Rincon Point – A Surfer’s Guide

An introduction to Rincon Point

The legend that is Rincon is unquestionably one of the best waves in the Golden State, one of the best in the USA, and one of the best waves in the whole world.

It’s been called the most perfect right hander around and is nicknamed the Queen of the Coast. You don’t get a moniker like that for nada.

Winter NW swells and direct W swells march through a gap between the Channel Islands and Point Conception to get it firing from around mid-fall onwards.

Almost every regular footer in Ventura County and Santa Barbara will wait for those days when offshores line up and the period is just right. They’ll cruise down to find steep outside wedges rolling right through from the point to the beachfront, clocking up nearly 800m of ride as they go.

There are three sections to this wave and the magical moments when they link up herald some of the longest surfs in California. Rincon Point is still amazing when they don’t though.

It’s one of those spots you gotta’ surf before you die.

Rincon Point at a glance

What’s in this surfer’s guide to Rincon Point?

Where is Rincon Point?

Generally speaking, Rincon Point is a little bump in the West Coast of the United States. It’s around 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles as the crow flies and 290 miles south of San Francisco.

The point itself is half inside Ventura County and half in Santa Barbara. Basically, everything to the north or west of the creek is in Santa Barbara County. To the south and the east takes you into Ventura.

Rincon happens to be one of the most accessible surf spots in the USA.

That’s both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it’s super easy to access. A curse because it means it’s always busy.

The iconic 101 Pacific Coast Highway runs literally right by the point. You can see the main final section of the wave (The Cove) from the road itself.

To get here, just hop in a car hire at LAX and drive two hours north (we recommend taking the PCH the whole way – it’s slower but takes you through some lovely coastal spots and classic surf haunts like Malibu en route).

Surfing at Rincon Point

Built like a point break out of eastern Australia, the point’s setup is forged from a rivermouth on the Rincon Creek that’s been building up sandbars across the whole mouth of the bay for centuries.

The key thing to know is that there are three sections to the wave at Rincon: Indicator, Rivermouth, and The Cove.

The wave starts at Indicator on the outside of the cape beside a seriously luxurious mansion and a couple of stone pines.

On the best days of all, it will connect up to the Rivermouth section right infront of the creek and then the third, The Cove, on the inside of the bay.

It is VERY rare for that to happen, though, because it requires the biggest swells of the year, usually in the direct west channel, which is once in a blue moon sorta’ thing.

Most days you won’t see each section link up. Instead they form three distinct waves with three take-off zones, though it’s much easier for Rivermouth to link with The Cove than for Indicators, the most exposed, to link with the Rivermouth.

Let’s break each section down in turn because they are quite different:

Access to Rincon Point

Rincon Point is super easy to access. There are two public carparks here, one on the Ventura side of the county line and the other on the Santa Barbara side of the line.

Both can be reached via the Venutra Freeway (the 101) at junction 83, which exit to Bates Road. From there, you can either go to the south car park in Ventura to reach The Cove or go north to the larger lot that serves the outside section of the point.

It really is that simple. Hence the crowds…

Crowds at Rincon Point

Rincon Point might just be the most crowded point in California. DO NOT expect to have it to yourself.

There aren’t many surf spots that are quite so accessible from the freeway as this. You can literally cruise past under two hours from LA and see it working. It’s hardly a wonder that everyone and their dog stops for a ride if Rincon Point is firing.

On top of that, there’s public access. It’s a case of just turning off, parking up, suiting up, and then paddling out. Easy. No walks over train lines a la Trestles or paddles into bomb waves a la Mavericks.

We would say that the crowd at Rincon Point isn’t the nastiest. So long as you can hold your own and aren’t throwing a foamy around the lineup then you’ll probably avoid any bad words.

That’s not to say the crowd won’t affect your surf. It almost certainly will. Drop ins, snakes, and all sorts of ridiculous chanderliering are common at the point because it’s so busy. It’s like The Pass in Byron but actually worse.

Know that before you go and lower expectations accordingly.

History of surfing at Rincon Point

Surfing at Rincon began to gain prominence in the mid-20th century, though the area remained relatively unknown outside of local circles until the 1950s.

The 60s boom in surfing culture in Southern California meant that all those secret spots along the coast started to get explored.

Rincon, being so close to the freeway, soon drew crowds up from Malibu and legendary surfers from there – Joe Quigg, the father of the surfboard himself Robert Wilson Simmons – began to make the pilgrimage north.

By the 80s, the long, rippable walls of The Cove section of Rincon had become established training grounds for future US pros. Tom Curren, Slater and more came every winter to push themselves, experiment with board shapes, and just do some awesome shit.

When to surf Rincon Point?

The key time to surf Rincon Point is between fall and spring – November to March.

The months of October and November and December are usually the best of the lot because they bring the biggest chance of direct W swells, which are perfect for bashing into Indicators and moving around the point. When those combo up with the NE Santa Ynez winds, you’re in for a chance of the best darn day on a Cali point you could hope for.

The winter is generally quite reliable at Rincon, though you need to watch the period on those dominant wintertime NW swells as anything too long and sets can’t make it around Point Conception.

Summers aren’t that good here because the Channel Islands block most of the swell. There is an angle or two that work, but it’s not prime for hooking around the point and giving those long rights that you dream of (and everyone else in Cali dreams of). Sometimes, the beach breaks to the north of Rincon Point will form up some lefts with S swells and they will be the best option on the coast.