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JOURNAL
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE
C Street is the break most visitors come to Ventura for. It is a long right that peels off the point and runs, which is exactly what a longboard wants and exactly why it is crowded. You can watch the whole thing from the promenade before you decide to paddle out, which is worth doing. It is a point break with a takeoff zone, and that means a pecking order.
Rincon, out at the county line near Carpinteria, is the famous one. When a winter swell lines up it produces the wave people move here for, and the parking pullout tells you everything about how many of them showed up. It is not a beginner wave and it is not a forgiving crowd on a good day. If you are unsure, go and watch it from the shoulder of the highway instead.
Beginners do better on the wide open beaches around Oxnard. There is no point to sit on and no line to join, the sandbars move around, and the crowd thins the further you walk from wherever you parked. Less glamour, far more waves per person.
This water is cold. The channel pulls in cold water off the open ocean and the temperature does not behave the way people expect from Southern California. Wear a wetsuit in August as well as in February. Rental shops in Ventura and Oxnard will put you in one along with the board, and taking a lesson on your first morning is the fastest way to skip a week of frustration.
Winter is when the good swell arrives on this coast, which means the best waves and the coldest water land in the same months. Summer is smaller and friendlier and much better for learning. Mornings are usually cleaner than afternoons, before the onshore wind gets going.
If the ocean looks like too much, use the harbors. Ventura Harbor and Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard are both flat, protected water, and both rent kayaks and paddleboards, which is the version of a water day that works with kids or with anyone who does not want to be knocked over. Both are also where the Channel Islands boats leave from, so a paddle in the morning and a look at the island schedule in the afternoon is a reasonable way to spend a day. Ask your local manager which rental counter to use.