Tell us about your favorite local break.

General Discussion
1

Let’s hear all about your favorite break and what makes it what it is.

Mine would be (Blank) Beach, The surf is not usually spectacular, but it goes off on occasions. The special thing about this beach is that all of G-NAR shreaders, the Neo-Nazi dicks, and the massive flood of surfers at (Blank) never venture down because it is not as good and constant as other local breaks, but today…my friend & I were the only ones in the water for a 1/4 mile and we got to surf some decent 4’ waves without having to fight through a mass of bodies to do so. That’s just me though…

2

I love **** *****'s

it’s where I learned to ride backside . . .

Low tide, its walled up and/ or hollow(medium-rare), you can literally walk out to the sandbars and leap in the rip, and take a few strokes, take off an take a screaming left.

Or a right that could close out, but if not, you’re happy.

On high tide it becomes this slow, cruisy wave. Unfortunately the logs show up. High tide moves the waves out to sea so you’re looking at a long paddle, and the rip loves the change positions alot, thus making 2000 hands in water / 15 duck dives paddles the norm. Its nice if you have a heavy old school longboard, I’ve seen people plow through waves.

It holds up to OH+. I don’t go out in DOH, cuz its outta my league at the moment.

This place is quirky in terms of population . Its black and white. Either its super crowded or not. Or it busts this dichotomy thing, like few shortboarders, and tons of longboarders. or few kayakers and tons of shortboarders. Or few spongers, and tons of swimmers / divers. Or tons of stand up paddle surfers, and two spongers, and me (yep the guy in 3 foot surf in a shortboard on the inside).

Since surfers of all skill levels frequent, people love to drop in. Or snake you. But there are enough peaks to go find one that no one else likes, far enought to get a decent ride and milk it before the pack catches up to you.

Sometimes you see a few dolphins or seals. Rarely, but I’ve seen a dolphin leap out of a smaller first wave of a clean up set, twice . . . No Grays. The seagulls are couragous and few are willing to snatch food out of your hand if you are not careful. No dogs allowed, but they are kept to the greens and sidewalks.

Summer is here, so that means I will be looking for alternatives to ***** *******'s. Summers is nutty. college co eds flock to the beach, where the frat boys try to flex and take their shorties out to play. The flopping and splashes and smell of fresh cold water sticky bumps beckons. And the red tide. man its perfect here. Full on rust red. Combined that with a certain south swell angle that works, makes this place iffy.

Sometimes hordes of preteen girls will show up in sponge trainer boards, and sit around wondering what to do. Getting my foot cut on broken beer bottle bottoms and getting asked at the parking lot if I am leaving 200x in the 15 minutes I change and get ready to leave . . . People from Fallbrook and Ramona come down for 4th of July, and in their quick wit and cool like minded thinking, bring a couch down on the beach for their party. But the next day, drunk and weary, sunburnt, they pack some of their gear and leave for the safety of hot inland. But the couch remains.

The couch lead to some funny antics like getting right before dawn, before going into the water, waiting until the tide dropped, i slid under the covers and propped my board nearby. Daylight broke and beach goers roamed around, surfers arrived. So peek out from the covers, toss it off, rub my eyes, and grab my board and run into the sea. I didn’t think nothing of it

girl 2: there was this drunk guy sleeping on his hood after the Alpha’s out side our apartment last Wenesday. Gross.

girl 1: Speaking about gross, did you see that dude that was on that couch earlier?

girl 2: No. Oh you mean that couch on the beach? Yeah, I saw the couch. There’s a blanket too.

girl 1: Yeah I saw him while we were changing. DAN!! waves hand Over here! one guy points and him and his four friends head out in our direction He like slept on the beach on that couch! Yeah he like threw the covers off, was in his wetsuit. He even slept with his board, so immature. Eww he didn’t even brush his teeth and he just got up and ran out to go surf!

girl 2: Where is he?

girl 1: I dunno

girl 2: oh here comes dan.

girl1: I think a wave’s coming both start paddling

well not this summer.

3

My local spot is Avoca Beach. I surf it everyday. there are a few different waves. shark tower, pines, corner and the point.

i normally surf from the corner to pines in good quality beach break. the waves can be very supurb when other spots are flat. i love it during the week when there are no crowds and just before it gets dark.

shark tower normally closes out when theres swell and can be a bugger of a paddle. the point is very fun when its uncrowded. i feel very comfy surfing my home beach.

4

My local spot is ******* *****! I know it’s not always consistent but considering that I’m still an ono’sai I prefer it. It’s forgiving and the only crowd that rolls through are the beachgoers and no one hogs the water.

I also like it when I’m asked where it is my reply always gets a reply of “where’s that?”, I like that since I know it’s not extremely well known.

5

My mate and i usually go to a few different spots, but my fave is across the road from an industrial area. There’s factories, and rail companies on one side of the road, and on the other, there’s the beach. Pretty good for the guys who work there eh??. Usually, when the surf is big, this place is a foot or so smaller, so i can actually get a wave when the surf is bigger ( im a beginner ). Its also less crowded most of the time, as there is another good beach 5 minutes away.

