Surf Break Map: San Onofre State Beach, San Diego, Orange County, California

Lets face it...if you live south of LAX there is probably a good chance that you paddled out at San-O at least once when you were learning how to surf. It might have been Old Man's, it might have been Trails...but you know you were drawn to the slow forgiving surf, laid back atmosphere, and the almost mythical quality that the beach has earned over the nearly 90 years of surfing history.

The official boundaries of San Onofre State Beach cover a very large area of the coastline, which includes a whole host of different surf spots. From a surfer's perspective the San-O region is usually broken into 4 areas, which are Trestles, Church, Old Man's, and Trails.

Generally when someone says they are surfing San Onofre they are referring to either Old Man's or Trails, which make up the two southern areas in San Onofre State Park. (This Surf Break Map will cover both of those areas...Click Here if you are looking for information on Trestles). San Onofre is located to the south of the City of San Clemente, (just south of San Mateo Point), and north of the Camp Pendleton Marine Base.




The two surf areas, Old Man's and Trails, actually bracket the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (yes I am talking about the giant boobs that you can see from the freeway). Old Man's is located on the north side (and sort of in front of) of the power plant. Trails is located to the south of the station.

Getting There
Getting to San-O is pretty easy. You either drive north on the 5 from San Diego...or south on the 5 freeway from everywhere else. From there you exit on Basilone Road and head toward the water...the road hooks around and becomes Old Pacific Coast Highway. You can either follow that road straight and it will take you all the way down to the Trails entrance and campground, or you can jump off at the lovely hairpin exit that is just before the power station and head down to Old Mans. (There are signs all over the place so it is pretty hard to get lost).

Parking
All of the parking spots at both Old Man's and Trails are inside of the State Park...so you will either need to have a State Parks Annual Day Use Pass, paid for an overnight camping spot, or you will have to pony up the 10-bucks to buy a daily parking pass. (Personally I think that, if you are committed to surfing, you should save up a little cash and buy the annual pass...yeah they are a little pricey but if you go and surf or park in any California State Park more and 12-13 times in the year then they have paid for themselves, anything after that is just gravy!).

The parking lot in both of the surf areas can get pretty crowded...on big swells, hot summer days, and on weekends don't be surprised if you can't find a spot. Sometimes on weekends, particularly holiday weekends, there can be a giant line to get into Old Man's before the park even opens.

Camping
There is no camping down at Old Man's but Trails has quite a few designated campsites for both tent/car camping and motorhomes. To get a campsite in the summer you should probably make a reservation online through the California State Parks. During the winter you can probably just drive up and pay for one at the gate.

Surfing Close to a Nuclear Generator (or good ways to have your 'nads fall off)
There are some pretty passionate politics, both pro and con, that go into the idea of nuclear power. Personally my opinion is that if they can keep it safe, dispose of the waste in a responsible manner that protects the environment (and the people living in the environment), then sure go ahead and generate some power. On the other hand I do always try and keep in mind that I am surfing next to a nuclear reactor that circulates its non-radiated (so I hope) coolant water back into the ocean. Lets just say that I wouldn't be super surprised to see Blinky the three-eyed fish swimming in the line-up someday.

The waves




Old Man's
Sometimes the problem with a surf break that people have been surfing for close to 90 years is that it has like a hundred names. Each generation and clique of surfers has a different name for each spot and sometimes each section of the reef. As you can imagine it gets pretty confusing.

Generally the surf area north of the power plant, where you can actually drive up and park close to the sand, is known as Old Man's.

Old Man's is a pretty large stretch of water with several different peaks that set up and break throughout the line-up. Each of these peaks/areas have their own name. The northernmost peak is known as The Point, the middle area is called Old Man's, and the southern peak is Dog Patch. There is actually another semi-sort of surf area that is further south than Dog Patch...I have heard it referred to by a bunch of different names but it is usually called Horseshoes.

The peaks are actually formed by a rocky cobblestone reef that extends a ways off the beach, which is probably leftover from some historic beachside bluff erosion of the Arroyo San Onofre waaaaay back in the day. The reef is generally flat with smooth rocks covered in a mix of sand and sea grass. The individual peaks are formed by the irregularity of the reefs outer edge...there are fingers of rocks that extend a little further out than the other areas...each one of those fingers forms one of the surf peaks.

The reef itself sits on a bit of a sea-shelf which acts as a buffer for some of the stronger wave energy. Essentially this shelf starts the shoaling process much further out to sea than where the waves actually break...as the waves start to feel the sea floor they begin to lose energy and eventually break with slow and soft lines as they move up the gradual sea-slope and on to the reef.

All three of the main waves at Old Man's have generally the same properties. They are slow, soft, and generally forgiving. The shoulders are on the mushy side and you almost never see the wave form any sort of a barrel except under very extreme conditions. When you get down to the nitty-gritty Old Man's is one of the best waves for beginners and casual surfers. The inside sections and whitewash are slow and steady letting first-timers and little kids get use to their boards and how the ocean is going to push them around. The outside peaks offer up a little more of a challenge (relative to the inside) with slightly steeper takeoffs and an actual wave face to work with.

Here is some video of San-O in action...





Getting the Best Surf
Old Man's (the spot not the peak) has a relatively open swell window with good exposure to the S, SW, W and even a bit of WNW. It will work on pretty much any combination of those swells...but depending on what peak you want to surf, it really likes the medium sized SW swells (with medium to long swell-periods) and the SW/WNW combo swells.

On the pure SW swells you will get a long slow left that sets up off The Point...Old Man's and Dog Patch will have some longer left sections as well but will throw an occasional sectiony right-hander back up against the grain of the swell.

On combo swells all three peaks get uh...peakier (damn public schools)...The Point will still have better lefts but you will have some longer rights setting up off the Old Man's and Dog Patch peaks.

Like most of Southern California the perfect combination of wind and waves is the mix of a good SW swell, or combo swell, with light/moderate Santa Ana winds and the low-to-high tide push.

The Vibe
It is important to understand the Old Man's attitude. Most of the people that consistently surf Old Man's do it because they love the spot...they like having friends in the line-up and they dig the extremely laid back attitude of the place. It is a great beginner-friendly wave because many of the people in the line-up are so welcoming and tolerant. If you aren't a total jerk they will forgive mistakes, share waves, and probably talk story to you in the parking lot until your ear falls off. If you approach surfing Old Man's with the same attitude you will generally have a good time...if you are planning on being a spaz then you should probably surf somewhere else.


Spot details:
Best swell direction: SW swell (185-220) or a SW/W combo
Best Wind: NE-E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Rock reef, sand, and sea-grass
Best Season: Year round...any old SW swell will do.
Crowds: Yep lots of people, lots of longboards, lots of parking issues. Mostly manageable during the week...but hectic on the weekends (double so when the weather and the surf are good).



Trails
If you are looking for a little solitude while you surf in the San Onofre State Park area then Trails is your place. While it isn’t always completely empty it does have plenty of room to spread out thanks to the miles of beach break that stretch from the campground’s entrance to the start of the Camp Pendleton Marine Base.

Trails is the southern section of the San Onofre area…and it is pretty easy to find. If you follow Basilone Road (old coast highway) past the power plant you will run right into the park’s entrance gate.

