Gaviota Beach

Gaviota Beach is an S-facing beach break in Gaviota, California, United States. It picks up swell from SSW to W, and land, islands, reefs or shallow banks block about 69% of the directions it faces. Offshore wind here blows from the N: light winds or N breezes usually mean the cleanest surf, while S onshores chop it up.

Rare slot: the Santa Barbara Channel lets in swell from 150.2° (SSE) and nothing either side. It only lines up when a storm sits in that exact direction, more than 150 km out. How slot swells work

Rare slot: the Santa Barbara Channel lets in swell from 186.8° (S) and nothing either side. It only lines up when a storm sits in that exact direction, more than 48 km out. How slot swells work

Break

Beach

Faces

S (181°)

Best swell

SSW to SW (206°–222°), 9 s or longer

Best wind

NW to NE offshore, or glassy

Best surf height

3–6 ft at the beach

Swell window

SSW to W (206° to 272°)

Rare slot

Santa Barbara Channel, 150.2° SSE

Rare slot

Santa Barbara Channel, 186.8° S

Offshore wind

N

Tide

NOAA station 9411399

Wave buoy

EAST SANTA BARBARA - 12NM Southwest of Santa Barbara, CA · 43 km away

Cams

None yet