A mosaic, created by members of the Chumash community and dedicated in 2009, marks the site of Syuxtun, the principal village of the ancient Chumash at what is now West Beach. 
West Beach is one of the waterfront’s two main beach volleyball sites. 
Sailors ply single-handed Lasers off of West Beach. 
Kayak and stand-up paddle board rentals head off from Mid-Coast Adventures at West Beach. 
A marker explains the significance of the mosaic site. 
Elle, right, teams with her mother, Jan, in a friendly volleyball game at West Beach. 
Stand-up paddle boarders are silhouetted by the sunset off West Beach. 
Paddle boarders cruise the calm waters off West Beach. 
Santa Barbara Sea Shell Association kids, with a parent along, learn the crafts involved in sailing off West Beach. 
Sea Shell Association sailors by the seashore in Santa Barbara. 
The Ka Nai’a Outrigger Canoe Club offers instruction and training by certified coaches from its West Beach launching spot near Stearns Wharf.
[Noozhawk’s note: This is the latest in a series of articles on the myriad recreational activities along the Santa Barbara waterfront. Click here for the complete series index.]
For waterfront strollers and motel guests along Cabrillo Boulevard, West Beach presents a lovely, uncrowded expanse of sand from the harbor to Stearns Wharf and a bit beyond.
There’s also plenty to do on this beach, including family-oriented activities for both tourists and locals.
That includes a long-running local family tradition: The Santa Barbara Sea Shell Association has been teaching young kids to sail — involving families in the process — since 1948. The SBSSA website cites “seamanship, self-reliance and teamwork” among the benefits, aside from basic sailing skills.
Sailing off the SBSSA West Beach base for their Sunday regattas, starting at 1 p.m., the kids ply the near offshore with dinghy sailboats, generally U.S. Sabots. The season runs from April to early October, with a six-week break in the midsummer.
And after losing last year to the COVID-19 pandemic, the SBSSA is back stronger than ever, according to Dana Longo, the organization’s commodore.
“Right now, we have 50 families, so it came back with a great resurgence,” he said. “It might be our biggest year ever in 2021.”
The program “has had a profound impact on a lot of Santa Barbara kids’ lives,” Longo said, and he includes himself in that assessment — he’s an alumnus of the program, from ages 9 to 11 in the late 1970s, and a lifelong sailor since.
The SBSSA is for kids ages 8 to 18, and “the idea is that the parent is in the boat with the novice sailor, teaching the novice how to sail,” Longo said. When a willing parent is not available, “we do our best to try and fill in that gap” with more experienced kids or other available parents.
“We intentionally try to keep the entry fee as low as possible,” he said. “We want people from all backgrounds to come out and learn how to sail. That’s our goal.”
More information on membership and costs are on the SBSSA site’s FAQ page.
There are beginning orientation days in April, where those interested can get a taste before committing to the program. Once new kids start, “usually it takes about half the summer for a novice skipper to get to the point where they’re comfortable enough to get in the boat and sail around the course on their own,” Longo said.
West Beach has other, more short-term opportunities to get people on the water.
Cal-Coast Adventures has a spot on the beach, renting kayaks (single and tandem) and stand-up paddle boards, as well as offering group kayak tours. Those are available on a walk-up basis, mid-beach, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week from April through September, and other months by reservation from Cal-Coast’s location at 736 Carpinteria St., where many other tours and rentals are available.
From West Beach, kayakers and paddle boarders ply the calm waters between the harbor mouth and wharf.
On a recent weekday, the Reyes family from Castro Valley enjoyed that circuit in double kayaks. They’ve been to Santa Barbara several times before, but on this visit they decided to focus on getting to know the waterfront more closely.
“We just paddled down to the harbor, and then back around,” Sharon Reyes said, with her husband, Rich, and sons Daniel and Tommy. “We saw the seals and the pelicans and we actually met some friends of ours out on the water, randomly. I really like the wildlife, and it was just perfect weather.”
And they enjoyed the great view just offshore.
“We’re out on the water, and (I said), 'Tommy, Tommy, look to the left, that’s Santa Barbara.’ Oh, it’s so beautiful,” Reyes said.
Another day was devoted to rented bicycles from Wheel Fun on nearby Mason Street, again just getting to know the waterfront better.
“Every day, it’s just something new, and we just love it,” she said.
Rich and Daniel Reyes, in fact, explored waterfront locations by geocaching, the GPS-led hunt for various small treasures planted all over the world.
“There is a lot right here,” Rich said. “We found a couple of geocaches over here on the pier” and another on Cabrillo Boulevard “magnetically attached to a pole.”
The caches included a couple of Altoid tins and a small canister with “little knick-knacks inside,” he said. “You can add to it, and you can sign off on it.”
West Beach is also the home of Ka Nai'a Outrigger Canoe Club, which offers instruction and training for “both competitive and non-competitive amateur athletes of all ages” in the distinctive long canoes stabilized by an outrigger. From its spot just west of Stearns Wharf, Ka Nai'a (Hawaiian for “the dolphin”) hold practices, instruction, kids' camps and for 33 years has hosted a race called Big Run in May.
Big Run has a short-course race of four miles, including novices, as well as a long course (10 to 12 miles) race for women, co-ed and 19-under outriggers, and a long course open men's and 19-under men's race. Big Run is part of a series of nine outrigger canoe races along the California coast, and culminates in the Catalina Crossing — U.S. Outrigger Championships between Newport Beach and Catalina Island in September.
Information on membership dues and days and times Ka Nai'a is on the beach is available on the website.
West Beach is also one of the two main waterfront locales for beach volleyball, along with East Beach.
A mother-daughter team from Phoenix, frequent visitors to Santa Barbara, found a pickup game recently with a friendly young couple. First names only: Elle, 13, plays club volleyball, sand and indoor, in Phoenix, while mom Jan was playing one of her first games ever.
“I think she did pretty well,” Elle said. “It’s a pretty hard sport, especially in California because the sand’s a lot deeper than Arizona.”
Another organization with a West Beach presence, for adventure summer camps for kids, is Peak2Pacific. The organization offers a variety of of outdoor activities with a focus environmental education, including after-school programs, family events and more.
For swimming off West Beach, the Harbor Patrol offers a warning: Shuffle your feet as you walk. The area is known for stingrays, and it’s best to alert them to your presence.
— Noozhawk correspondent Dennis Moran can be reached at sports@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.