Product Description

Surfer Magazine offers the ultimate guide to catching the best waves from the pristine points of Santa Barbara to the sunny beaches of San Diego. For more than 250 spots, this sturdy manual sporting a water-resistant cover delivers a clear assessment of wave quality, prime wave conditions, and local hazards (both natural and manmade). Informative text answers the burning questions that surfers often pose: What tide? What wind? What swell? How are the locals? Are they worse than the sharks -- or the traffic? With helpful maps, photos, and directions, this Surfer's Guides is sure to become the gold standard for anyone looking to score the perfect wave.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42701 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780811850001
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Surfer Magazine is the world's largest and most influential surf magazine. Launched in 1960 by filmmaker and artist John Severson, Surfer is widely regarded as "the bible of the Sport."

Customer Reviews

Worth the paper it's printed on
This is a relatively comprehensive guide to Southern California surf spots. The book includes maps and descriptions of the ideal swell direction for each of the breaks it lists. Unlike other guides, however, it often omits crucial information about how tide levels affect many of the breaks it lists.

Although some will be upset by the editors' inclusion of "secret" spots like Hazard Canyon and the Indicator at Lunada Bay, the rest of us are smart enough to realize that these spots haven't been secret since about the time surfboards were carved out of balsa wood.

One of the best features of this book (and its companion guide to NorCal) is the waterproof paper it's printed on. All in all, this is a fine edition, and a slight but significant improvement over its predecessors.

The photos are pretty
If you saw a book on hiking trails or campsites that included the following directions, "Public access exists, but out of respect to the locals, you'll have to do some exploring your own damn self," would you purchase it? Probably not. But in the secretive and hostile world of surfing we don't have much choice. You'll have to put up with sardonic commentary, and contend with poor directions, but this is still the only up-to-date guide to surf spot still in print.

Explaining to the world how to get to everybody's local spots can't be good for surfer cred.
This is not a technical, step-by-step shop manual for California surfing: it is more of a field guide for your own surf exploration. If you want lil' matrices diagramming where and when to surf at any given moment, save up and get yourself a membership to a certain surf website.

All in all, the book is definitely useful when getting outside of your normal haunts. It demystifies the places you have heard about but never surfed, and provides enough practical information to get you there.

There is definitely a casual, caustic tone to the thing, which could possibly grate on some people. At the end of each section there are a few words about neat stuff and local histories or curiosities. At the very least, it's an interesting read for those who surf the California coast or dream of doing so.

Get the nor-cal guide too, even if you don't like Surfer Mag.