🏄‍♀️ Sick spots to surf in SoCal, just not this week 😬

👋 Happy National Cheesecake Day! After the week we’ve had, we’re gonna need one. With strawberries. California hit by big waves. Florida, New South Wales and Western Australia by sharks. This too shall pass.

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• Sick spots to surf in SoCal, just not this week 😬

• A clean-up set will get you caught inside 🧹

• A hero is born 💪

• From Cocoa Beach to Bali 🌴

• Surf news roundup 🗞️

^SURFODRAMA

🏄🏻‍♀️ Sick spots to surf in SoCal, just not this week 😬

Remember the best surf spots for beginners? We've done it again. We give you a community-sourced guide to the forgiving, mostly non-territorial breaks worth learning at in Southern California, ranked by people who actually surf them.

We pulled every recommendation, ranked them by how many people mentioned each spot, cross-checked against the actual break conditions, and organized the result by region. Here's where our community sends beginners.

👑 The one everyone agrees on
Doheny State Beach in Dana Point is the SoCal beginner spot, and the recommendation always came with the same caveat: go on weekdays.

"Doheny during the weekdays!" said one member. "Doheny all the way. Especially during the week less crowded. And school is going back into session soon so that will clear it out even more," said another.

The wave itself lives up to the reputation. It's a soft, longboard-friendly break that works from March through October, and it's forgiving in a way most SoCal breaks aren't. If you can only go to one beginner spot in Southern California, this is it. Just do not show up on a Saturday and expect the water to yourself.

🏖️ The Ventura pick
Mondos, a stone’s throw from Ventura, is what the community sends you to if you're willing to drive north of LA.

"Mondos, hands down. It's between Ventura and SB," said one member.

The wave is a gentle sandy-bottom crumbler that usually runs one to two feet in summer, which is exactly what a beginner wants.

Parking is free but limited and sits across PCH, so get there early and cross the highway carefully.

🏙️ In LA proper
The community was honest about LA: pickings are slimmer, and the further you drive, the better it gets.

El Porto in El Segundo/Manhattan Beach came up as "the chill, friendly spot" for LA-based beginners. Wide sandy beach, decent peaks that spread the crowd out. "I love el Porto, it's always a chill, friendly spot," one member wrote.

Zuma Beach between lifeguard stations 11 and 16 is the pick if you want to sample Malibu without sampling the crowds. Sunset Point at Sunset Boulevard is the friendly exception to the "avoid Malibu" rule below.

Will Rogers State Beach in the Pacific Palisades got mentions, too.

Now, a word about Malibu itself. Every single mention of Malibu came with a warning. Too rocky and/or the crowd attitude at the main points is not welcoming to learners.

"Pretty much anywhere you go will be better than Malibu for crowd attitude and water quality," one member wrote. Another described the surfers at 2nd and 3rd Point as "especially" territorial.

We don’t disagree, but it’s doable and fun with a coach. Just skip it until you’re comfortable managing crowds, rocks and right-of-way.

🍊 Orange County (the beginner's paradise)
Beyond Doheny, OC has the strongest cluster of beginner options in SoCal.

Blackies in Newport Beach, between the 28th Street jetty and Newport Pier, is technically more intermediate than beginner (peaky sandbars, occasional hollow corners), but the community includes it because plenty of learners get their reps here on foamies. "Blackies Newport Beach! It's the best beginner spot," one member said.

Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach was one of the most enthusiastic recommendations in the thread.

"For a reasonable drive from LA, Bolsa Chica is by far the best," one member wrote. "You'll want to go on a 2-3 ft day. 1-2 is also great fun for beginners and foamie enthusiasts. It's a beach break, easy parking and loooooooong shoreline so it accommodates a lot of people. Locals are generally friendly."

Two important things about Bolsa: it's a state beach ($15 to park), and "bring booties". And do the stingray shuffle. Do not paddle out if it's over 3 or 4 feet as a beginner. It gets dicey fast above that.

San Onofre in San Clemente got a mention with caveats. The classic slow-moving longboard waves at The Point, Old Man's, and Dogpatch are technically beginner-appropriate, but the paddle is long and the lineup is dense with experienced longboarders.

☀️ San Diego (arguably the friendliest coast)
If you want the softest introduction to SoCal surf, the community broadly agrees: head south.

La Jolla Shores is San Diego's answer to Doheny. Gradual sandy bottom, long mellow waves, year-round lifeguards, restrooms, showers, and multiple surf schools. Beginners spread out across a wide beach with several peaks.

"La Jolla Shores in San Diego is pretty beginner friendly and sandy," one member confirmed.

Old Man's at Tourmaline Surf Park in Pacific Beach is the other San Diego favorite. Mellow and welcoming. Beginners get pointed specifically to the section from Law Street down to the pier where the crowds thin.

"Old man's at Tourmaline in SD is a great beginner spot, during the week it isn't too crazy crowded," one member wrote.

North County San Diego (Encinitas and Carlsbad) came up as a broadly forgiving stretch of coast.

"Most beaches in Encinitas and Carlsbad are fun, slower and forgivable. Plus, there are enough waves that if one peak is too crowded you can paddle onto the next one," one member noted.

Pipes in Encinitas got a specific nod. Swami's came up too, though it holds a bigger wave than pure beginners want.

Oceanside works if you paddle out far from the pier. Oceanside Harbor Beach, Pacific Beach, and Mission Beach all got shoutouts.

