Today’s Rate My Velo Photo of the Day is a shot of a guy toting his surfboard to “The Hook” in Capitola.

The water along the California coast is cold, so most Santa Cruz biking surfers will wear their wetsuits when biking to the beach. It’s not particularly ‘chic’ or fashionable, but it works.

A trio of visiting Hawaiian princes — Prince Edward Keliʻiahonui, Prince David Kawānanakoa and Prince Jonah Kalanianaʻole — brought surfing to California when they surfed around the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in 1885 on locally milled redwood boards. Today, Santa Cruz County is renowned with 11 world-class surf breaks.

You’ll see surfers year round, but the “surf season” is during the winter months when you’re more likely to see heavy swells pushed west and south toward the California coast by strong Alaskan storms.

Surfboards are prohibited on the local buses in Santa Cruz, so you’ll see surfers of all ages riding their bikes to the beach with their boards. Shortboards are often carried under arm while riding, while longer boards are carried in the side like in the first photo above. Occasionally I’ll also see homemade trailers designed specifically to carry surfboards.

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