Ocean Beach.

About

Ocean Beach runs five kilometres along San Francisco’s western edge, from Cliff House at the north end down to Sloat Boulevard in the south. Open coast, sand bottom, multiple shifting peaks; locals know each section by the cross-street. The wave that anchors urban California surfing: Kelly Slater clinched his eleventh world title here in 2011, the only continental US final on the modern tour.

Ocean Beach picks up swell from south-west through north-west, but the standout day is west to north-west with periods of 12 seconds and up, November through February. Workable from 0.8 to 4 m on the buoy, peaks rearranging on every tide. Wind from the east is offshore; west or south-west kills it inside an hour. Read the rips before paddling out: the bowl that worked at sunrise can be a closeout by 10am.

Not a beginner spot. Water sits around 13 °C year-round; the rip current at the inlet throat exceeds 2.5 m/s and pulls swimmers toward the channel before they notice. White sharks pass through. The 1998 winter killed seven people in the water. Bring a 4/3 with hood, learn the rips before the lineup, and don’t paddle out alone in the kind of fog that swallows the cliff house.