hey yall,
i was planning to take a 2 week trip to either LA or San Diego for the surf but i dont know which one would have better surf and more safety (aka sharks or reef)
i was wondering if i could get all you’re opinons on where i should go?
thanks
What time of year? LA has more south swell spots. Lots more pollution and traffic. SD a little more laid back. Easier to get to the coast. Mike
There's no surf in San Diego. Not sure why you would want to come here. Last summer a guy got killed by a shark swimming off the shore of Solona Beach. Sharks love those kelp beds and all the protected seals in La Jolla just make the shark problem bigger......
Plasket Creek 2009 is the ticket....here's the link...
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/swayloholics-2009-0
Fly into San Fran or LA... rent a car and meet a whole bunch of Swaylock's members.....Oct 1-4 ,2009
Ray
And that’s not even bothering to mention that five gang members beat a professional surfer to death in La Jolla.
San Diego is a bad place. But if you come to town look us up?
What time of year are you planning your trip? This is the main factor.
Secondarily, what sort of transportation will you have available to you, how far are you willing to travel for surf and what sort of non-surfing activities interest you (wife/kids)?
LA county = 9.8 million residents
SD county = 3 million
Both hae about 70 miles of coastline but I’d say SD has more surfspots. Miles and miles of LA beach is unrideable closeout.
Do the math.
Also, from about Marina Del Rey southwards the coast is shadowed by Palos Verdes and Catalina from south swells. Limited summer surf. Conversely, from Marina Del Rey north the coast faces south and the angle is bad for picking up north swells. Limited winter activity.
Oh, and white shark sighted 1/4 off the coast of Malibu this past week. Oh, and San Diego gangs pale in comparison to LA gangs. Ever heard of the Bay Boys?
San Diego has dangerous reefs. There are some good beaches though, not so scary!
San Clemente is the halfway point between LA and SD.
It's home to Cotton's Point, Trestles, San Onofre and close to Doheny, Salt Creek etc.
The water in the San O trails area is the cleanest you'll find in So Cal.
It's also the current home of the Surfing Heritage Foundation Museum, possibly the finest collection of surfboards on the planet.......
https://www.surfingheritage.org
If you're coming to California, you want to go to Huntington Beach AKA Surf City USA!
San Diego sucks, you don't want to come here.
I had a lot of fun in San Diego.
Surfed Windansea every day and drank beer in the carpark.
Hung out with a buxom chick and ate sushi.
Sorry to hear the Windansea carpark got bulldozed.
Had some sick waves in LA too…damm good times hanging at Manhattan Beach.
Crowds in California are nothing like Aus crowds…over there some big walrus with a loud voice controls the line-up…it’s way more dog eat dog here.
A meritocracy compared to a black clad sense of entitlement.
If you can’t get stoked drinking beer in the Windansea lot you should give the game away.
I was a lot more stoked when I lived in South Bay LA (Redondo Beach, specifically), but I think the waves are better in San Diego. Previous poster’s “miles of unrideable closeouts” line about LAC is pretty accurate, but there are still penty of waves to be had. Even so, points and established breaks in both counties are zoos almost anytime there’s swell. OC seemed to me to have a lot more waves and fewer surfers than either, but I stayed away from the popular peaks as much as possible. Almost always could find an uncrowded peak somewhere.
Depends on the swell running, but I’d look at San Clemente first, then North County SD (with forays into La Jolla, the beaches, and Point Loma), then Ventura if I were visiting the area. SD and LA aren’t the first places I’d choose to visit, but they’re great places to live if you like a combo of social life (and/or career) and waves.
My tuppence.
OC is the place to go!!!
Plus you should have been here last week, not up and coming....
peace!
wow it all sounds super intence ( im from vancouver and i ussually go to tofino to go surfing). i was gonna go around the springbreak time because i have that off. all im lookin for really is a safe no shark no gangs just over all easy going nice waves. i was thinking about going to huntington each manly because i heard it was good but im not sure yet
max
you should all come to tofino in the winter also its pretty sick! they waves get about 15-20 and its also decent right now i just came back from this weekend and it was nice clean 10 footers so the good for tofino in the summer. and i think i figured out where i might go, i was thinking about going to both san clemente and huntington beach
[quote="$1"]
And that's not even bothering to mention that five gang members beat a professional surfer to death in La Jolla.
[/quote]
Those werent gang members. They were his friends......
No offense intended, but if you surf in the ocean you need to understand there are sharks everywhere. They live in all climates and there's one that might eat you somewhere near almost every surf break you've ever surfed or heard of.
That being said you are much safer in the water then you are on the road to the beach............
BTW IMHO Huntington Beach sucks................. uness you're a skinhead.
I fixed it for you.
Watch out, there are gangsharks everywhere in socal.
Gangsharks are particularly prevalent in SD ever since the shark-watching boats started that chumming thing this summer. Surf sucks in SD anyhow, OC and LA are much better…I thought everyone knew that? Trestles, Huntington and Malibu are rarely crowded, and the locals there are really friendly and filled with aloha spirit, unlike SD.
i wasnt on planning just SD but the whole coast from SD to LA and farther possibly and i guess your right there probally are sharks every where or a danger. even in tofino theres sea lions and those things are massive. i was surfing and waiting for a nice wave and i see this bobbing thing coming towards me and i felt somthing pushing the underside of my board ike a tapping and it happened to be an agressive male becuase of mating season it was intence for me at least hahaha