What is needed for a beachbreak to be good?

[Sharkbiscuit]

Except for "perfect conditions", what would you choose if you could only have one feature to make a beach surfable?
Ultima Thule has quite a few beaches with various features and is exposed to both shitswells and better ones. The one thing lacking is tide difference. Being the magnetic center of the universe with the moon right above it like the sun at equator, there is no tide. Rivermouths, rocks or corner at the end of the beach, nothing seems to be able to get a respectable wave going.

Google seems to think Ultima Thule is Shetland or Orkney or Faroe or something? I was under the impression sand is rare and there's lots of cliffs that go from 200' high to 200' feet deep in the space of a lateral foot.

The Moon orbits the Earth and the Earth rotates once every 24 hours. Ain't no place the moon is right above it all the time. I thought the more convex the coastline, the less dramatic the tide swing was.

Am I being trollolololololed, or is this an actual place, and you've done real beachbreak-level homework on it, and it has sand that touches water 12 months of the year, and it's not sea ice during swell season and patrolled by starving polar bears the rest of the year?

If you are offering a cliff that drops into the ocean, and I need to ask for the sand, then I'd pick the sand. If there's already sand, and the spot just kinda sucks, I'd pick a jetty that both blocks wind and causes sandbar formation and refraction resulting in constructive interference. Close second would be some sort of underwater canyon that causes refraction resulting in constructive interference.

Ehukai Beach Park and some beachbreaks in Mainland Mexico both have tiny tide swings.

 

[ElOgro]

The glaring omission so far is shorter period and/or decently angled swell, or combo swell, in addition to the other factors mentioned.

Find the same thing for Lazaro. That's what made Peta so good.

 

[Mr J]

.. I thought the more convex the coastline, the less dramatic the tide swing was.

Am I being trollolololololed, or is this an actual place, and you've done real beachbreak-level homework on it, and it has sand that touches water 12 months of the year, and it's not sea ice during swell season and patrolled by starving polar bears the rest of the year?

If you are offering a cliff that drops into the ocean, and I need to ask for the sand, then I'd pick the sand. If there's already sand, and the spot just kinda sucks, I'd pick a jetty that both blocks wind and causes sandbar formation and refraction resulting in constructive interference. Close second would be some sort of underwater canyon that causes refraction resulting in constructive interference.

Ehukai Beach Park and some beachbreaks in Mainland Mexico both have tiny tide swings.

That makes sense - a convex coastline would allow the incoming tide to flow past it on either side. High tidal ranges occur when the incoming water is boxed in and narrows e.g the South Wales UK coastline is opposite the north North Devon coastline and it narrows into the Somerset coastline.

 

[Mr J]

Except for "perfect conditions", what would you choose if you could only have one feature to make a beach surfable?
...

It wouldn't be a high tidal range. Without some other feature a high tidal range is not going to save the beach. It wouldn't be a rivermouth - pollution and sharks. It wouldn't be a jetty because that concentrates a pack of surfers in one area. I would choose offshore channeled sea bed rock formations that allow the sand to form channels with rips, but far out enough so that the sandbanks closer to shore are continuously shifting which means that best bank on the beach this month might not be the best bank next month.

 

[npsp]

And Oxnard.
And Newport.
And Drainpipes/Pt. Dume
And Mugu Base
And Moss Landing

and...

well, you get the idea.

And then look at all the other beachbreaks surrounding them and, structures or not, they are generally underwhelming sh!t that need a lot of factors to come together to even approach the quality of the submarine canyon-influenced breaks.

Case in point: Has LJ Shores ever been better than Blacks? And on the days when Shores is good, what is Blacks doing?

Agree on all. Only time the Shores/Scripps zone is better than Blacks is on south wind days. They are offshore and dreamy and Blacks is a wind blown mess.

 

[ajmojave]

This. Or a sh!t ton of rain to carve out a channel or accumulate a bar. There's a place I call the "Torrance Rivermouth" that can be fun ...except for the high school surf teams that gather there.

Both conditions last only for a short time. Short period wind swell- one day, two max. The temporary bar or channel can last a little longer. It's been a while since I've seen a good bar at the places I frequent. One spring, probably 5-6 years ago, there was a bar at Rat Beach that made it feel like surfing Trestles...and not that many people made the walk down there. It lasted almost a month.

is rat accessible since the landslide?

 

[One-Off]

is rat accessible since the landslide?

Don't know. There were fire crews and police there on Tuesday because the Department of Beaches truck that was stuck down there caught fire. I don't know how it caught fire. They said they did not move it because moving something at the "thumb" of a slide could cause further sliding and they were studying the situation.

Exact same moment there were lifegaurd truck, police and the Baywatch boats at the Avenues. Seems a crazy guy was swimming with no wetsuit at the Avenues (biggest surf of the year and 56 degree water), throwing trash cans at lifeguards. People said he was a surfer with a known history of drug abuse and mental illness.

In short, a busy morning at the beach for local first responders.

 

[kidfury]

I've surfed OBSF really really good. It still ain't no puerto or pascuales or peta. Peta better than all, with Hossegor probably up there, though I never surfed it with size. No structures on any of those waves.

