| Tijuana Rivermouth - The Sloughs - park at the Boca Rio apartments at the very far south end of Beach street in Imperial beach and start walking south until you get to the river. Paddle out either across the river or through the beachbreak. The big left-right combo breaks between a quarter to a half mile out, from about 2 feet overhead up to as big as the swells get in SD. Long rides both ways, pretty mellow for that size, mushy walls. You do need a board with some rail because of all the water moving. Works on all big swells but to get it epic requires diligence. Aside from the odd bag of medical waste and the occasional dead farm animal (usually only see those on the beach after a big storm), IB has relatively clean water (LOL). Nothing a gammaglobulin shot and the Hep A/B series won't prevent. Knock on wood. | |
| Imperial Beach - Heavy beach break. Think Hossegor or Puerto Escondido. Great thing about this place is that it is never that crowded and has consistently epic barrels! Crowds are probably kept down because of the pollution that occurs from being so close to the border and Tijuana river. Hepatitis is worth it, though! This is the furthest point South in SoCal, and the only place that really doesn't suffer from the Channel Islands Swell Shadow. | |
| Coronado Island - Perhaps one of the best kept secrets during a South swell. Only place in SD that faces DUE SOUTH. Cross the Coronado bridge, drive as far North as possible and park just outside the Naval base. Walk to the beach and keep walking North (West). During a South, as you walk towards the end of the island, the waves increase in size for every 100 yards you walk; keep walking, the beach keeps bending, and the swell keeps getting bigger. The thing is a swell magnet for any type of South, and when everywhere else in SD during the summer is 2-3 foot and blown out, this place will be 5-6 foot and dumping with warm, offshore barrels. | |
| Ralphs - The spot requires a boat to get there comfortably, drop anchor on the west side of the channel in the entry to the San Diego Bay (or you can paddle over from Coronado or around from Little Y and DT's or a long, long walk at low tide from Abs/Subs/Newbreak). The right breaks inside the bay, up against the Point, on strong south swells. Similar to most waves at the cliffs in terms of power, but close to the rocks, with a cobblestone and boulder bottom and super-clean extremely well-defined sections. Rumored to wrap all the way in to the Navy submarine base on the biggest swells. Very fun wave, similar to Mushrooms in Baja, but a little longer and more lined up. | |
| Point Loma - Shhhhhhhhhhhh. I don't even want to mention it, but I will. Crowds? In DelMarVa terms, Hell yes! In SoCal terms, nope. Plenty of great reefs to pick from, but just need to find the right one. Least crowded at dawn, during the middle of workday, and during hollidays, like Thanksgiving dinner! One thanksgiving, at about 4pm, my cousin and I surfed this epic left called Abs, which normally is the most crowded of them all, on a day with 8-10 foot jacking walls with 10mph, warm offshore desert winds...alone. Find the right rock, and you can surf alone, too. Nasty fuckin' locals, though. With the Cliffs, you have to know the different rock slabs. Try Chasms (South side of channel across from New Break) Go down to the beach in front of Abs, and then hit the water, and paddle South around the cliffs until you hit a beach. Walk to the end and look for the right(Newbs) and then hit the channel. Long paddle to Chasms, but it is worth it for the lack of crowds. | |
| La Jolla Reefs - Can get very crowded at some peaks. It depends on what is working. Bring your shortboard and your reef walking shoes, so you can walk from point to point trying to find the least crowded rock among the very tide sensitive and fickle breaks. Shallow, epic barrels to be had. | |
| Black's - So crowded sometimes, you will want to cry. Can be the best day or the worst day of your life. On average, with all the hassles, it is not worth the long ass walk down the cliffs. Only go when it's big, or if smaller, then 10am on Tuesday morning. | |
| Del Mar - Generally the mellow, yet thick, crowd hangs around 15th street (epic left) and 8th street reef breaks. 8th street can be the best place in the world for a longboarder at 6 foot and under; if larger, it can be an epic barrelling A-Frame. If those are not that crowded, they are your best bet. Otherwise, empty random reef breaks can be had all up and down from Torry Pines State Beach all the way to the Lifeguard Headquarters at PowerHouse Park. After that, it's all beackbreak for about 3 miles. Sandbars can get epic at 20th street, 25th and 27th. Lots of room, and you can have a really nice day at some of the nicest beaches in the entire world. The North end of the Del Mar Rivermouth (in front of the Racetrack) has a great righthand reefbreak that people rarely surf. | |
| Solana Beach (Fletcher's Cove) - Go to the end of Lomas Sante Fe Drive, and park at the beach. Mostly beach break North Cove is a great Right off some reef. All around, uncrowded waves can be had behind the bluffs North or South of the cove. Walk South half a mile and find Cherry Hill -- great, and hidden reef/beachbreak setup. It's the next lifeguard tower south of Fletcher Cove. | |