🧳 A note for East Coast transplants
Several members chimed in with the same lived experience: coming from Charleston, Wilmington, Tybee, or Folly, Southern California surf will feel different.

"Nothing in CA is going to compare to SC, NC, GA surf," one member wrote. "Crowds, waves, size, temperature, sea weed, waves strength, and on. You are experiencing world class surf on a consistent basis. Get out there and enjoy. Don't give up. Mother ocean is humbling."

Go. Enjoy. But perhaps not this week.

^{WORD OF THE WEEK}

 🧹 A clean-up set will get you caught inside

Given Hurricane Genevieve is currently sending overhead sets to Southern California and the US Open of Surfing is trying to happen on top of it, this week feels like the right week to cover surf lingo that goes together like cheesecake and strawberries (yeah, still thinking about it).

A clean-up set is a set of waves noticeably bigger than the going standard on any given day. The name comes from what these waves actually do: they break far enough outside the normal surf zone that they "clean up" the lineup by sweeping every surfer in it toward the beach. Clean-up sets tend to arrive when the swell is on the rise, which means they show up unannounced, at the exact moment most people in the water are least ready for them.

Caught inside is what happens next. It means getting stuck on the shoreward side of an incoming wave or set, unable to punch through. And it's not just uncomfortable. In a 1987 survey called "Fear City," twelve out of seventeen pro surfers said being caught inside was their greatest surfing fear.

The physics of it are cruel. A big wave wipeout is fast; a caught-inside situation is slow. It gives you time to watch the wave build, and time to think about it. No escape.

For most of us, the caught-inside experience is smaller, mostly frustrating, and involves getting stuck in the broken wave zone unable to make it to the lineup. Not dangerous, just soul-crushing.

^{VID OF THE WEEK}

 💪 A hero is born

Ryder Williams is 16 years old.

He held on to a 10-year-old boy through wave after wave, then made four more rescues that same day.

This was his first rescue.

Hero.

^{LATEST FROM GIRLS WHO CAN’T SURF GOOD}

💬 3 things we’re figuring out this week

🏖️ Surf buddy in the Cocoa Beach to Melbourne, Florida area? Community top picks: The Stokeciety runs surf meetups, beach days, and a group chat for the area with occasional yoga and swimwear swaps thrown in. Central Florida Women Surfing on Facebook, and Tables Beach as the local go-to.

🌲 Beginner-friendly Oregon surf spot near Seaside for September? Community top picks: Short Sands (aka Oswald West State Park, all sand and beach break, need an Oregon State Parks pass to park), Otter Rock (flat beach break, closer to the headland is usually better, watch the rip near the rocks), and Indian Beach (protected, friendly vibes). Skip The Cove for beginners because it skews locals-only. Local tip: Surfline can be inaccurate for Oregon, so call Cleanline Surf Shop in Seaside for actual conditions.

🏝️ Chill surf camp in Bali for an intermediate beginner heading to Java after? Community top picks: Newbro Surfing in Nusa Lembongan (mostly Lacerations, one member said even on overhead barreling days they took great care of her and found small waves in a safe spot), Noesa Surf from Coconut Beach, also on Nusa Lembongan, and Medewi as a stopover on the way to Java.

👉 Join us for more recs, chatter, and support

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Massive waves. Thousands of ocean rescues. And, of course, sharks.

🌀 Category 5 Hurricane Genevieve sends massive swell to SoCal
Surfline compared the incoming swell to Hurricane Marie 2014 (the gold standard of summertime Pacific swells).

🚨 Southern California lifeguards are already at capacity
San Diego lifeguards made 107 rescues at Windansea in one day., LA County did nearly 2,000 over the weekend.

🦸‍♂️ Sixteen-year-old lifeguard makes five rescues in one shift
Ryder Williams held on to a 10-year-old boy through wave after wave until a second lifeguard reached them, then made more rescues that same day.

🏄‍♂️ Paddleboarder saves shark attack victim at Sydney's Coogee Beach
Twenty-five-year-old Charlie Verco paddled toward an 11-foot white shark instead of away from it and helped the injured swimmer to shore.

🥊 Georgia man punches shark on the nose in Daytona
Jacorey High pushed his pregnant fiancée toward shore before punching a four-foot shark on the nose to make it release his foot.

🦈 Great white shark breaches behind a sponger at Newport Beach
A juvenile great white launched itself out of the water yards behind a boogie boarder at Newport Beach.

🏨 When Southern Living starts writing about surfing, we bite
The Sitio, a new 20-room boutique hotel in Virginia Beach, sits next to what's described as North America's first all-season surf lagoon. We would.

👉 Read the full news roundup

^{ALL THINGS THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY}

_{The Wipeout Weekly—our home and digital magazine.
The Wee Surf Shoppe—explore useful, cute, and sometimes simply outrageous surf “stuffs”.
The Wipeout Weekly podcast—surf stories and guests.
All Things Surf Directory—surf retreats, learn to surf, classifieds, surf-side lodging, you name it.
Girls Who Can’t Surf Good—an 87k-member-strong private group on Facebook.}
Feedback—we do want to hear from you! Whatever is on your mind, drop us a line.

⬆️ Aaaaaaand that was the last wave of the week!
If a friend forwarded this and you liked it, hit subscribe & join us! We will see you all next week! 🌊

With stoke,

Zuz & The Wipeout Weekly