Trails gets its name from the way the campground is positioned. The campground is actually built along the Old Coast Highway that sits up on the bluffs that tower over the beach. Since you don’t park right next to the beach, and much of plant life in the park is protected, the State Park Service built a series of trails, hence the name, that lead down to the beach from the parking/camping area.

There are six official trails that are actually named Trail 1 through Trail 6, (apparently the California State Park system has trouble coming up with original names for things too). There are a few slight differences in the surf that you find along the beaches that sit in front of each trailhead. Trail 1 actually has some pockets of cobblestones that make for some more defined peaks. Trails 2 through 6 have almost exclusively sand bottoms and the shape and the quality of waves depends on how the sand bars are formed and what sort of swell mix is in the water.

The Walk
It is quite a long walk down the trails to the beach and you can expect a couple of steep inclines. It isn’t all that much if you are just hiking the trail but when you add a big surfboard, your surf gear, and probably a backpack full of food and water then the distance and elevation start to add up. While the surf is just a gentle as Old Man’s the walk can be a bit of a struggle if you don’t have a ton of upper body strength (or some sort of good sling to carry your longboard).

Trail 7 (you got sunburned where?)
I mentioned that there were 6 official trails…well there is one unofficial trail at the very end of the park past where the official ones end. Out of all the trails it is probably the most famous (or infamous if you look at it that way) since it is known as “clothing optional” once you make it down to the sand. The State Park Service has been directed to start busting (no pun intended) people for going nude…I believe that they are already starting to issue citations…so if you plan on shedding your clothes you might want to keep an eye out for the Rangers. In the past the Park, while not really tolerating the nudity, sort of left it alone, which I am sure led to a lot of interesting sunburns for surfers and beachgoers alike (not to mention getting some wax stuck is some really uncomfortable places).

The Waves
The waves at Trails are very similar to Old Man’s except since the majority of the beach is wide-open beach break it doesn’t have many peaks that stay in place very long. On most average swells the waves are soft, slow, and sort of roll towards the beach as they start to break. It generally likes the lower tides…the high tide pushes most of the surf up on the beach as shorebreak. On bigger swells, particularly when there is only one swell in the water, the waves have a tendency to wall up and get all sectiony…it is usually better to surf other spots when you have a single large swell pushing through.

The best surf
Trails is best when you have a mix of swells in the water. The best mix is usually a medium sized SW swell crossing up with a small-medium W swell. Like most SoCal spots if you can time the tides right and get lucky with some light/moderate offshore winds then you can have a pretty darn good time. Even when it gets good it never really is that short-boardable, you can do it if you have the right board (like a fishy shape) or have the right body type (skinny and light), but most of the time it is better to bust out the longboard or a really thick funboard.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: SW swell (185-220) or a SW/W combo.
Best Wind: NE-E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand, with some cobblestone piles up around Trail 1
Best Season: Year round but best in the late summer and fall.
Crowds: It can have a few guys on it on busy summer weekends but it never really gets crowded.

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: Heroins, Salt Creek, Dana Point, Orange, California

Heroins is pretty much a gadget wave…it can get good, and you can get pitted out of your gourd on the right swell, but it doesn’t break that often and really most people don’t even take the time to try and surf there unless there is a macking WNW swell in the water.

The wave at Heroins is a right-hander that breaks off the rocky shelf up around Monarch Bay. The bottom is a craggy pile of rocks with some jagged edges (sounds like fun doesn’t it) until you reach the inside sections closer to the sand. The take-off generally stays in the same place but you get a lot of water moving around on big swells thanks to all of the swell reflection off the reefs, cliffs, and rocks. In a lot of ways this wave is similar to spots up along the central and northern California coasts (minus the cold water causing extreme ball-shrinkage, man-eating sea-life, and the near consistent string of overhead+ winter swells)…ok I guess it isn’t really similar it just gives off a similar vibe on big days

Due to a few rock reefs along the top of the point and further off of the shoreline, Heroins actually has a pretty limited swell window. It can pull in a S-SW swell pretty easy but the orientation of the point/beach causes those swells to pile up and close out the sections. So in general it is not very surfable on S-SW swells. Heroins really starts to work on the bigger winter swells…W swells to be precise. The steeper NW-WNW swells have a tendency to skip past the point, which means that you lose out on a ton of potential swells…really if it had just a bit more open swell window it would probably be a decent and fairly consistent winter spot.

Heroins works best when you get a bigger, medium-long period W swell between 250-280…sometimes it will pull in some energy from a steeper WNW swell but the periods need to be pretty long and the swell needs to be very large.

When Heroins is firing you can get some pretty sick looking barrels setting up as the wave breaks the point section…it sort of opens up for short distance and then closes out as you get closer to the inside. It is a photogenic wave too…it is really easy to get some sweet looking shots from the beach with a telephoto. Personally I think that on most swells the wave looks better in a photo than it really it. Here is a good shot of the surf (it is on someone elses blog so I won’t actually post it here).

Picture of Heroins Surf

Spot details:
Best swell direction: W (250-280) with medium-to-long swell periods. Likes the larger overhead+ swells.
Best Wind: NE-E, light-moderate winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sharp rock, sea-urchins, and sand on the inside
Best Season: Winter
Crowds: Not many people in the water most of the time…but it can get pretty aggro when a good W swell rolls through.

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

Gravels is the most northern section of the more consistent Salt Creek surf area and is generally considered to be more of a bodyboard spot…or at least most of the Salt Creek surfers wish they could herd the spongers into a semi-contained area over that way.

Some of the Villa Park Surf Club longboarding Gravels



The wave at gravels is one of those classic deep-water-to-shallow-water set ups where the waves get a near clear shot at the beach. Basically the wave is semi-shorebreak at the best of times and breaking almost, if not directly on the sand on the average days. You can actually get a little lefthand section if the swell mix is correct but Gravels is usually considered a right. The wave is a borderline closeout but it can throw a decent hollow section when you have some swell in the water. I am not sure how it originally got the name gravels but it definitely fits…a few of the times I have tried to surf it over the years have left me with a bunch of grit in my ears and some sanded off patches of skin.

As I mentioned in the Salt Creek overview this is where a lot of surfmag covers have been shot…the lighting is good, the water is blue and clear (but not necessarily clean), and the high cliffs knock down a lot of the wind. It is also a short easy swim to set up some in-the-barrel water shots.

Gravels is at its best on a decent W swell or a good swell combo. It can work, and even work well, on a SW swell but it doesn’t really click like it does on the other better directions. Even when the wave is humming along expect it to be a fast, hollow section that is better suited for bodyboarding and bodysurfing. That being said some of the deepest barrels I have ever seen at Gravels where by a couple of little kids on 9’0” longboards...go figure.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: W (270-280) and a combo of SW (190-210) and W swell. It likes short-period W windswells when they have enough power.
Best Wind: NE-E, light-moderate winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand, with some larger particulate…lets just call it gravel for arguments sake.
Best Season: Fall, Winter, and early Spring
Crowds: Moderate…but it can turn into bodyboard chaos when you get a decent swell on the weekend.

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

Sometimes the sheer laziness of surfers, when it comes to naming our surf breaks, is almost embarrassing…there are a lot of breaks simply named “middles” out there. Hell if you are standing on the beach looking at the surf in between two other people you run the risk of being named middles. Oh well…not much we can do about it…just try and think up some better names in the future. In the case of this spot it gets its name because it is in the middle of Gravels and The Point.



