San Clemente

San Clemente is an SW-facing beach break in Orange County & San Clemente, California, United States. It picks up swell from SSE to S and S to SW, and land, islands, reefs or shallow banks block about 64% of the directions it faces. Offshore wind here blows from the NE: light winds or NE breezes usually mean the cleanest surf, while SW onshores chop it up.

Rare slot: a Channel Islands gap lets in swell from 253° (WSW) and nothing either side. It only lines up when a storm sits in that exact direction, more than 98 km out. How slot swells work

Rare slot: the San Pedro Channel lets in swell from 280.5° (W) and nothing either side. It only lines up when a storm sits in that exact direction, more than 236 km out. How slot swells work

Break

Beach

Faces

SW (225°)

Best swell

S to SW (188°–224°), 9 s or longer

Best wind

N to E offshore, or glassy

Best surf height

3–6 ft at the beach

Swell window

SSE to S (162° to 186.5°); S to SW (188.5° to 224.5°)

Rare slot

Channel Islands gap, 253° WSW

Rare slot

San Pedro Channel, 280.5° W

Offshore wind

NE

Tide

NOAA station TWC0419

Wave buoy

Capistrano Beach Nearshore, CA (284) · 6 km away

Cams

2 (1 plays here)