Pacific Beach

Pacific Beach is a W-facing beach break in San Diego, California, United States. It picks up swell from SSE to S and S to SSW and SSW to W, and land, islands, reefs or shallow banks block about 53% of the directions it faces. Offshore wind here blows from the E: light winds or E breezes usually mean the cleanest surf, while W onshores chop it up.

Rare slot: a Channel Islands gap lets in swell from 290.5° (WNW) and nothing either side. It only lines up when a storm sits in that exact direction, more than 216 km out. How slot swells work

Break

Beach

Faces

W (270°)

Best swell

SW to W (230°–270°), 9 s or longer

Best wind

NE to SE offshore, or glassy

Best surf height

3–6 ft at the beach

Swell window

SSE to S (164.5° to 170.5°); S to SSW (175.5° to 192°); SSW to W (194.5° to 270.5°)

Rare slot

Channel Islands gap, 290.5° WNW

Offshore wind

E

Tide

NOAA station 9410196

Wave buoy

La Jolla, CA (073) · 8 km away

Cams

3