The waves at Middles break along a stretch of semi-permanent sandbar that sits between the deeper Gravels trough and the rocks that stabilize the sand along the Point. Basically Middles is a decent, dumpy beach break that is shoved between a hollow shorebreak section and a left handed reef/point.

The wave shape at Middles is determined by a few things…the tide, the swell mix, and how the sandbar is situated. If one of these factors get too far out of whack Middles turns sectiony and closed out, with just a few makeable sections over by the left coming off the point. As these different factors get more favorable the waves at Middles can get super fun setting up some hollow peaks and fast rippable shoulders.

When the sandbar at Middles is in its “normal” shape the best swell direction is definitely a SW/WNW combo swell (with the WNW swell being either a medium or short period swell). The mix of energy will get broken up and reflected off parts of the Point and end up combining up right as they hit the rather steep sandbar. As a result you will see a series of scattered peaks stretching through most of the beach, some of which will be hollow and barreling if you have timed it right with the tides…which tends to need to be in the medium-high range of the tide swing…if the tide is too low Middles starts to close out.

Middles will also work well on a single, moderately sized, S-SW swell…the natural beach shape along with its exposure to the swell angle can set up decent sections both near the Point and Gravels.

It is important to note that while Middles isn’t the greatest wave in the area it does act as a good pressure release for the crowd throughout the Salt Creek Surf area…without the more open, and sometimes shifting sections, the pack would be stacked up rail to rail along the point and it would probably devolve into something like Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome…and really nobody but me wants that to happen.


Two men enter! One man leaves!


Just a typical Saturday afternoon for Adam

Spot details:
Best swell direction: SW and W combo swells, Bigger SW swells, and medium sized W swells (270-280) It likes short-period W windswells when they have enough power.
Best Wind: NE-E, light-moderate winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand with some random rocks springing up as you get closer to the Point.
Best Season: Fall, Winter, Spring, and Season
Crowds: Generally mellow but it can get a little thick when the crowd at the point is overflowing.

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

The Point is generally considered the “anchor” spot of Salt Creek beach. It is usually the most consistent, the most crowded, and it usually has better overall wave shape.



The Point is a left-hander that breaks off the pile of rocks along the south end of the beach. While it is called “The Point” it actually has a lot more in common with a reef break than an actual point break. The rocks that you see above the waterline and on the beach are actually just the base of a longer underwater rock shelf. Sand moving down the beach from the north has a tendency to get piled up next to those rocks and helps to extend the “point” further away from the shore and smooth off the transition from deep to shallow water.

If you have ever surfed The Point you know that the primary take-off section is pretty small…it is a section maybe about 10-15’ across…sometimes smaller or larger depending on how the tides, wind, and swell is affecting it. On most crowded days it can be a proper bitch to get set waves. There are a lot of guys that have got the Point dialed…they know how the wave is going to set up and have a good idea on how the tide is affecting the take-off, put 10 or 12 of those guys into a little box of a take-off zone and mix in an inconsistent southern hemi swell and you have a recipe for frustration. After a couple of sessions like that you will have a good idea why a lot of people head over to Middles.

On the right swell the left off The Point is a damn good wave…sometimes even worth the wait if it is crowded. The takeoff at the top of the point is fast but not hyper-critical so you have a good chance of making the drop. The wave does set up fast though and right after your bottom turn you hit a speedy section that has a tendency to barrel for a couple dozen yards. From there the wave slows down a touch but you do have to push through some racy sections on the inside. Eventually the wave does a semi-closeout as finally nears the beach…occasionally you will get a small shoulder that you can drift off and back into your paddle.

Check out this super old photo of the point…you can read a cool story about the Dana Point/Creek Surf scene that came with this photo here http://habig.com/fremember.html



Man I wish that the Coast still looked like this...

The best swell for the Point is generally a medium sized (5-7’ faces) long-period S-SW swell (180-210). It generally needs a medium-high tide to really get the wave to stand up but occasionally the sand will shift around and it can stay playful on the low-mid tide as well.

Rights off the Point
Occasionally, on large WNW-W swells, enough energy will push past the point and form a right-hander that breaks back toward Strands. It takes a lot of energy to actually make it break with any sort of shape but it is a good standby spot if other areas are having trouble with winds/weather. It is worth noting that Strands has a ton of randomly submerged rocks and can be pretty sketchy…it is one of those spots probably better left to experienced surfers.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: Healthy S-SW swells (180-210) and large W-WNW swells (270-280)
Best Wind: NE-E, light-moderate winds are the best. But it can handle light-moderate winds out of the S-SE
Sea Floor: Mostly rock-reef with some patches of sand and sea-grass. More sand as you get closer to the beach.
Best Season: Fall, Winter, Summer and sometimes Spring
Crowds: Generally mellow but it can get a little thick when the crowd at the point is overflowing.

Surf Break Maps: Malibu Point, Malibu, Los Angeles County, California

Malibu Point is another one of Southern California’s best waves…and even though it has been cheesed out again and again by Hollywood…it still manages to captivate most surfers (except maybe the guys that have to battle it in the Malibu line-up day in and day out just to catch a few waves outside of work). Even though it is a total fantasy, many surfers would probably pay an arm and a leg at the thought of getting a pumping, uncrowded, S swell at the ‘bu.



Malibu is a point that is situated about halfway between Point Dume (to the west) and Santa Monica (to the east). Thanks to the path of the Coast Highway it is pretty easy to find…you basically get a great view of it from the highway as you pass the Malibu pier. Well when you can see past all the movie stars…and giant freaking mansions.

The Malibu Point area is actually made up of a couple of State Parks. To the west you have Malibu Lagoon State Park and to the east you have Surfrider State Beach. There are parking lots in either of the state parks but it is generally easier to get to the break if you park in the Surfrider lot.

The wave at Malibu is usually broken up into 3 sections named First Point, Second Point, and (you guessed it) Third Point. On average swells the wave doesn’t quite connect from point to point so the crowd gets spread out through these sections.

Third Point is the actual start of the Malibu wave…the swell wraps into the top of the point and the cobblestones that anchor the break act as a mix of point and reef break. The take-off at Third is a little loosely defined so, depending on the swell/tide/wind, you can shift around sometimes dropping in deeper towards the top of the point or down the line as the wave gets closer to second point.

Second Point is sort of weird mix of a wave…it is basically a section that breaks along part of the point that doesn’t swing smoothly back towards the pier…it actually has a little bit of a bulge that causes it to section a bit faster than the other points. Second Point is much shorter than First or Third but it can get hollow and fast on the right types of swells.

First Point is the final inside section that connects in toward Surfrider beach and the Malibu Pier. The First point section has a very smooth transition and a more natural angle to the shoreline as it hooks back into the bay. It also gets a bit more sand moving out of the Malibu Lagoon…this sand has a tendency to fill in some of the imperfections of the cobbles and smoothes out the wave. First point is generally a longboard spot…particularly when there isn’t a ton of swell in the water. For a longboard wave it is pretty darn good…it sort of looks like it was churned out of a machine…each wave almost the same as the next one.