6

Ive got this little secret spot just south of town here in San Clemente, CA. Its got a cobble stone bottom with a creek flowing out of the San Mateo Park that fills in the gaps and makes it stand up for a 100 mtr. rights. Super fun, no crowds ever. Kind of a walk, but its worth it. when its on in the summer, it stands up left and right. You can check it from the exit on basilone road or walk out onto the San Mateo point.

Its tough sometimes surfing by yourself, but the wave here is worth it. Now if we can stop the douchebags from running a tollroad through state park land we might just get to take our kids there in 20 years…

7

My favorite wave is lohifushi ( north male atols) however The wave i like the most is in North Queensland about 4 hours north of the tropic of capricorn The wind has to howl and the waves are sloppy but my mates are out there and that is the best.

8

Eddie’s point/reef. in ^#^@^$^^# not my fav but where my buds can be found. Stingray you may be the only one here who know’s of this spot I renamed after a local shaper guru…

9

Good ole Eddie’s point / reef / beach… Next to the new house…near the old road…

Island Influnce surfboards. Great guy. Very nice longboards.

Some where south of Oceanside Blvd and north of Del Mar…

10

My favorite local break would be a certain place on a certain florida barrier island… it faces southwest and has a shallow bar with a trench along the beach to make the most of whatever the gulf has to offer, its rideable with any hint of a wave, and gets really nice in knee-chest high from a cold front or tropical storm cleanup, but tends to close out more with hurricane surf. At low tide the bar is just knee deep, but thats still deeper than my fin. This is one case where dredging for beach renourishment further south down the island actually seems to have helped the bottom contours.

Jeff

11

Southern California secret spots are the best!! The only thing that makes a secret spot in Southern California anymore is knowing when to go where. If you time it right, you’ll hit that sandbar (El Morro) at the perfect, most uncrowded time, and score left barrels all to yourself, or until two beginners with longboards show up. But hey, sharing is fun too.

You might even get that fabled point inside the harbor (Newport Harbor). A fun little left jetty/point/refraction. Ooops, the cats out of the bag. Of course, after someone calls the cops to report your ass for surfing the harbor the fire department might show up and squirt you with the hose on their boat…wait, I’m already wet. Of course the real danger is the cops in the parking lot, so run over to the cove and take the stairs so as not to get a ticket.

Then of course there are the reefs between Newport and Laguna, but those are secrets, so pretend like I didn’t tell you about them. Yeah, they are fun, but they’re funky as hell, and I wish you the best of luck to finding them on a good day. Maybe one day a year for either one, if you check them constantly on even the slightest hint of the right swell tide and wind combo. But remember, these are some of Orange Countys last “secret spots,” so don’t you dare share them with anyone.

Other than those secret spots, I truly just love to surf the Newport Jetties. Sure they can get crowded, sure there are a lot of punks, sure there alot of grumpy “locals” who mysteriously never seem to have to work, but truth is, whether it’s 1 ft and sloppy, or 6 ft and howling offshore, they’re where I grew up surfing, and that makes them my favorite break. My first wave ever, to the last a few days ago (until a slightly disgusting sewage spill). Sometimes crummy beachbreak is the most fun you can have with a couple friends.

12

One of my favorite local breaks is often passed over by many. It’s a small point with a cobblestone reef and a pitching offshore reef on the outside. A few solid locals that never seem to work but more likely have night jobs. It rarely looks like much from the closest parking spots, which is fine with me. It tends to keep the crowds down. This spot breaks year round and will hold shape up to a foot or two overhead depending on swell direction. It’s typically a right that peels into the beach however, there are occasionally nice lefts that pop up in the center of the point. Tide is key at this spot and 45 mins can make a difference between a great session and a lame one. It’s better for wider, flat rockered boards than the standard thruster but there can be some fun hollow sections as well. Wildlife seems pretty abundant with dolphins, commarants(sp?), and a wide variety of fish. My wife loves it and while it’s not the best quality wave around, it does have the best vibe.

13

Righthand reefbreak. Usually with less-than-optimal winds, but still very rippable and bigger and more powerful than most spots picking up the same swell. Surfed there twice a day for many many years. Been a hardcore regular for over 25 years. Met the majority of my friends in the lineup and my wife in the parking lot. Took a few minutes and figured out I’ve easily caught over 90,000 waves there in my life. My crew and I have it totally and completely wired. It’s a tricky wave, and hard to read from the beach unless you really know her. There are always good ones coming in, but lots of junk ones, too. And hard to be in the right place for the good ones. It’s hard for most to tell which ones are good until they start breaking. If the boys are out, all the good ones are spoken for. Don’t even bother. Just last summer, I got what will probably be the best wave I’ll ever catch out there. Big swell, huge backless wave, deep, heavy barrel. I absolutely love surfing this place, and while I am not the best surfer, I surf this place better than most, and almost always get the best waves that are coming in. There is nothing funner than surfing with 4 or 5 guys you’ve been surfing with for 25 years, dividing up all the good ones, hassling each other, laughing and having a good time. I am bound to the place, and a part of that is the other regulars that love her as much as I do, and know her just as well. In my element…

