Surfing
Surfing
The 10 best surf spots in California
Keen to surf? You've come to the right place. From perfect points and piers to open ocean behemoths, beastly beachbreaks and much more, the Golden State sure lives up to its name.
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While California is the USA's third largest state, it boasts the country's largest population and, until wetsuit technology improves and Alaska enters the conversation, the longest surfable coastline. It's fair to say that wherever Pacific waves break on the west coast, someone has tried to surf them.
Californian surfing is so much more than The Beach Boys, Dick Dale and whatever Hollywood expects you to believe. Big Wednesday, Lords of Dogtown and even Fast Times At Ridgemont High might have been vague reflections of a hazier earlier era, but from the video game stoner vibes of Surfer, Dude (even the title should be a warning) to the bank robbing Ex-Presidents of Point Break, it's probably best you turn onto Highway 1 and discover the real spirit of California's salt water people for yourself.
Here are 10 waves from SoCal to NorCal, – the good, the big and the very ugly – to inspire you to hit the road.
01
Cortes Bank
18 min
Twenty Foot Plus: North Pacific
The world’s best big wave surfers chase a cool new swell from Waimea to Jaws, Cortes Bank to Todos Santos.
Okay, technically Cortes Bank isn't on the Californian coast, it's 180km west of San Diego, but the open ocean reef that rains salty skyscrapers onto surfing's bravest boardriders is as great a place as any to open your eyes to the variety of ocean offering available in the Golden State.
Widely seen as the final frontier in big wave surfing, Cortes Bank is strictly for elite water people with support crews, boats, PWCs and first responders with helicopters on standby. Once upon-a-time the bank was an island. It's now submerged by a couple of metres, but with the surrounding seafloor some 1,800m below, it doesn't take much for inbound swells to suddenly lurch to life and rear up viciously over the shallow reef shelfs below.
Justine Dupont's career session, 100 miles off the coast of California
© Frank Quirarte/Red Bull Content Pool
Lucas Chianca going big and fast
© Frank Quirarte/Red Bull Content Pool
Izzi Gomez surfs a huge wave at Cortes Bank, California
© Frank Quirarte/Red Bull Content Pool
Is this where the world will see the first 100-foot wave – big wave surfing's holy grail – ridden succesfully? A hardcore gang of devotees including Izzi Gomez, Justine Dupont and Lucas Chianca, who last tackled big Cortes Bank in early 2023, sure think so.
02
San Onofre State Beach
From the craziest wave in California to the cruisiest, welcome to San Onofre State Beach in North County San Diego.
SanO might be home to the most clichéd surfing scene in California, but in no way is that a bad thing. A warm, fuzzy throwback to the good old days, this is a beach to hang with your friends as much as it is a place to hang ten, which is saying a lot as it is heaven for longboarders.
Local lord Kolohe Andino, happy to go slow at SanO
© Jose Mandojana/The Red Bulletin
While San Onofre gets waves year round, its four breaks – The Point, Four Doors, Old Man’s and Dogpatch – work best on southern summer swells, and that's when the beach really comes into its own too, with classic cars and campervans emptying a cross-section of surfing citizens from all eras and demographics onto the sand.
The beach's surfing roots go back to the 1920s when a surfing and fishing camp was in place, before local military base Camp Pendleton was established. These days, San'Os a place for families, hippies, hipsters and wily old salt dogs to roll up and slow their life down.
03
Lower Trestles
Think of San Clemente and you think of homegrown talent like Griffin Colapinto and Kolohe Andino, recent imports like Caroline Marks, a bottomless pool of talent, surfing's favourite skatepark and home of the WSL Finals, Lower Trestles.
4 min
Down The Line – Griffin Colapinto
Griffin Colapinto talks us through four minutes of firing waves, at home in California.
It was at Lowers last year that Marks won her first world title, a feat she backed up a short time later with an Olympic gold in Paris, much the same as Carissa Moore did before her in 2021.
Lowers is a perfect cobblestone peak that runs for 100 metres in each direction, with enough juice to lay your board solidly on rail and enough coping to take to the sky if you're that way inclined. From Kelly Slater to Mick Fanning, Jordy Smith to Taj Burrow and from Lisa Andersen to Stephanie Gilmore, Moore and Marks, Lowers is where surfing's envelope pushers stand up to be counted.
8 min
Homegrown with Kolohe Andino
A dream surf trip, an injury, a baby due and competing in Tokyo. It's been quite a year for Kolohe Andino.
In 2024 will Griffin Colapitno do enough to take out his first world title? Is Caroline Marks going back-to-back, or can Caity Simmers or Molly Picklum claim the crown? The Championship Tour is getting down to business, be sure to tune into the WSL and follow along with all of the action. Then, make sure you sneak out and catch a couple of waves of your own.