Getting good surf at Malibu
Despite having a decent swell window Malibu isn’t always that consistent. It takes a lot of juice to force a swell between all the nearshore islands and its exposure to winter energy isn’t that great. You tend to see some sort of wave breaking if you have some S swell in the water, but as it gets smaller most of the rideable surf seems to shift over to first point making an already crowded spot even more crowded.

Here is a map that highlights the open swell windows for Malibu. Make sure to note that the windows are a little broken up with some decent shadowing from a lot of the nearshore islands.




While it breaks on a number of swell directions, sizes, and swell periods…the best swells for Malibu are the big S and SW swells. Those swells have a mostly clear shot through the islands and the S-facing nature of the Malibu Point means that the swell has spend less time refracting its energy around the point to reach the inside sections. Generally it likes long-period energy but as the swell starts to get into the 14-15 second range (and is still showing some decent size) it gets easier for the wave to connect through the three points. You definitely need a big swell for Malibu to start connecting but when it finally does, and you catch a wave from Third through First it will blow your mind…well unless you don’t get burned by 10 guys along the way.

Malibu can pull in a W swell or even a large longer-period WNW…you get some wrap from the channel islands that sort of pulls it around into the Point Dume area, which refracts the swell again in toward Malibu. The more W-WSW a swell gets the bigger it will be at the ‘bu due to the more open swell window. Generally I consider Malibu to be a good spot to check on the bigger W-WNW swells…it will be quite a bit smaller than the W facing beaches but if the period is right it can be fun…it also has bit more protection from the NW winds so it will stay surfable even when it gets too breezy for other, more exposed, breaks.

One last thing on swells…there is a bit of swell shadowing from Cortes Bank…it generally affects the SW swells but the interference is actually on the intermittent side. We actually only see heavy blockage from Cortes when you have both a decent NW windswell and a SW swell in the water at the same time. This seems sort of counter-intuitive because normally swells shouldn’t really affect one another that much (and they generally don’t in open water) but it seems like the combo of shallower water, short-stacked up swell periods from the NW, erode a lot of the long-period SW energy away…effectively blocking it from reaching up into the Santa Monica-Malibu area. This is one of the reasons why you might get skunked on a SW swell…Trestles and Oceanside could be pumping with overhead surf but Malibu might be around waist high. It is frustrating but if you keep in mind the windswell you can plan around it.


Crowds
Yeah it is freaking crowded…and even more so on big swells. Plan on getting burned, yelled at, and hassled…then when you aren’t you can be pleasantly surprised.

Here is a funny video of the crowds




Spot details:
Best swell direction: S-W swells (180-270)…but it can take a WNW up to (285) and a SE from around (155-160) as well and still be pretty fun.
Best Wind: moderate N-NE
Sea Floor: Mostly cobblestones with some sand filling in the cracks around First Point.
Best Season: Summer, Hurricane Season
Crowds: Hell yes

Surf Break Maps: Black’s Beach, La Jolla, San Diego, California

Black’s Beach is one of San Diego County’s most consistent, and heaviest, beach breaks…it is one of those swell-magnet breaks that works on almost any combination of swell. It is definitely one of the better surf spots in SoCal and like many other good surf spots it is somewhat a freak of nature.



Black’s is one of the few Southern California beach breaks that can legitimately hold a breaking wave anywhere from 2-feet to 15-feet+ on the face. It breaks year-round while most of South San Diego shuts down as the North Pacific Storm Track weakens over the summer. It has some protection from southerly winds while being able to pull in SW’erly swell (which is damn hard to do…). Like I said…a freak.

There are 3 major factors that drive the shape and the consistency of this wave…

1. Location – It sits in a good spot along the coast…with a fairly large swell window.

2. Orientation – The beach faces due west…opening it up to both SW and WNW swells.

3. Sea-Floor Bathymetry - The Scripps and La Jolla Submarine Canyons sit right offshore and act like giant amplifiers for incoming long-period swells (11…it is one more than 10!)


Going into a little more detail…
Black’s is located about 1km north of the Scripps Pier and just to the South of the Torrey Pines Glider Port (port or park I am not really sure…I just know they fly big kites there). Most of the Black’s beach stretch faces almost due west…which exposes the beach to both WNW and SW swells. The southern section of the beach has a slight hook-and-bend to it which swings the shoreline back towards the WNW…effectively adding that extra winter-oomph to the south peak.

It also helps that the geographical positioning of the beach means it is exposed to the SW-WSW swell directions, but more importantly, that it has a very large WNW window as well. With a first glance at a SoCal map you would almost think that a lot of NW swell would be blocked by the nearshore islands…but when you take a closer look you see a large gap just south of the Channel Islands that allows swell to pass through. And you also see that the swell would eventually hit the NW tips of San Clemente and Catalina Islands allowing a lot of the energy to pass around the islands rather than getting blocked.

The final factor is the Scripps Submarine Canyon, and to a lesser degree the La Jolla Submarine Canyon. The set of super deep trenches just off the coast allow long-period swells to refract differently than they would if they hit a more consistent coastline. On SW swells they wrap the energy that should have skipped past the area (or been mostly blocked by La Jolla Point) back into the beach keeping us in waves during the summer that should have been heading exclusively towards O-side and Trestles. On NW swells these canyons do about the same thing but, because the beach already has a more natural exposure to the WNW, it hooks excess energy back towards the beach causing it to double-up as it moves into the surf zone…effective peaking up a swell that should have been mostly closed out.

There are 3 main peaks at Black’s…they are appropriately named South Peak, Middle Peak, and North Peak (man who says surfers aren’t creative). South and Middle peak have a tendency to work better on WNW swells and strong swell combos of WNW/SW (along with some shorter period windswell). North peak works on the SW/WSW swells and again on the SW/NW swell combos.

WNW swells


SW swells



The Best Surf
While I have talked a lot about Black’s breaking year round (and it does)…the break really starts to shine when we get a clean long-period WNW swell (280-290). Black’s loves these types of swells…they hit the canyon just right and you get that nearly iconic hollow bowl forming the left at the South Peak. These are the types of swells where Black’s can maintain a makeable wave even when there is a hell of a lot of energy in the water…in fact it generally starts to break hollower, with a longer section, and is less tide sensitive, as the swell gets bigger.

Personally I like it when there is enough energy to set up some consistent head high surf with sets running to a couple of feet overhead on the face…(any bigger and I start to scream like a little girl when I try to drop in going backside…it is sad really). Unfortunately that is about the magic size for everyone…and the crowd starts crawling out of the woodwork.




Getting There is Half the Fun
About the only thing that semi-saves Black’s from being blitzed by an unbelievable crowd on a daily basis is that is located at the base of a pretty good sized cliff that is almost 200’ high in places. The length of the walk, and the brutal climb in elevation, keeps a lot of people from using blacks as a lunchtime or quick dawn patrol spot. Basically you need to have a good amount of time to make the round trip from your car to the surf and back again. Naturally Black’s is a great weekend spot…and the crowd can get ridiculous because everyone and their cousin have a couple of hours to kill surfing.



There are a couple of ways to get down to the beach…one is a series of semi-sketchy goat-trails up by the glider area…these are hazardous on the best days…and if there has been any rain, or even heavy dew, I wouldn’t even think about trying to get down that way.

