You need

• A Beach. There is a lot of beaches in Santa Cruz. From San Francisco I took a Greyhound Bus.
• To Sleep: This is a cheap place to stay and you can book-it on-line (three days before). If you are a group you can find very good rooms for $100 ($20 each one).
• To eat: I suppose that $20 each day is enough
• To learn: It should be a lot of choices, but I contact this good school: Richard Smith School. I think prices are too expensive. It depends of week day but each lesson (2 hours) is between $60 to $80. You can also check at this school

Finally, I had a lot of problems. Greyhound bus went out bus station one hour late and bus driver got lost in San Jose Junction, so I arrived one hour and a half later to Santa Cruz. The hostal closes at 10 PM and I arrived at 11:30 PM. I had to deal with the manager (an angry mother with her baby crying and telling me: curfew not allowed after 10 PM, you must know that). Finally she gave me permission to get in, but one conclusion: don't trust Greyhound to get on time. Next day I got a taxi to get the beach ($15), so more conclusion: In USA you need a car to get places.

Besides this, I spent USD140 in two surf lessons. It doesn't worth money in learning surf. You need a big board, a wetsuit and a friend who knows how to teach. Afterwards, as the teacher said it's only paddling, paddling, paddling.