Santa Barbara Surf Museum Opens

Gates Foss first surfed the waves in Santa Barbara nearly 100 years ago, pioneering the sport at Rincon Point while diving for lobster and abalone off his homemade board. Since then, Santa Barbara has become an international surf destination and home base for numerous surfboard shapers whose innovations have pushed the sport to new heights.

Now there’s one location where this rich local history is being documented: the Santa Barbara Surf Museum, part of Surf N’ Wear’s Beach House on lower State Street. The museum is a passion project for Roger and Grayson Nance, the father-son shop owners, who hosted the museum’s grand opening on Wednesday, September 3. The event also honored the retirement of Renny Yater, the 93-year-old legendary surfboard shaper.

“Seeing Renny retiring and getting older, I was like, hang on … all these stories he’s been telling me for the last 10 years, if we don’t write them down and put them on the wall, they’re gone,” Grayson said.

Alongside memorabilia like archival photos and vintage ukuleles, the museum’s centerpiece is its board collection. Visitors walk through decades of progression, starting with a 1930s-style plank made of 105 pounds of traditional Hawaiian koa wood, then moving through Yater’s iconic, lightweight “Spoon” designs, and arriving at contemporary handcrafted shapes from local legends such as Marc Andreini and Cooper Boneck.

“This all comes from my dad’s collections,” Grayson said. “While other shops are trying to add more board space, we’re actually repurposing ours to make room for these stories. And we didn’t hire anyone to build it out. We did it ourselves.”

Each board tells the story of how shapers adapted their designs for better performance and different styles of surfing. Some surfers looked to nature for inspiration, like when shaper George Greenough sparked the shortboard revolution with designs inspired by the speed of a tuna’s tailfin. Many of the sport’s innovations were created right here on Santa Barbara’s waters because of its unique conditions.

“It truly goes back to the waves here,” Grayson said. “Our point breaks are consistent. This place is one of the most ideal testing grounds for new boards, and that’s what brought the original innovators.”

Santa Barbara might be a single spot on the map, but its influence is felt everywhere.

“No matter where you go in the world, you’re going to meet somebody that surfs,” Roger said. “I can wear a Yater hat in New York City, and someone’s gonna go, ‘Santa Barbara’!”

Yater is a core part of this surfing history. He moved to town in 1959 to commercial fish for lobster, with shaping being his easy, off-season job. But then the movie Gidget came out later that same year, and it caused public interest in surfing to skyrocket. Yater flooded the market and became the biggest name in town.

“This museum is special because it’s just about Santa Barbara surfing,” Yater said. “It’s the closest look at our local history and culture.”

That hometown tie runs deep. Surf N’ Wear’s Beach House is a family-owned business built by — and for — people who have contributed to local surf culture. Even shop employee Camryn Foss is the great-granddaughter of Gates Foss, the first surfer in Santa Barbara. A century after his rides at Rincon, his legacy now hangs on the shop’s walls.

For shapers like Andreini, the craft and its history are inseparable.

“I infuse historic elements into what I make,” Andreini said. “Surfing is a feeling sport, so certain boards really connect you with the beauty of the waves. I really love when I can make a board for somebody that helps them get a better experience out of it. That’s what I enjoy doing.”

The museum also carries personal meaning for community members and people who are plugged into the tight-knit surf scene.

“I’ve grown up coming to this surf shop and going into that board room. Now it’s this museum that tells a cool story as you walk through,” said Shane Orr, a surfer and Santa Barbara native.

The Santa Barbara Surf Museum is more than a display of memorabilia — it’s a reminder of how waves, boards, and people shaped a community.

“Now, we finally have one place where all those stories can live,” Grayson said.