The other, and more traditional route, is to park up off La Jolla Farms road and head down the gated and semi-paved trail. You need to watch where you park, the neighborhood is pretty freaking swanky and their panties can get in a serious bunch if you spoil their view by bare-assing your wetsuit change in front of their “estate”. Tickets and towing can be a definite issue so try and obey the local parking laws.

The Key
There is a near mythical key to the Black’s entry trail/road. Supposedly if you have a copy of the key you can unlock the gate and drive to the bottom of the road cutting out a ton of time that it takes to get into the water. There are very, very, very few of these keys and they owners of them guard them jealously. I remember reading a story recently (and if you know where this story is…send me the link) about these keys…and how one owner’s best friend basically ransacked his house looking for the key while he was out…it was pretty classic and yet messed up at the same time. The rumor is that the captain or coach of the UCSD Surf Team has a copy of the Key…I am sure there are a few others (other than lifeguards) but they aren’t as well known.

Nudists
Black’s has a reputation for being a nude beach and while it isn’t technically legal it is tolerated in certain areas. Personally I could care less if people want to take off their clothes…if it is warm enough to go prancing about in your birthday suit whatever floats your boat…just try not to hassle anyone. The general nude area is north of the surf spot…just a bit past the glider port. So if you were thinking about catching a few meaty barrels and then heading straight to the beach to drop trou…think again…not everyone on the beach (or many of the surfers in the water) want to see your junk…try and keep it to the designated areas.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: SW-NW (205-290+) the longer the swell period the better)…good combo swells work well too.
Best Wind: NE-ESE, light to moderate wind speeds work the best.
Sea Floor: Sand and a near bottomless canyon where sea creatures will come and eat you.
Best Season: Year round…but really shines on Fall/Winter WNW swells.
Crowds: Yes it does get crowded…there is decent sized dawn patrol despite the cliff but you can find a few openings here and there until it gets a decent swell. Weekends when it is around the head high range can max it out. (it does get surprisingly empty as sets near the 15’+ range)

Surf Break Maps: Newport Beach, Orange County, California

Newport Beach is probably one of the most famous beach areas in Southern California ranking right up there with Malibu, Venice, and (thanks to that horrible faux-reality show) Laguna Beach. From a surf standpoint Newport is a veritable smorgasbord of spots packed into a small section of coastline. In Newport it is possible to surf waves that vary in quality, size, and power and are so close together that they can be reached by a short ride on the beach cruiser.

Newport Beach is located just to the south of Huntington Beach and to the north of Corona Del Mar. Most of Newport Beach is actually the northern peninsula of Newport Bay (often referred to as Newport Harbor) and protects one of the most expensive waterfront locations in Southern California.

The north end of the beach is anchored by the river mouth of the Santa Ana River, which is known as the Santa Ana River Jetties, or sometimes just the “rivermouth”. This part of the beach faces mostly to the SW and runs for about 2 miles before hitting Newport Pier. There are a series of short jetties that line up with the various Newport street names…like 56th street for example. At the end of this SW stretch of beach is a spot called Blackies which generally encompasses the area from the 28th street jetty to Newport Pier.

As you move past the pier the beach angles slightly more to the south…(S-SSW to be exact). The transition from the SW facing beach to the S facing stretch is generally referred to as Newport Point even though it is only loosely shaped like a proper “point”.

The S facing stretch of beach is a little under 3-miles long and runs from Newport Pier to the north jetty that protects the entrance to Newport Harbor. There are a number of surf/swim areas along this stretch of Newport but surf shape is generally better in the more northern areas. That being said this part of Newport Beach is home to its most famous wave “The Wedge”, which is snuggled right next to the north jetty of the harbor entrance.

The Surf

Like I said above the surf in Newport is amazingly varied…when you lump it all together it sort of breaks down like this: If there is a decent swell in the water you can pretty much find a wave that will suit your abilities, equipment, or just general ocean comfort level. Unfortunately these waves are not always the easiest to pin down because parts of Newport definitely work better than others as the combination of swell direction and swell periods change.

There are really three big factors that almost always need to be accounted for in the Newport surf landscape…

1. The swell (size, direction, and period)
2. The Sand (where it is and where it isn’t)
3. Newport Submarine Canyon

Okay the first two are kind of no brainers, particularly if you have read my Ocean Science 101: How our Surf is made posts, but the 3rd point is a little more obscure and often overlooked.

There is actually a pretty deep submarine canyon just offshore of Newport Beach…in fact the end of the canyon extends to a point just a few hundred feet to the southwest of Newport Pier… and this canyon does some pretty crazy things to the surf pushing into Newport. The Newport Submarine Canyon can act like part amplifier, part traffic cop, and part deflector. I guess you could think of it sort of like a really messed up freeway interchange for swells. The combination of deep water depths close to the coast along an unevenly mixed sea-floor allow swells to shoal rapidly and dramatically, wrapping around bends in the canyon’s edges and eventually being re-routed along new trajectories as they head to the beach.



“Exactly” how the canyon is going to affect the surf depends on what sort of energy is in the water…swell direction, size, and swell-period are all super important and will greatly affect the most important question of “where will it be best” as they are mixed in different proportions.

What is funny is that a lot of Newport surfers actually have a good idea of how the canyon is going to affect the surf…they just don’t know that the canyon is doing the work. If you are a local and you know that Blackies is good on a short-period W swell, or that the point works on a short-period S swell, or 56th street works best on a long-period S-SW swell then you already know “how” the canyon influences Newport’s waves. (I will have more specific info on how the canyon affects certain spots when you get to the descriptions of the individual breaks.)


Blackball


Waaaay back in 1966 Orange County lifeguards started flying the “Black Ball” flag in an effort to protect swimmers in the surf zone from dangerous (and usually unleashed) surfboards. I do believe that Newport Beach was one of the first beaches in California to use the blackball flag (but my grasp of history can be spotty sometimes).

Newport still has the infamous blackball rules. So if you see the yellow flag with the black ball in the center then it means that no hard surfboards are allowed in the water…even if you are outside of the swim zone. This is for public safety and usually the Newport Lifeguards don’t abuse their authority…in fact Newport gives their guards a bit more latitude than other beaches and the guys in the towers can keep a beach open to hard surfboards longer (as long as there isn’t a danger to swimmers).

There are a couple of areas that have full time blackball rules…or very stringent time periods when they enforce it. The first is around 40th street in the jetties, they have a full-time blackball all year that allows swimmers and bodyboarders in the water, no hard surfboards.

The other area is the Wedge. They enforce a “no floatation device” black ball (no bodyboards, skimboards, or anything…just you and your flippers) from 10am through 5pm. This is only enforced from May 1st through October 1st, which just happens to be prime south swell season.

Parking and Crowds

Parking in Newport can be a bitch most of the time…even for people that live on the peninsula. In the summer it gets even worse…it can take you forever to drive down to the end of the peninsula and back out again. The city also likes to torment visitors by cleaning streets on certain days and at certain times…so if it is suddenly easy to find a parking spot make sure to check the signs…you may be in street sweeping area. To make matters worse the Newport Parking Enforcement (aka the Newport Beach Revenue Service) are pretty on the ball…you spend even a few minutes in a no-parking zone and you will probably get nailed.

