Best San Diego Surfing Spots for Beginners
Friendly San Diego Surf Break #1:
Tourmaline, Pacific Beach.
PB likes to name a lot of their streets after gemstones, Tourmaline is one of them. The street runs east to west, ending at the beach, ironically named Tourmaline. It is officially known as Tourmaline Surf Park, which is to say that it has a FREE parking lot, bathrooms with showers and waves to surf-really we surfers don’t need much. At the northernmost bit of sand in PB, there are two kinds of surfers in the water: beginning and mellow. There’s a break called Old Mans’. You got to have a good feeling about the vibe of a place called that. Regulars who hang in the parking lot, offering beer, playing music and letting their hair dry between sessions in the water.
Beginner Warning: Don’t go north to the land that juts out. PB Point, as it is called, is for advanced surfers and they don’t appreciate lost meandering kooks. There are plenty of peaks within Tourmaline offering soft, lulling lines of swell where you can learn and play.
Directions:
from South: Driving northbound on Mission Blvd, turn left (west) on Tourmaline Street.
from North: Driving southbound on La Jolla Blvd, turn right (west) on Tourmaline Street
(Yes, Mission Blvd and La Jolla Blvd are the same road with different names depending on what part of town the pavement)
Friendly San Diego Surf Break #2:
The Shores, La Jolla.
Its name is equally original. This break is just west of the street La Jolla Shores Drive. Again, this is a beach break with a large parking lot and bathrooms with showers. Mostly longboarders, locals who don’t feel like driving somewhere else for ‘serious surf’ and beginners dance on these waves. I teach here, it’s that kind of friendly. One of the best parts about this place is the wildlife. If the day is really calm, the dolphins venture so far inside that they surf the waves (don’t drop in on them, seriously) and swim under our boards. Seals, stingrays, guitar fish, leopard sharks (the kind that don’t eat you), lobsters, bat rays, everything is here. This is the place I was surfing when a migrating gray whale swam under me coming up to spray the few of us on an uncrowded peak.
Beginner Warning: You’ll be great as long as you don’t drift north towards the pier where you’ll find more experienced shortboarders riding hollow waves. At that point, the surfers and the waves aren’t really friendly for the beginning wave rider.
Directions:
from South: After taking 5 North, take 52 West/La Jolla Parkway exit. Turn right at the stoplight at La Jolla Shores Drive. Turn left at the stoplight at Avenida de la Playa. Turn right on Camino del Oro.
from North: After taking 5 South, exit at La Jolla Village Drive westbound. Turn left at the stoplight at Torrey Pines Road and follow the curvy road to the stoplight at La Jolla Shores Drive.
Note regarding both breaks:
– During summer, the water is divided into Surfing Only and Swimming Only zones. Look for the black and yellow checkered line and be sure to stay on your own side.
– Also remember to shuffle your feet to avoid stepping on stingrays. They only sting as a defense mechanism, so don’t carelessly mash your feet into them. Remember they’re more afraid of you than you are of them.
– The paddle out for both breaks is short and usually mellow.
– If either spot has ‘pumping waves’ don’t rush in, these places aren’t always super passive.
