Blacks Beach Alert Guide

California, USA · part of the Blacks Beach spot guide

The Scripps Nearshore buoy (46254) sits in about 46 m only ~3 km out and reads the swell just before it enters the canyon, so a live-observation alert is exactly right. The height below is the buoy reading; canyon focusing makes the face run larger.

The forecaster's checklist

1. 1.Expect the good Blacks peaks to break noticeably bigger and better-shaped than the open beaches nearby on the same swell — long period magnifies this, so don’t flat-convert the buoy height to the face.
2. 2.Read the buoy (46254, in ~46 m only ~3 km out): a rising height with long peak period (13 s and up) from the west-northwest or south-southwest is the green light.
3. 3.For the prime winter window, look for a west-northwest swell (270–300°), long period, an offshore east dawn wind and a low-to-dropping tide.
4. 4.In summer, a long-period south-southwest swell wraps in — smaller-faced than an equal west swell but often long-walled and clean.
5. 5.It is a morning break — score it before the sea-breeze fills; an onshore southwest kills it. And re-scout the bank, because the peaks shift after big swells.

Local winds & tide

Best wind: E–ESE offshore in the early morning before the sea-breeze — from 20° to 115° (NNE–ESE).

Works across the tide but is famous for hollow barrels on a lower or dropping tide; very low can sap the inside and very high fattens the peaks.

Dial it in