4th of July

The 4th of July in Newport is pretty sweet…though over the years it has gotten out of hand a few times so the city likes to keep a pretty tight leash on it. Usually part of Balboa Ave is blocked off to car traffic and everyone rides their beach cruisers, skateboards, roller skates, lawn chairs with wheels, dirtboards, and any other sort of people powered craft, from party to party. It is part parade, part singles scene, and at times can be total chaos. It is usually semi-kid friendly in the morning but as more and more drinking goes on through the day it starts to get a bit rowdy…personally I am surprised that it doesn’t get tear-gassed more often than it does.


On to the surf spots!



The surf in Newport is generally broken into 7 areas…but I have included a couple of others, Harbor Entrance and Baby Beach, which are part of the landscape but are sort of gadget waves.

Here are the areas:

Santa Ana River Jetties
56th Street
Lower Newport Jetties
Blackies
Newport Point
Lower Newport Streets: (Schoolyards, Balboa Pier, and the lettered streets)
The Wedge
Harbor Entrance
Corona Del Mar: Baby Beach

Surf Break Maps: Santa Ana River Jetties, Newport Beach, Orange County, California

The Santa Ana River Jetties is actually one large area…but it has several distinct sub-areas. Most people consider the zone that starts directly south of the Brookhurst Outflow and runs to a couple hundred feet south of the Santa Ana River Mouth to be the actual River Jetties surf spot. Personally, because the influence of the river mouth is so great, I feel that you should include all of the coast down to about Prospect St. (which is a couple of hundred yards north of the 56th street jetty).



The northern part of the SNA River Jetties is one of the most visible surf spots in Newport. You can see it as you drive over the PCH bridges that separate Huntington Beach from Newport. It is also sort of a weird no-mans land between the two cities. It is actually managed by the county and partially by the state beach. It has a separate lifeguard agency, from either Newport Guards or HB State Beach, and even the single tower doesn’t have a number on it…just the letter “R”, which I like to think stands for River Tower. What is really nice about this set-up is that they don’t blackball this area…it stays surfable all day even when the other beaches have banned hard surfboards.

The River Jetties has three rock jetties that were put in place by the Army Corp of Engineers to stabilize the sand flow at the mouth of the Santa Ana River. Two of the jetties sit on the north side of the river and the other, which is a little shorter, rests on the south side. It is the combination of the river, these jetties, and the various sand transport currents that helps to build a part of the most consistent sand bar in North Orange County. The bar generally starts up around the Brookhurst jetties and then ends down past the river proper.

While most of the sand stays around the river it does occasionally make its way down the beach…and after good rains or big swells you can have some excellent sand bars down in “official” Newport territory.

Overall the waves in this area are pretty good most of the time and can be excellent on the right swell mix. The sandbar helps keep it breaking through all but the most extreme high tides. The waves are steep, hollow, and can get pretty closed out on bigger S and WNW swells. Combo swells work best at this spot, like most of the breaks in the region, so expect it to get good when you have the magic swell combo mix of S and WNW energy and offshore winds.

This spot actually does pretty well on windswell too. The shallower sandbar helps the shorter-period swell set up further off the beach, and in a more energetic fashion that a deeper bar would.

One big drawback about the River Jetties, and Brookhurst, is the water quality. The combination of pollutants from the storm drains and the junk that comes down the Santa Ana river keeps water-quality on the marginal side most of the year. If there is any sort of rainfall it knocks the water quality right into the hazardous range.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: SE-SW (160-210+) and W-NW (260-290)
Best Wind: N-NE-E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand…really shallow sand, and few rocks near the jetties
Best Season: Summer, Fall, and Winter can all be equally great. Fall is the most consistent.
Crowds: Most of the time not too bad. But it can get super crowded. You see heavy crowds when it is the only sandbar working or on weekends, particularly in the summer.

Surf Break Maps: 56th Street, Newport Beach, Orange County, California

The jetty at 56th street is the most popular and famous surf spots in the Newport Jetties area. It is sometimes called the “100-hottest yards” (and other similar sorts of nonsense by the marketers in the surf industry)…and the name stems more from the type of surf talent that surfs there than the actual surf itself, which is probably a bad indicator as to the perceived mental health of our sport. In general the wave is basically on par with what you find at the Rivermouth but, due to the presence of the jetty, the line-up and the wave’s sections are a lot more stable.

That being said it is still a great magnet for surfing ability for both pros and amateurs. It has a lot of things going for it…it is a good wave, it is close to shore, easy to photograph, and when you get the right swell mix it gets really hollow.

The jetty does most of the work setting up the surf at 56th. It stops and shapes the sand on both the north and south side and can even form small paddle channels as the swell gets bigger. The semi-permanent sandbar around the jetty actually shifts from season to season…setting up a better left in the summer and a better right-hander on the south side in the winter.
It breaks year round and can actually stay a little more surfable than the more open beaches to the north when adverse winds and conditions move through the area. It breaks best on longer-period S-SW swells, short-period S swells (like the ones from Hurricanes or tropical storms), medium/short period W swells, and it can get really good on combo swells that have both W and S in the mix



56th sees some influence from the Newport Submarine Canyon…in particular it sees a cool boost in wave size when we start getting a shorter-period S swell. What is funny is that most Newport surfers automatically think “THE POINT” when a hurricane starts moving through when 56th can get just as good with a fraction of the crowd. What happens is that while some of the energy that is refracted by the canyon heads back towards Newport Point the other portion of that energy is bent towards 56th and will help to shape that wedge of a left that starts to break north of the jetty. It also helps that the sand is usually shaped pretty good by hurricane season and that the shorter period swell is a bit more makeable due to its speed…add those things together and you can pick off a few silly barrels.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: SE-SW (160-210+) and W-NW (260-290)
Best Wind: N-NE-E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand…really shallow sand, and few rocks near the jetties
Best Season: Summer, Fall, and Winter can all be equally great. Fall is the most consistent.
Crowds: Yes it gets crowded…and the crowd can get ugly sometimes. There are a lot of guys that rip in the line-up and plenty of people shooting photos/video from the beach when there is a good swell.

Surf Break Maps: Lower Newport Jetties, Newport Beach, Orange County, California

The lower Newport Jetties are sort of like 56th street but without all of the bells and whistles. The jetties are a little shorter, the sand doesn’t groom out quite as well, and it doesn’t really get that great until you get a good combo swell.

In fact the lower jetties are actually notoriously known for being the place to avoid a large swell…it acts as a good training area for beginners, a few mellower waves for longboarders who don’t want to battle the scene at Blackies, and it even has a bodyboard-only area around 40th street, (which is actually just a fulltime blackball area but it is always filled with bodyboarders).



The lower jetties is made up from a series of jetties (I know that I am a dumbass) that help to brace the area from 56th street down through Blackies. Each of these jetties is affectionately known by its corresponding street. There are jetties at 52nd, 48th, 44th, 40th, 36th, 32nd, and 28th streets…(sensing a pattern yet?). The combo of jetties and number street names make it very easy to tell your friends where you are surfing, or to direct hordes of mindless surf monsters to your semi-secret sandbar by cell phone.