04
Newport Beach
Newport Beach in Orange County is known for its celebrity residents and upscale lifestyle. Unless you're a saltwater addict, in which case that all goes out the window in one of America's funnest little surf towns, which offers waves for miles when summer's big south swells kick into gear and the hurricanes roar to life.
Hurricane Marie dances in Newport
© Peter Taras
Oh Marie!
© Peter Taras
54th Street for the win
© Peter Taras
Ian Crane, up and over in Orange County
© Peter Taras
Chasing a quick wiggle? Paddle out at 56th Street or the River Jetties. Want to push your limits? Saddle up and throw yourself at the mercy of local bucking bronco beachbreak, the world famous Wedge.
Chasing waves? A southwest swell and a northeast offshore wind are your friend. Need gear? Then head to one of America's truly iconic surf shops, The Froghouse, to stock up and then go surf your brains out. How good!
9 min
Wedge life
In California, Jamie O’Brien and the crew enjoy surf and skate shenanigans with Ryan Sheckler and Zion Wright.
05
Huntington Beach
Known as Surf City USA, Huntington Beach is a drawcard for tourists and surfers alike, with great waves breaking beneath the iconic pier and summer south swells slamming into the bustling beachfront.
Huntington Beach lighting up on a south swell
© Jimmy Wilson
A hotbed of talent, notable Huntington surfers include innovators David Nuuhiwa and Herbie Fletcher, legendary surfing explorers Timmy and Ryan Turner, and longtime elite competitors like Timmy Reyes and Brett Simpson.
Brett Simpson, out in LA
© Pat Stacy
The Vans US Open of Surfing is a long running, nine-day surfing competition-meets-festival that draws hundreds of the world's best to Orange County every August to try and knock off local heroes like Kanoa Igarashi and Courtney Conlogue, who've both won their hometown event twice.
11 min
Play and practise
Jump into the action of day one of the US Open in California with surfer Kanoa Igarashi.
Ironically, August is a traditionally poor month for waves and the event has become synonymous with the Huntington Hop, as competitors skate their way from the powerful waves breaking out the back, across dead water to finish their rides on the beach.
Hometown hero Kanoa Igarashi paddles out through surfing's most famed pier
© Jimmy Wilson
Kanoa Igarashi has his hometown ramp locked down
© Jimmy Wilson
The US Open beach scene is like nothing else in surfing
© Jimmy Wilson
Huntington Beach lighting up on a south swell
© Jimmy Wilson
If you're looking to sample the waves, you're in for a treat. The pier helps build up sandbanks that provide plenty of variety on both sides, across the different swells that blast the beach. Some of the regulars are strictly southside surfers, some won't leave the north, but generally they're both dependable options year-round – and non-locals aren't going to be more or less welcome on either side of Huntington's most famous structure.
06
Malibu
Home of First, Second and Third Points, Malibu is known more as a surf town than a place to go surfing, but you still should try and get amongst the crowds and chaos of the legendary rolling righthander, or at least hit Zuma Beach next door.
Surfed since the '30s, made famous by Miki Dora in the '60s and these days home to the rich and famous, as well as a few surfers who've snuck in (Laird Hamilton and Steph Gilmore take a bow), there's still no doubting the appeal of the wave and the culture that surrounds it.
Put in enough time in the water at the 'Bu and you'll cross paths with a Red Hot Chili Pepper or Jonah Hill, or whichever other celebrity has recently decided surfing is their sport.
Young Ian Walsh pushing the limits at Malibu
© Erik Aeder/Red Bull Content Pool
For all the mocking, put in enough time in the water and you'll find pockets of pumping waves, windows without too many humans gridlocking surfing's version of the 405 Highway, and you'll see what all the fuss has been about all along.
07
Rincon
Nestled between Ventura and Santa Barbara County, Rincon Point is a classic wave – arguably the best in the U.S. – that should be on every natural-footer's bucket list. The 'Queen Of The Coast' was even name-dropped in The Beach Boy's 1962 classic song Surfin' Safari.
Rincon, beauty from afar
© Surfing/Jimmicane
Santa Barbara breeds talented surfers who like to live life on their own terms. Three-time world champion Tom Curren honed his silky style drawing unique lines all over Rincon canvases. Explosive goofy footer Bobby Martinez owes his trademark powerful hook to growing up with his back against the wall, while Coffin brothers Conner (natural) and Parker (goofy) have both Rincon and their two heroes to thank for the original and stylish way that they both ply their trade.
Channel Islands Surfboards, found beneath the feet of many an iconic surfer, are still manufactured in a factory by the beach in Santa Barbara and every American world champion, from Curren to Kelly Slater to Lisa Andersen has won trophies with the hallowed Hex logo beneath their feet.
