The hook
The most famous wave in California peels for hundreds of yards around a point on the Santa Barbara-Ventura line, and on a good winter swell you can ride from one county into the next.
01Why it's worth it
Surfers call Rincon the Queen of the Coast, and it earns the title on the right day: a long, clean, right-breaking wave that wraps around the point in three connected sections and can carry a rider a quarter mile if the swell is big and the crowd lets them. It's been surfed since the late 1930s and sits near the top of every list of the best point breaks in the world, which means that when it's working it's also mobbed with very good surfers, a spectacle in itself. You don't have to surf to appreciate it; on a big clean winter morning, standing on the point and watching the lines march in and the best local surfers thread them is worth the stop.
02How to experience it
It's right off Highway 101 at the county line south of Carpinteria, about five hours from the Bay. It's best at low tide on a winter west or northwest swell; in summer it mostly goes flat. Parking and access are limited and the lineup is territorial, so if you're surfing, know the etiquette; if you're watching, the point and the beach below are the spot.