The jetties were actually put in place to help stop the erosion of the beach by the consistent, longshore bar current, which is the north-to-south sand transport current that runs along the California coast. (There will be a test on that later). The jetties are mostly successful but the City of Newport Beach does have to replenish the beach with new sand from time to time…this is sometimes accomplished by dredging sand out of the Santa Ana river…or parts of Newport Harbor, both of which I am sure are very clean and sanitary (hmmm bird flu anyone?).

Anyway…the best swell for the area is actually a short-period W swell…or a good short-period W with some S swell to break it up. The W swells actually get broken up and refracted out by the Newport Submarine Canyon so you can get some semi-peaky shape without a cross-up swell…but the extra energy definitely helps to groom the corners.

When a short-period W swell, (really you want almost a windswell but with just slightly longer periods…basically what I would usually associate with a storm swell), hits you will see the biggest surf around the Blackies area but the jetties just to the north will be almost the same size…you actually see the size drop off as you head further north until you move out of the 40-48th street deadzone…and then size starts to pick up again as get closer to 56th. When you add in the S swell it can actually help to shape up the middle area a little better…expanding the surf zone.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: Short-medium period W swell (260-280) and a touch of S swell.
Best Wind: N-NE-E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand and few rocks near the jetties
Best Season: Fall and Winter. It is usually more consistent in the winter but cleaner in the fall.
Crowds: The crowds are not too bad…but the surf areas can get a little claustrophobic near the jetties. Weekends, large swells, and good surf in the jetties will help to pack ‘em in at times.

Surf Break Maps: Blackies, Newport Beach, Orange County, California

Blackies is a stretch of beach located between the 28th street jetty and the Newport Pier. It has a style and presence that is unique to the Newport surf scene and can only be found in a few other areas in Orange County (Doheney’s Boneyard, Old Mans in San Onofre, and sometimes Bolsa Chica all have a similar feel but don’t quite have the same mix).

Blackies is part longboard spot, part surf/social club, part beach-scene. There is a public (but metered) parking lot that butts right up to a small sea-wall along the beach. If you manage to pull the rock-star parking along the front you can sit in your heated car, sipping coffee, while you watch the sets slip through. It is hard to define Blackies from the “surf spot” perspective, or at least if you only looked at the quality of the surf you would miss out a lot of what the break has to offer.

It is generally a longboard wave, but not necessarily a beginner break, even though you find a lot of beginners in the water there. You have the full spectrum of surfers in the water, from little kids, old dudes on vintage deathlogs, Juinor College guys that are trying to be 70’s throwbacks, weekend warriors, and the eternal dawn patrollers…all of them in the water…at the same time. Weekends when there is a decent swell running it sort of reminds me of this riot I saw at the circus one time…total colorful chaos.

The wave itself is decent, but sort of soft most of the time. Takeoffs are easy and the wave sort of rolls a little bit before it starts to break. Sometimes on the lower tides you will get a little faster drop and quicker sections along the inside but they aren’t as critical as other Newport Breaks.

The main peak at Blackies is right in the middle of the beach between the jetty and the pier…most people consider that area to be Blackies “proper”…but really most of the beach up to the 28th St. jetty breaks about the same.

Blackies really starts to shine on larger short/medium-period W swells…which are really only generated by nearby storms and sometimes heavy winds in the local waters. The shorter period westerly direction passes over the deeper parts of the Sub Marine canyon and refract as it gets closer to shore. As the refraction occurs it bends some of the swell back on itself and has a tendency to cross up right at the Blackies peak and up through the lower jetties. This cross up action speeds the wave up, sets up some workable shoulders, and generally improves shape a ton compared to a normal Blackies wave.



Unfortunately these swells are on the rare side, are rather short lived, and usually bring along a ton of junky weather and onshore winds. Your best bet is to try and catch Blackies either right before or right after a storm hits…sometimes the winds will lay down, or shift semi-offshore and you can score a few really fun waves before conditions fall apart again.

Personally I don’t think summer is as fun at Blackies as it is in other parts of Newport. There isn’t a ton of swell that makes it into the break and after the dawn patrol starts to break up the beach gets super crowded, parking is a joke, and they have a tendency to blackball pretty quickly…even on the weekdays.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: Short-medium period W swell (260-280) and a touch of S swell.
Best Wind: N-NE-E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand
Best Season: Fall, Winter and early Spring. It is usually more consistent in the winter but cleaner in the fall.
Crowds: Yeah most of the time there is a crowd. You can still get a few waves if you are patient but expect to paddle battle for most of them.

Surf Break Maps: Newport Point, Newport Beach, Orange County, California

Newport Point is located right on the bend of the Newport Peninsula where it goes from facing SW to facing due S. The wave is just south of the Newport Pier and is sort of lined up with 18th street.

For all intents and purposes I consider Newport Point to be a “gadget wave”…in the sense that it doesn’t really break (that well) all that often. Granted when it gets the perfect mix of swell it can look and sort of act like Pipeline letting you get shacked right out of your gourd. Really though, 9 times out of 10, even when the swell looks right, it just doesn’t live up to your expectations (or you are like me and realize that you don’t really want to surf Pipeline because it scares the poop right out of you and even smaller less deadly versions make you want to surf Trestles that much more).

I think that part of the lure of Newport Point is that it requires a short-period S swell (around 10-12 second periods) to make the wave start to work…and you can only get a S swell with periods that short (and wave heights big enough) from a tropical storm of some sort…usually a hurricane. For people on the west coast, hurricanes are surf bringers. They have us waxing up new boards, thinking about warm water waves from Santa Barbara down through Cabo…it is only natural that we start to romanticize surf spots that only work when there is a huge well positioned tropical storm in their swell windows.



To actually surf Newport Point when it is working you need to have the short-period S-SE swell. A portion of the swell bounces out of the Newport Submarine Canyon and bends back towards the Point right as another set moves in directly from the S. These two waves will combo up right at the point setting up some fast, hollow sections…both rights and lefts…but mostly lefts. The bigger and more stacked up the incoming swell is the better the Point seems to work.

Back in the day when there weren’t surf forecasters, weather satellites, and wave models, Newport Point was sort of a secret spot…it wasn’t consistent enough to be on the surf radar for anyone but the handful of Newport surfers. Now that all the modern world has caught up it is pretty easy to spot the minimum conditions that let the spot work…unfortunately that means that you won’t ever be out alone once the Point really starts to get magical.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: Short-medium period SE-S swell (160-180 degrees and 10-12 second swell periods).
Best Wind: N-NE, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand
Best Season: Summer and Early Fall…hurricane season
Crowds: Most of the time it is empty...but expect to wade through some fiberglass if a hurricane is in the swell window.

Surf Break Maps: Lower Newport Streets: (Schoolyards, Balboa Pier, and the lettered streets), Newport Beach, Orange County, California

The lower streets in Newport…which is basically the area from Newport Point through Balboa Pier and down into the lettered streets of the Balboa Peninsula isn’t really the greatest surf zone. In fact most of it is mix of shore break with a few sandbars setting up a marginally more rideable section.

Most of the time it is on the small dumpy side, unless there is a big S swell in the water then it gets big dumpy and walled up. Occasionally you can get a mix of S swell and bit of W-WSW windswell to cross it up and set up a rideable peak…but honestly I think I can count the number of times I actually saw someone riding a decent wave in these areas on two hands (and this is mostly still in the number streets closer to Newport Point it gets even more shorebreaky as you get closer to Balboa Pier and the lettered streets).