Dane Reynolds just down the road at Rincon, as seen in Surfing Magazine
© Jimmicane
As for the wave itself? Rincon is made up of three different sections that link up a handful of times a year on big swells. The 75m long Indicator kicks off the show, a big powerful wall that eventually runs into The Rivermouth, which is the easiest to access and usually most crowded zone. Here you'll come across well-formed waves and the opportunity for long rides. Beyond this sits the Cove, the least challenging section and a haven for longboarders, most of the time anyway.
If you can beat the crowd on a big swell and jag a runner from the Indicator, through the Rivermouth and on to the Cove, you might just call it a winter and put your feet up in front of the fire.
08
Steamer Lane
Santa Cruz is as hardcore as Californian surf towns get, and Steamer Lane is its roughest and toughest venue. Cold, unforgiving, breaking at the base of a cliff with a large gallery usually camped out above and overrun by a crowd of testy saltdogs who'll never give you an inch, you need to have your wits about you when you paddle out at the Lane. The rewards are worth it, though.
The Lineup
© Jimmicane
Steamer Lane, so legend goes, was named after the waves that broke whenever big steamships passed by en route to the local wharf in the 1930s. Though the steamers are long gone, surfer numbers are greater than ever, thanks in no small part to a local surfer named Jack O'Neill, who pioneered the modern wetsuit and built an eponymous and highly successful brand in the process.
Taj Burrow won by surfing on the rail.
© Jimmicane
Did we mention Santa Cruz's surfing magician, Zoltan Torkos? We did, now you need to go check him out.
Steamer Lane is divided into four zones for experienced surfers: Indicators, The Slot (at the base of the cliffs), Middle Peak, a left and right and the pick of the bunch on its day, and The Point. The long-running annual O'Neill Coldwater Classic is usually contested at Middle Peak. In 2016 it was upgraded to the Championship Tour for one year only and was won by West Australian legend Taj Burrow.
Whether you head to Steamer Lane for the winter or to get a piece of summer's south swells, you're destined for a great time, and there are plenty of other waves in town as well.
The sunsets are better at Steamer Lane
© Lisa Herrick on Unsplash
09
Maverick's
If you want to surf Northern California's biggest waves ,then head 40km south of San Francisco to Half Moon Bay, home of Maverick's and a magnet to big wave studs like Ian Walsh and Kai Lenny.
17 min
Day of days
Kai, Ridge and Ian Walsh fly to Mavericks in California for what's being hailed as the swell of the decade.
Big-wave surfer Jeff Clark is famous for surfing Maverick's long before it gained popularity in the '90s and the wave itself is named after his dog, who used to swim out to the lineup whenever his owner paddled out for a surf.
9 min
Mavericks host the world's best big wave surfers
After years of quiet, California's Mavericks unleashes huge waves for the world's best big wave surfers.
In 1999, the area held its first surfing contest and to this day Maverick's continues to attract surfers from all corners of the planet, with its waves reaching up to 60 feet.
Winter gives you the best opportunity to paddle out at Mavs, but only do so with a safety team, a plan and in the best shape of your life. Easterly offshore winds and northwest swells will give you your best chance of taming a monster or two. If there are too many variables, there's no shame whatsoever in watching from a boat in the channel.
Justine Dupont started off her career week in California
© Fred Pompermayer
Kai Lenny throws himself over surfing's steepest ledge
© Fred Pompermayer
Lucas Chumbo rolling into a Mavericks monster
© Fred Pompermayer
Lucas Chumbo stalls where most would be sprint, under the Mavericks lip
© Fred Pompermayer
10
Fort Point
Surfing, San Francisco style
© Silvin Morgan/Red Bull Content Pool
San Francisco's Fort Point might just be the highest profile underground wave in the world. Although it's broken in the shadows of the globally famous Golden Gate Bridge for years, until recently the local crew held the fun running lefthander down tight.
25 min
No Contest: Surfing San Francisco
Dive into the fray and get to meet one of surfing’s most hardcore communities.
Red Bull No Contest recently sent Jamie O'Brien and Izzi Gomez to the city by the bay to investigate the local scene and both came home raving about life in and out of the water.
Look, if eating was a sport and I lived in San Francisco, I might just quit surfing!
Anyone can find Fort Point and though it's not the most dangerous of waves, it does pay to be cautious when paddling out there as it only breaks on big west swells and the amount of current moving around inside the bay is wild.
Once you've surfed, you might want to treat yourself to big meal and you're in the best place to do so. And, after making it all the way up the Californian coast from San Diego, you deserve it. Enjoy!
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