Quote:
Quote:
You are asking for all the details on those breaks that will save you from going through the experience every local earned.
No way.
At da Point I’ve been yelled at, dropped in on, told to leave, fallen into rocks, broken boards, and lost the battle against the tide. At Deadmans the big red-faced guy has yelled at me and threatened to take it to the beach. I’ve fallen into the rocks. And sliced my feet up on the cliff trail.
And you, on your visit from Europe, are asking how to most easily get a good surfing experience, instead of what everyone else gets. My advice for you is to watch a lot before you get wet, don’t expect much, and after a few years you should be getting as many waves as a local with your surfing skills.
Top surfing pros have shown up at these spots and gotten tons of waves on their first days. If you are that good you will too. Otherwise you will be entering the learning curve like everyone else who wants to surf there. Plenty of good surfers show up and do not catch a wave on their first time surfing these breaks - in fact that is the most common experience.
February can have great surf in SF.
Wow… Talk about the Aloha spirit. My little bit of home-spots here around Guéthary gets very crowded, too, especially in summer. And, of course, WE, too, have “locals”. But if any of you flying in from SF asks me, I will gladly show you around. Besides, water is warmer here.
(Although I hate to say it, I know french people with the same state of mind as above highlighted, though… Too bad.)
The culture of surf differs substantially from locale to locale. In the US, even from east to west. A main difference is that in the eastern US, south of NYC, most of the surf spots are warm water vacation spots, and tourism surfers are the norm and expected.
In most of coastal California, it is very different. 99% of the surfers live fairly close to wherever they are surfing, and it creates a very different dynamic.
In San Francisco, this is amplified, because for millions of people, Fort Point and Deadmans are the only point breaks within a reasonable distance. These are both fickle breaks with respect to tide and swell, and both insanely crowded by fairly good surfers (not good at a pro level or a Rocky Point rights level, but if you cannot pull into an overhead barrel they are better than you).
And these surfers live there, and live to surf these spots, and know every detail of these spots, and are not so tolerant of people who screw things up.
It is not so much that it is “localism”. It is people who do not know what the heck is going on. People who screw things up for others through their ignorance. Any very good surfer can go to these spots and get waves. But any local will get the cold shoulder for introducing someone new there (unless he is an uber ripper). Any anyone who screws things up for others will experience what they will interpret as localism.
But it is not locals taking things through entitlement - it is just basic common sense. Don’t screw things up for others. Go when it is your turn and don’t fall. And you will receive more chances. And if you are a newbie and you do screw things up, well, bad things may happen. Look - on many surfable days, there are 20 or less decent waves at each of these spots. And more than 20 people.
Have fun in SF. Ocean Beach can be FAR better than Fort Point or Deadmans much of the time. And as it is not a point break, it becomes much more difficult for you to ruin someone else’s day through your lack of ability to read the waves and conditions.
Of course, if you are good enough, you will surf any of these spots anyway, and have a good time doing it. But a bit of caution to those who are just everyday surfers and want to take some of the most in-demand waves in the world from the locals who know them and surf them all the time.
)