lines. While much of the northern county surf spots fall dormant from June through August in comparison to the winter season, many breaks in south county enjoy ideal exposure to a wide range of southern hemisphere swell energy and can be firing on all cylinders.

BACKGROUND

Located roughly an hour north of Los Angeles, you’d think Ventura County would be overflowing with mainstream media, major sports franchises, and bumper to bumper traffic. On the contrary, Ventura County is about five years behind Los Angeles in terms of population growth and commercial development. This is a good thing. There’s still plenty of farmland, and many areas have a small town, local community atmosphere bordering on “quaint.” Nevertheless, Ventura County is growing rapidly, and home prices have absolutely exploded in the last decade (much like the rest of southern California). Up until around 1998, it was one of the few places along the southern California coast where you could actually purchase a beach home for under a million dollars. Imagine that.

When Ventura County was chartered and separated from Santa Barbara County on January 1^st of 1873, it had an estimated population of 3,500. By that time, production of oil had begun and a shipping operation had been established in the Port Hueneme area. Flash forward to our modern era, and Ventura County’s socioeconomic status boasts a growing population with a stronghold in local agriculture, and a massive military presence.