A recent Surfer Magazine article, “Top Ten Surfing Colleges: A Guide To Getting Waves While Getting Your Degree,” rates UCSB the #1 surf college in the U.S.: “After poring over university pamphlets, surf reports, and statistics—taking into consideration surf proximity and quality, academics, cost, and lifestyle—we narrowed down America’s surf-friendly four-year schools to this hallowed bunch. And while UCSB came out the victor, we’ve also provided a list of other options custom-suited to you.” (Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA was #2, followed by UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz.)
The article went on to say, “Offering over 200 majors, degrees, and credentials, UCSB is ranked among the top public universities in the nation. Likewise, as the school gains popularity and prestige, it’s become progressively more competitive, cultivating a high academic standard and attracting renowned faculty, including five winners of Nobel Prizes. Plus, UCSB is one of the few universities in the nation that offers courses in surf, including Geography of Surfing, History of Surfing, and Field Studies in Surfing.”
The “Geography of Surfing” course alluded to was the first of its kind in the world when Professor Stuart Sweeney offered it in 2004 (Stuart said he could find only one other class with “surfing” in the title: a one-hour seminar on the physics of surfing at Scripps Institute). The class combines field observation with scientific and theoretical investigation–to quote Dr. Sweeney’s current class description, it’s about “social and physical science concepts manifested in the sport of surfing. Topics include wave generation and forecasting, economics of the surf industry, spatial search, strategic behavior under crowding, territorialism, and the generation/diffusion of regional surf cultures.”
Professor Sweeney received his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (City and Regional Planning) in 1999, and his current research focuses on urban and regional modeling and planning, human migration, local economic development/policy, and spatial point process models of economic activity. An avid surfer since age 8, Stuart couldn’t resist commenting on surfing at UCSB while being interviewed by The Daily Nexus (“UCSB Rides Crest of Surf Schools” by Michelle Molin, published April 28, 2011). He pointed out that Santa Barbara’s tantalizing waves can prove inconsistent at certain times of the year: “Rincon has one of the best point breaks in the world, but one of the worst swell shadows so you can go crazy waiting. Being close is only part of the battle; if you only have a bike in I.V. and it’s not a good season, there won’t be much there to surf.” “Regardless of the waves, Sweeney said the success of each surfer’s sesh is determined by his or her mentality. “Even if it’s a small break it will break really cleanly,” Sweeney said. “You have to bring the right state of mind to appreciate it fully. It’s a prettier area at UCSB, in the water looking back at the mountains — [you] don’t find that anywhere else.”
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