San Diego county SUP scene:

I spent 6 days checking out San-O and vicinity with John Ashley
http://www.paddlesurf.net he showed me around the areas best spots,
and I got a real taste of the San Diego SUP scene including some awesome
santa ana conditions paired with some moderate NW swell! Day one was a
travel day, I went from the Airport directly to the ULI headquarters.
I wanted to meet Jim Wier there, and check out his setup. He was
super cool, and is the real deal -been surfing forever, and really
knows the surf industry and can tech out on inflatable technology.
He showed me everything I need to know about the
ULI SUP boards, his newest shapes, and traction
including some pretty sick looking camou models, and secret new light weight
technology. Jim directed me to the south end of Mission Beach where I
got my first session on the ULI. The swell was big, and pretty much
breaking on the beach, I was very impressed with how easily it paddled
out through some pretty large white water. It has a soft feeling on the bottom
of the feet which is comfortable, especially for longer sessions. When I
caught my first wave, I was stoked on how the board trimmed and turned
on the wave, it takes a slight adjustment from a regular sandwich
epoxy board, but I felt that it was pretty intuitive. The thruster
fins are small, so it spins out easily if you are not used to it, it
surfs more like a quad fin setup very loose and skatey. The
other surprise was the ULI 3 piece paddle breaks down small, but works
great as a price point travel solution. It is stiff, and relatively
light.

Day 2 was a 6AM pick up with John. We went directly to PB point, and
I was amazed with how clean the surf was with a nice long interval.
We got to meet some other SUP guys in the lineup, and chat a bit about
the sport between sets. It was a dream come true to be out sharing
waves with these guys, and to get some of the longest rides I had
ever experienced. When the crowds got
bigger, we split, and took John's truck up to the next spot, La Jolla
shores. It was packed there with LD surfers, so we basically paddled
around the lineup avoiding them, and headed North to Tabletop peak
passing hundreds of Leopard Sharks that were hanging in the shallow
areas. We paddled past the La Jolla caves up to tabletop, where we
had the peak to ourselves, and caught a bunch of wavelets that were
super fun. After our session we went and had some lunch
in the sun there in La Jolla. After that we went to check out some
of the boards at Stu Kenson's shaping room. It was impressive to see
all the secret shapes, and hear some stories. After that I was spent
and ended up napping in the sun!

Day 3 was a 5AM pick up. We had decided to go to San Onofre that day,
and it being a weekend, we wanted to get an early in at the state
park. When we arrived, it was 6AM, it was barely daylight, and there
were already a ton of surfers getting ready for their session, only a
couple of people on the water, but the parking lot was buzzing with
activity. We headed down to the dog patch, and paddled out and were
the only ones on that peak for a good 20 minutes or so before some
more SUP guys showed up. In that amount of time, we literally caught
probably 15 waves each, all nice size, shoulder high or so. It was
insanely fun because the waves there are so forgiving, the tops break,
and then they re-form allowing you to power through the flat spots,
and then get back in there. When it started getting busy, I
paddled south to Nukes to check out the scene down there, and had a
blast, a bit longer ride, but not as consistent that day.

Day 4 was back to 6AM pick up. We headed up to Del Mar, and checked
out Cardiff Reef. It was getting a little busy by the time we
arrived, but we had a fun session checking out the scene. There were about 12
SUP guys in the lineup there by 8AM, plus about 3 longboard surfers.
It felt crowded because it is a pretty narrow peak. The cool thing
there was the old timer SUP guys, and the younger guys all sharing
waves, and having a great time together. The longboard kids were
impressive, with amazing board skills. One of them was surfing without a
leash, and was so smooth, when he kicked out, he just grabbed the
rail with one hand, and was able to turn around on a dime, and paddle
back out effortlessly. John and I were hanging more inside to
pick out the available waves and got some pretty decent rides.
Once it got a bit more crowded, we paddled down toward the south
to find a killer unoccupied peak to ourselves which we sessioned for
a couple hours. It was a bit more inconsistent, but the crowds were right!

Day 5 was a 9AM pick up. We had decided to go to Sunset Cliffs which
needs an outgoing tide in order to get back out of the water. There
is no beach there, so you have to scale cliffs with your board, or you
can go down a steep winding staircase to get to the launch which is
not doable at high tide. When we got down to the water, it was pretty
crowded at the nearby peaks with LD surfers, and they were not
to stoked on our presence, so we just paddled around them and headed
south to some unoccupied peaks about a mile south of the stairs. The
crowds were right, down there -no nearby access- and the surf was
pumping over head high! We caught a bunch of great waves before the
wind came up, and we ended up paddling back to the launch after a
great session. I caught the wave of the trip during that session, and
it was pretty amusing because I had hesitated in position since it looked
like a closeout when John saw me and shouted "go go GO" I took a quick
couple strokes, and was dropping in, carving turns utilizing my
paddle, and was super stoked. Thanks John! Later we went to get some
local thai food and we drove around IB and Coronado checking stuff out.

Day 6 was a solo mission, and I headed back up to the dog patch for a
dreamy mid-week session. It was bigger that day, and there were about
8 SUP surfers total including one woman who was really fun to surf
with. When the wind came up around 10AM, it was a bit
on-shore about maybe 10-12 mph, all the SUP surfers came in, except me
and one other rider, so we got to have the whole dog patch to
ourselves!

I would definitely recommend John's lessons and tours to anyone interested in getting the
local SUP experience in San-O area. He is very generous with his bank of resources and knowledge.
For sure worth it!