Santa Barbara

One spot that was a must for us to visit was Santa Barbara. Just north of LA it is a laid back Spanish style town. Our mate Tim had listed it as a great place to stay and surf when he was giving us his advice on surfing in California. One of the main reasons we wanted to visit was that it was the home of one of the worlds most famous surf board shapers, Al Merrick (Channel Islands Surfboards). He has shaped for some of the best surfers in the world and I (John) have ridden his boards for a good few years. We were travelling with 4 Al Merrick Surfboards (as I've also converted Ruth) on this trip. His shop was still the original that he started in. The place was like a museum with so many famous surfboards displayed on the ceiling including world championship winning boards from Kelly Slater and Tom Curren. The price of boards in the states is far cheaper than at home so as my favourite board had just about had it (almost snapped after Samoa) I left it there for them to sell for me whilst I bought an identical new board. I was pleased as punch, even though on returning to the motel, I discovered that the baggage handlers had snapped my other board in transit. It's not easy travelling as a surfer as airlines take no responsibility for your boards and if they snap it's tough. Oh well at least I'd got a new one and to be honest it's fixable.
We stayed just south of Santa Barbara at another good surf spot called Carpenteria. No surf but we had a fun day on the beach watching the dolphins. My back was still swollen and painful so it was a good excuse to rest.