Surf Break Maps: Salt Creek, Dana Point, Orange County, California

I think if you went back to a lot of the 1980’s surf mags and sorted through all of the photos, Salt Creek would be one of the top 10 most photographed surf spots. At the same time you probably wouldn’t see a lot of photos crediting that they shot the little hollow-barrel-slash-closeout covershot at Creek either. It is probably a combination of the w facing beach, high cliffs, and open swell window, which offer clean conditions and good lighting most of the day…oh and the fact that Surfer Magazine is right over the hill in San Juan Capistrano probably helped a bit too.

Salt Creek is another one of Orange County’s top waves and main surf spots. It sits roughly in the middle of the county’s coastline, bracketed by Three Arch Bay to the north and Dana Point to the south. From a surf-landscape perspective it is sort of a pressure-release valve for OC surfing…particularly for the guys that live in the Laguna Nigel, Mission Viejo, and Irvine areas (basically the central county region)…it sort of gives them a decent third option rather than just plowing to HB/Newps or down to Trestles.



From a wave-quality perspective Salt Creek can get pretty damn good. You have a smorgasbord of different waves types packed into a small area. Points, reefs, beach breaks, and shallow sandbars are all within paddling distance. Throw in the fact that the beach has exposure to both SW and WNW swells, that it can handle and even prefers a higher tide, and it is protected from southerly winds and you pretty much get the trifecta going for the surf area.

Access
Finding Salt creek is pretty easy…just look down from the Ritz Carlton in Dana Point and you will see it directly below. Oh I always forget…it is a little hard to get past the Ritz door guards while you are shirtless, sandy, and in some beat-ass sandals. (Cross your fingers that the man with the rubber gloves will be gentle.) Actually you can check out Creek from Ritz Carlton Drive…you don’t even have to get out of the car just pull up and look through the fence that borders the park. It seems to drive both the locals and the authorities crazy for some reason…probably because it becomes a madhouse traffic jam when there is a good swell.

There are two pay parking lots just off Ritz Carlton Drive…they are the new ones with the pay station so don’t forget to get a pass…the parking ticket is something close 50-bucks.

For you broke suckers there is also a free public lot a little further down PCH…off Niguel Shores Dr (at least it was free the last time I checked.) You have to hike a ways back through the strand to get to Creek but if you have the time it will save you a couple of dollars.

The Hill
There is this steep hill from the parking lot down to the beach…it is paved and relatively smooth until you get to the bottom. Back it the day we used to bomb it on skateboards (but then I became less insane and more attached to total body function)…you can still try it but the pavement is a little slick on the damp mornings…and the fun run can turn into a widowmaker. Also the hill sucks some major ass when you are stumping it on frozen pins back to the top after a chilly winter dawn patrol.

The Surf
Like I said above Creek is a pretty good wave and on the right swell mix it can get really good. It is exposed to a wide swell angle and can pick up swells coming in from the S-SW all the way to the NW (the swell directions run from about 180-290+). Finding the perfect mix of swells for Creek depends a lot on which area you like to surf…each spot does a little better on certain swells than the others do. Generally you can see good surf from a decent sized S-SW swell, a strong W-NW swell, and the ever popular a good combo of the two directions. Creek will also work on shorter period windswells if you don’t mind surfing semi-shorebreak.

Here is a video of Creek that was posted on Youtube…the music it a bit suspect so you may want to turn down your volume.



The surf at Salt Creek is generally broken up into 4 areas.



Click on a link to get more details on each spot

Heroins

Gravels

Middles

The Point

Surf Break Maps: Oceanside, San Diego, California

Oceanside is one of the most consistent areas of beach break in Southern California. It is a solid “work-horse” wave…one of those rare places that if there is any swell in the water, no matter how small, you will probably be able to find some rideable surf somewhere along its beach…and if it is flat, well then you are probably screwed because not much else will be working either.

Oceanside is the first town south of the USMC base Camp Pendleton and is located just north of Carlsbad. The beach area is about 3 miles long and is broken up by Oceanside Pier which is located in about the middle of the stretch. The most dominant feature, however, is Oceanside Harbor, which sits on the north end of town and is protected by several large jetties.

The waves around Oceanside are classic beach break waves, and the shape of the wave is determined a lot by what type of swell we have in the water at time. It will be walled and sectiony when there is only a single swell coming in from a steady swell direction and it will get peaky and crossed up when you have a good combo swell doing the work. Like all beach breaks it will be soft on windswells and then turn punchy and hollow when we get a good long-period swell.