14

over the winter a lot has supposedly changed, but ****** is definetly one of my favorite waves, last summer when i was supposed to be watching swimmers i would just stare hoping for one of the rare freight trains that roll through in the summer. to get the spot just right you need a long interval fairly large swell with just the right when a swell does run in the summer only 1 out of about 100 waves breaks properly, but even the bad waves are still worth it. best part of the place is i can check it from my bed. In the winter the spot is full on freight trains. another spot just a short ways away from that is right infront of my house only will break a few times a summer also but it is so nice you take off right infront of the jetty, sometime you even push off of the rocks. But the wave peaks and you get a short little barrel before the wave backs off a little and then it walls up through the inside. In the summer both of these spots can’t be ridden when the beach is open. I got the best prone barrel of my life at the later spot 45: yards inside the barrel.

other than that all the beaches are pretty similar and change on a fairly regular basis.

15

I like to surf a couple of spots that I call “Grumpys” and “Whiners” because that’s what the crowd consists of, mostly. But I like to go out early, or when the weather really sucks, so I don’t have to listen to them. Sometimes you can backside railgrab pigdog and sometimes you have to take off fin(s) first just for jollies. Sometimes you need a wetsuit and sometimes you get sunburned. Sometimes there is broken glass everywhere and sometimes there is none (right after we pick it all up). Occasionally there is a dead seal (stinky) or small sharks on the inside (in season). The water is deep, except where it’s really really shallow. The only swell direcion it really doesn’t like, is East. Aloha,

PS one day I hope to write a guidebook called “vague indications of places you can surf”…

16

there’s no waves there, but my local spot requires a boat to get to it. it works from 1’ - 1’ over head, more and it gets sketchy(still rideable, but the reef is only 3’ deep, and the waves are super fast.)

when it gets crowded, with the other 5 surfers that live here, well, it never gets crowded. we actually look for more people to come out, crazy hey? surfing alone can be lonely, and dangerous here.

anyway, the water is warm, gin clear, and there’s a great bar on the beach about a 2 mile ride away to watch the sunset…

yeah, you never know what you’ve got til its gone… here’s some pictures. enjoy!

17

Hey NS, I dnon’t believe that you’d even consider relocating anywhere after seeing those shots. That looks stunning. Man, stay where you are, I’ll see you out there in a couple of days. Kinda beats the crap out of freezing your ass off in virtually flat sewage in the UK. (Only joking, we have good waves every now and then, I do think a bit of a cleaner attitude from the bods that pollute it would be good though).

Jase (MMM)

18

Hey lardass… Share your feelings re pollution…but there are some nice spots…

eg this one a reef break somewhere near me …

19

hey fatty,

in truth, that is the bahamas, and i am in brazil at the moment. as with everything in life, there are more reasons to relocate than just waves, unfortunately. the uk is the best choice at the moment.

maybe we can still meet up for a surf.

take care.

20

Well, I’m lazy and I don’t like to burn fossil fuels, so my favorite local break would be the end of my street. It’s very popular, as it is basically a cul-de-sac that is connected to the US interstate system via a US highway whose terminus is a public park on the beach. There is a decent pizza joint with cold beer there. You see, some people don’t know, but there is a good reason to have condo’s at the end of your street if you live close to the beach. They slow down the storm surge from the hurricanes. Not me though. I have a small constantly eroding sand dune and some volleyball courts. The good news is I may have an inlet after the next cat 5 comes knocking. But, I digress.

My favorite break is a beachbreak. There are some coquina rocks, but they are constantly being re-buried due to the US Corps of Engineers desperately trying to maintain their job security. There is a nice boardwalk for people to walk on, and as I mentioned before, volleyball courts. There is a big car park, however it is metered. You can skip that and park on an open lot across A1A that will inevitably be a T-shirt shop someday. The wave is a typical beachbreak/sandbar setup. It’s made for short period swells that are best in the 3’ to 5’ range. Any significant long period swells tend to close out unless there are at a significant oblique angle to the shoreline. This is not easily achieved, as the Bahamas block swell to the SE and Cape Hatteras blocks swells to the North. The wind is typically onshore most of the time, and if it is offshore, the waves are usually gone after a brief time.

So why does our general area pump out world champs and world contenders…I have no clue, but if you surf here, you are so incredibly stoked to surf good waves that you basically unleash all that frustration. It could be that we have another local break that grooms them a bit better than my favorite break, but those are normally too crowded for me. Besides, I’m out as much as possible at my favorite break, grovelling away. It’s what I do. It keeps me sane.