Now while it isn’t great for surfing you can still have a good time bodysurfing and bodyboarding the dumpy closeouts when the swell gets bigger…and the smaller days are actually semi-decent for taking some of the smaller kids out to splash around.

There really isn’t a “magic” swell for this area…just a better than average mix…and if it ever looks really good along this stretch you can rest assured that it will be absolutely firing everywhere else in Orange County. The best mix, like I mentioned above, is actually a moderate sized S-SW swell and bit of short-medium period W-WSW swell to cross it up.

Try and stick to the number streets, and the area with the playground on the sand, (sometimes called Schoolyards)…the further down the peninsula you go the worse the shape will get.

Spot details:
Best swell direction: a mix of S swell (170-190) and W-WSW swell (240-270)
Best Wind: N-NE, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Sand
Best Season: Summer
Crowds: Most of the time it is almost completely empty of surfers…can get a few people in the surf zone on the hot summer weekends.

Surf Break Maps: Wedge, Newport Beach, Orange County, California

The Wedge is probably the most famous wave in Newport Beach…it is definitely the most dynamic and dangerous wave. It is located at the very end of the Balboa Peninsula snuggled right up next to the beach side of the northern jetty of the Newport Harbor entrance.

The wave itself is a freak of human engineering…the Army Corp of Engineer designed and built the harbor jetty, which makes the wave what it is…defining everything from its shape to its power.

Way back in antiquity…there was supposedly an outstanding surfable wave along the entrance to Newport Bay, with rideable sections on both on the Newport and Corona Del Mar sides. Unfortunately WWII changed the needs of the West Coast’s harbors and bays and they had to put in the entrance jetties to prevent silting of the entrance…likely destroying what was a good Newport wave. In its place we got a mutant of wave that can put on such a show that hundreds of people will jam the beach just to watch it crush people. Personally I am not sure if it was that great of a trade-off but there are plenty of near-rabid bodysurfers, skimboarders, and bodyboarders that would disagree with me.

Here is some footage of the wedge



There are actually two waves in the Wedge area...one is the Wedge proper right next to the jetty and the second wave is called another nasty shorebreak of a wave called Cylinders, which is up the beach a short ways.



The Wedge
The Wedge is a product of the jetty and the steep drop-off of the sea-floor as you move away from the beach. The Wedge works almost exclusively on S swells, and the longer the period and the larger the swell the better the wave starts to work. What happens it the S swell travels almost directly down the length of the jetty…the part of the wave that intersects the jetty rocks starts to pile up on top of itself and will even spill over the top of the jetty into the harbor entrance on bigger swells. This mix of the normal wave and the bulge will eventually reach the beach and the energy that has piled up on the rocks finds itself shoaling and reflecting back away from the jetty at the same time…this folds the energy back into the more normal wave and suddenly you get the massive wedge peak forming with all of this doubled-up energy that is forced to break in a very shallow water depth…sometimes even on completely dry sand.

One of the byproducts of the double-up and the shallow water is that it throws some incredibly hollow sections and you can get super deep in the barrel before the wave tries to sand off your face. You can get seriously messed up at this place…on big swells it is common to see guys carted away with broken collarbones and sometimes broken vertebrae from hitting the sand at full speed.

There is also weird subwave that a lot of the wedge riders try to capitalize on…you get this bounceback from the jetty that is moving almost completely perpendicular to the bigger wedge peak…they call this the “side wave”. You can actually use the side wave to boost your speed into the approaching wedge, helping you backdoor the section. I would say even if you have a lot of practice with the side wave you still have about a 40% chance of this leading to disaster…but it is a lot of fun to watch so keep trying.

The wedge can be a legitimate big-wave…on the right swell it can break the 18-20’ range…maybe even bigger. As the wave gets bigger it starts to break further off the beach…it is still a heavy section but it starts to get slightly more surfable. On every big swell there will be at least a few guys that paddle out on surfboards once the blackball drops. There isn’t really a good way to exit the wave once you have caught it so these surfers sort of go for style points pulling in deep and hoping that they don’t get wrapped up with the board when the wedge finally punches their ticket.

There used to be a series of power poles running along the jetty so occasionally you may hear one of the older wedge guys talking about a swell in terms of “power poles”. This is actually referring to the number of poles away from the beach the wave was breaking even with. The bigger the swell the higher the number of poles…a 6 or 7 power pole swell would have most people pooping kittens.

In short the wedge at any size is a pretty formidable wave…and you should be very comfortable swimming, bodysurfing, and getting pounded by the surf before heading out even on moderate S swells…as it gets bigger it is better left to the experts and the crazies. (Which really are one and the same.)




Cylinders
Cylinders is also a by-product of the jetty but it isn’t quite as dramatic as the wedge…it definitely doesn’t get as big…but it can be just as heavy. The wave at Cylinders is formed by reflection from the jetty…some of the energy that piles up along the jetty as the swell heads toward the wedge sets to bounce off before it actually lands in the pocket. This excess energy skips over the wedge area and hits at Cylinders…as the swells get a little more S-SW Cylinders will start to get more defined as a hollow right section that breaks back toward the Wedge’s left. Again this isn’t a “surfable” wave but it can be a decent bodyboard, skim, bodysurf spot.

Cylinders seems to break almost exclusively on the beach…it never really sets up further off in deeper water…which is why it can beat you up just as fast as the wedge and sometimes faster on the medium sized swells.

Blackball
The Wedge has a very unique blackball rule that was helped into place by the longstanding crew of bodysurfers that have called the wedge home for nearly ever. From 10am through 5pm during the months of May through October there are no floatation devices allowed in the water. Period. No bodyboards, no skimboards, no floaty inflatable circles with sea-horses on them, nothing. From 10 to 5 it is body surfing only.



Why can’t we all just get along
It is easy to see why the wedge crew wanted a little alone time in the lineup…outside of the backball hours during a decent swell it can be a mad house of skimboards, bodyboards, and bodysurfers flying everywhere, calling each other off, and occasionally fighting it out on the sand. The problem arises mostly because the three different disciplines require different take-off spots but all eventually overlap once the wave starts breaking…this means that it is hard to know whose turn it is. So what happens is that everyone goes at once, get into each others way, get mad and start punching people much like myself after a bottle or two (too much) of whiskey. There isn’t really a solution to the issue short of taking numbers…so the best we can do is be down there with our video cameras to make sure the fisticuffs get posted on YouTube.



To Sum Up
I spent a lot of freaking time on the wedge in this map series…so I will hurry here to get to the point. S swell, the longer the swell period the better, makes the wedge work. The bigger the swell the better the shape. Oh yeah expect an ass kicking from something…either human or mother nature…and if you don’t get one from either then you will be pleasantly surprised. (it isn’t really that bad…but I like to expect the worst).

Spot details:
Best swell direction: S swell, big freaking S swells with looooong periods
Best Wind: Offshore (duh...) actually light winds are fine and it can handle some onshore bump as it gets bigger.
Sea Floor: Coarse Sand, shells, and pieces of teeth from the guy that just took off before you.
Best Season: Spring, Summer and Early fall.
Crowds: Lots of crowds…a crew of guys on it every time it breaks. The crowd gets bigger as the swell gets bigger. It pays off to pay attention to the blackball rules.