Compared to other SoCal beach breaks I think I would probably say that it is similar to a mix between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach up in Orange County. (I know a lot of you San Diego guys just cringed when I started pulling in comparisons to OC waves but here me out.) The surf at Oceanside feels like it pulls the best of both HB and Newps and blends them together…you get the semi-slopey HB takeoffs but with the fast and hollow Newport inside sections…and the paddle to get to the outside is longer than Newport but a lot shorter than the trek to get to the line-up when HB has some size.

Like I said before Oceanside is a very consistent wave…and it is a rare day when the whole beach has gone totally flat…but it still takes a semi-rare combination of swell and weather to really get the place going. Combo swells of W and S-SW swells are definitely the best mix for O-side. You don’t really need both of the swells to be huge…but if one has some power and the other is just in the background helping to break up the primary swell you can get some insane A-frames spread around the beach. Add in a little offshore wind and a little lower tide and it goes all hollow and completely ripable.

Swell Exposure and local winds

One of the reasons Oceanside is so consistent it its swell window. It is exposed to swells from the S through the WNW (175-295)…and it has a wide open exposure to the magic SW (210-220) and NW (290-295) swell angles, which SoCal seems to be able to get any time of the year.

Another great attribute of the Oceanside area is the very consistent offshore morning winds. Really it is almost ridiculous how often the beach gets those gusty offshore breezes. They don’t always last that long but unless there is a strong weather system shifting around the local pattern the odds are that you will have decent winds right around sunrise. (From a meteorological standpoint (geek alert) I haven’t studied the cause of these winds that closely but it looks like it is caused by Oceanside’s location relative to those local coastal-range hills to the N-NE and the passes through them that take you over into the Temecula region.

Oceanside is generally broken up into 4 surfing areas



Those areas are:

DMJs
Oceanside Harbor
Oceanside Pier
South Oceanside

Surf Break Maps: Huntington Beach, Orange County, California

Huntington Beach, or HB, (or “Surf City USA” if you listen to the lame tourist board marketing hacks) is located along the North Orange County coastline. It stretches almost 8 miles from the Bolsa Chica State Park in the North down to the Santa Ana River Mouth in the South.

In general HB has the most consistent surf in North OC and, in my experience, usually ranks in the top 3 most consistent areas in all of Orange County. (#1 being Trestles, and #2-4 being HB, Newport, and Salt Creek).

A lot of its consistency is due to location on the coast and the length of the beach. HB is lucky enough to cover such a large area that you get a natural “bend” in the beach shape as you move north…so the south end of the beach is actually more exposed to SW swells and the north end of the beach is slightly more west facing. This combination of exposure means that HB can pick up almost any swell…from a very SE direction all the way up to a steep NW swell direction.

Another reason HB keeps the hits coming is that it can pick up the long-period NW swell (290-295+) that most other OC beaches just aren’t exposed to. HB is positioned well enough that the long-period energy hits a few areas of shallow water out past some of the nearshore islands and starts to refract back towards the coast. This refraction eventually focuses the NW swell through the gap between Catalina Island and Palos Verdes and pushes it right into the HB Cliffs area.

HB would probably be the most consistent spot in OC if it weren’t for 2 big issues: Catalina and San Clemente Islands. These islands actually block a ton of SW energy that otherwise would have made it to HB. As the swell angle starts to go more westerly (above 210-degrees) the island blockage starts to take effect. First the north half of HB will be shadowed…then if the swell moves even more west (215-220 degrees) then the rest of HB slips into the shadow.

Contests

HB has a ton of contests throughout the year. They range from small (and kind of cool) high-school/NSSA competitions all the way up through the US Open Monstrosity that they put on every year over the summer. They usually have them at the pier (on the south side) but don’t be surprised if you find one at some random location along the beach. Oh and just to keep you guessing sometimes they will have giant volleyball, paintball, skateboard, and motorcross contests at random times…really though I just think they like to have them to screw up traffic on PCH.


The Surf

Since Huntington is so large there are a lot of different types of waves…you can find a spot for every type of skill level, from beginner through expert. Some spots will even change from a beginner break to a more challenging spot as we move through the seasonal changes.

Sandbar formation and movement also plays a large role in the quality of surf. Generally the sandbars stick the usual spots (near rivers, piers, storm drains, things like that). But occasionally you get one to crop up in a less obvious area…it is sometimes worth it to hunt around…you might find one at a much less crowed section of the beach.

Generally Huntington Beach is broken down into 6 surf areas:




1. Bolsa Chica State Beach
2. HB Cliffs
3. North City Beach
4. HB Pier
5. South HB City Beach and HB State Beach
6. Brookhurst

(Click on a surf area for more information)