 

[Ranga]

I think we need to throw sand type into this discussion too -- seems places with the finer-grained stuff that packs into hard banks are more likely to suck compared to beaches with varied, larger, looser (and thus more transitory) sand.

 

[sponge]

Ke Iki is a beachbreak, isn't it?

 

[kidfury]

Wedge is a beachbreak

 

[Aquaman2]

What makes a beachbreak have decent waves? Bathymetry, tide, natural and/or man-made structures?

Sand bars. Beach break = sand bars. Then I looked it up in Wiki and they say it can be a boulder beach also. I disagree a little with Wiki. Anyone know of a beach break that has little or no sand? Wiki even calls it a "surf break" which is wrong.

"Sometimes 'beaches' can contain little or no sand, and the 'beach' bottom may be only rock or boulders and pebbles. A 'boulder beach' is an example."
Surf break - Wikipedia

"Rocks, boulders and pebbles" sounds more like a point break.

 

[Sharky]

Considering how many world class waves have been created by jetties, on accident, imagine if they started putting in jetties to create surf. Never happen. You put one in and ten years later some transplant loses his 10 million dollar beach front house 20 miles down the beach and you're getting a lawsuit. But think of all sh!t beach break you could turn into waves.

So whatever. Creeks, rivers, natural bottom contours.

It is weird though how over the decades I can think of a few beach breaks that went epic. Out of nowhere. Just going off every day. And then they're gone. Never to see anything but closeouts seemingly forever into the future. I keep hoping to see something like that happen again. It's been years and years since I've observed it though. More surfers and fewer waves seems to be the direction of things.

Then there's the occasional utter sh!t beachie that turns on and goes epic for a day or two. Never to return.

We need rain. BIG rain. The creeks have been lined in concrete, dams are in place and the drought. We need sand/mud/dirt pouring down to meet the ocean.

Probably more waves have been destroyed by jetties than created? I don't know. Pipe dreams.

 

[ElOgro]

I've surfed OBSF really really good. It still ain't no puerto or pascuales or peta. Peta better than all, with Hossegor probably up there, though I never surfed it with size. No structures on any of those waves.

Timing, as they say, is everything. Did you catch La Isla in Lazaro back then?

 

[Aquaman2]

It is weird though how over the decades I can think of a few beach breaks that went epic. Out of nowhere. Just going off every day. And then they're gone. Never to see anything but closeouts seemingly forever into the future. I keep hoping to see something like that happen again. It's been years and years since I've observed it though. More surfers and fewer waves seems to be the direction of things.

Sand bars come and go like clouds in the sky. I remember when Huntington Cliffs was isolated sand-bar peaks EVERYWHERE. There were waves for everyone.

 

[ElOgro]

Considering how many world class waves have been created by jetties, on accident, imagine if they started putting in jetties to create surf. Never happen. You put one in and ten years later some transplant loses his 10 million dollar beach front house 20 miles down the beach and you're getting a lawsuit. But think of all sh!t beach break you could turn into waves.

So whatever. Creeks, rivers, natural bottom contours.

It is weird though how over the decades I can think of a few beach breaks that went epic. Out of nowhere. Just going off every day. And then they're gone. Never to see anything but closeouts seemingly forever into the future. I keep hoping to see something like that happen again. It's been years and years since I've observed it though. More surfers and fewer waves seems to be the direction of things.

Then there's the occasional utter sh!t beachie that turns on and goes epic for a day or two. Never to return.

We need rain. BIG rain. The creeks have been lined in concrete, dams are in place and the drought. We need sand/mud/dirt pouring down to meet the ocean.

Probably more waves have been destroyed by jetties than created? I don't know. Pipe dreams.

Come down here. Stand in the driveway and look north/north west. Peta faces SE so the prevailing nw wind is offshore and there's lots of beach in the hook up there that would't blow out. I see jetties. Kilometers of jetties..

 

[Northern_Shores]

Sand bars. Beach break = sand bars. Then I looked it up in Wiki and they say it can be a boulder beach also. I disagree a little with Wiki. Anyone know of a beach break that has little or no sand? Wiki even calls it a "surf break" which is wrong.

"Sometimes 'beaches' can contain little or no sand, and the 'beach' bottom may be only rock or boulders and pebbles. A 'boulder beach' is an example."
Surf break - Wikipedia

"Rocks, boulders and pebbles" sounds more like a point break.

Either you can't read or you are just stupid.

WHAT CREATES QUALITY SANDBARS THAT STAY OVER TIME? Is it big tidal swing, that being my theory. Others are in support of jetties or other structures either man-made or natural to keep the sand built up in an area around them. I lean on the tide because I have no tide here, but there are structures, both man made and natural, but the beaches are still trash.

 

[freeride76]

WHAT CREATES QUALITY SANDBARS THAT STAY OVER TIME? Is it big tidal swing, that being my theory.

No.

Your theory has been trashed, find another one.

 

[hammies]

Ke Iki is a beachbreak, isn't it?

View attachment 144713

The Godzilla of beach breaks.

 

[Northern_Shores]

No.

Your theory has been trashed, find another one.

Then what's the right answer, retard?