| Cardiff - Don't even drive north to crowded Cardiff Reef. Stop right at the parking lot to Seaside Reef during a good NW swell and check it. Great left, but if there are crowds, take your board and walk South, over the tide pools, and you will see the adjacent break called Tabletops. It breaks out there, so it's a paddle, but not too bad. Don't paddle over the reef...go to the channel to the South. Great rights and lefts on a jacking reef. Rarely crowded, and hidden from view. Seaside has such a small takeoff zone that 10 guys is a thick crowd. Tables is fun, and usually has less people, but if that is crowded, hit the waves to the south, beneath the bluffs of Solana Beach. | |
| Encinitas - Crapshoot. Highest population of North County surfers live here. Everyone is good, and everyone knows where the spots are. Don't surf at Swami's unless you like evading the landmines that are the million and one longboarders. Check D-Street, and north of Moonlight, Beacon's and Grandview. Beacon's and Grandview are accessible via Neptune (one way going North). Also, around the corner from Swami's is Boneyard's that can be really good left walls on big days. Really, Encinitis is chalk-full of great spots, so it's up to you for exploration. Encinitis sits on bluffs above the ocean, so everything is somewhat difficult to access. This helps keep crowds relatively isolated to a few spots; scoring spots alone just takes a little patience and driving to find which place people aren't. | |
| Encinitas to Oceanside -- there are so many breaks, I can't even begin to list them. Really, this mix of reef breaks and beach breaks has so much room, that on the right swell, you can score great waves no matter where you are. People spread out, and you can have fun anywhere. Just cruise around and look for a few heads in the water. | |
| Ponto Jetties. | |
| Oceanside - go to the harbor, look for the jetty, and set up camp. Oceanside is primed for South swells and accepts a NW, and W, swell very nice also. For some reason, Oceanside always has something rideable. Maybe it's deep close to shore, but that pier and those jetties are swell magnets, and refractive waves can be had off the amazing lineups near the jetties. Is it crowded, yes! But, these breaks aint no Banzai Pipeline, and folks can spread out on these beach. All sand, and all fun. Take no attitude...this is gang territory. | |
| DelMar Beach Jetty - DMJ's - The southernmost beach on USMC Camp Pendelton, just north of O-side harbor, you need a DoD access sticker and ID card to get there. Best beachbreak in SD besides Imperial Beach. Sand-bottom beach with a big, tall, long jetty that collects south swells, turning them into rifling left-hand barrels, and turns west and northwest swells into hollow peaks. Less crowded because of the access restrictions, but it still gets zoo-ed out. The good news is there's about 20 miles of unadulterated beach north of the parking lot. If there's too many donkeys at the main peak, walk down and find your own. | |
| Channel Islands - can you say "secret spot"? Check San Clemente Island, as it is the closest and has the most potential. Find a boat captain willing to camp there for the night, and go for a nice weekend of uncrowded, wild, and epic surf. You can probably find a captain willing to take a small group in SD or Oceanside Harbor. | |
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| I could keep on going, but
the point is that yes, there are insane mobs in San Diego, and with the
type of climate it is, there are
more and more kooks moving into the area than ever before, taking up even more space in the already packed lineups. Take your patience, your time, and your gas card, and you can have waves all to yourself in SD. Stay away from the big breaks, the prime reefs, and chances are, you will realize that fantastic waves can be had a short walk either North or South from most of these. The point is, SD has so much to offer, sticking to the named breaks will just give you a headache. Some of my favorite places to surf at home are places that only me and a few friends have a name for. Just remember, on a NW, Encinitas and South has the best waves, with size increasing the further South you go. On any type of South, Coronado is great, and Del Mar to Orange County pick up it up very well. O-side is your best bet in the North County. Oh yeah, and this little place called Lower Trestles, but we are talking about Non-Crowded breaks. Now, hop on a plane, get in the car, and GO! |
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Editor's Note: Most of those spots were no secret during the swell that rolled in during my last visit in Dec -- Sunset Cliffs, La Jolla Reefs and Seaside were all packed. The first day that the swell really started to roll in was my getaway day and with those crowds I didn't even bother -- dreaming of the East Coast -- and 5 days later my prayers were answered with the 12/11 swell. |