Best Surf Spots in San Francisco and Marin - Bay Area Surfing

The Bay Area offers some excellent surfing. Though the water is cold and Great White sharks migrate to the area for summer feeding and breeding, there are some great spots to surf in Marin County and San Francisco. These Bay Area surf breaks provide nice waves for an active surfing community all year round.

Keep in mind when surfing Bay Area breaks you will need a wetsuit and booties as the water is very cold - a 4/3 millimeter wetsuit is the most popular choice with Bay Area surfers. Almost everyone wears booties and some folks wear hoods and gloves.

The two most popular surf spots in Marin County are Bolinas and Rodeo Beach/Fort Cronkhite. These two breaks are very different from each other.

Located around the corner from Sausalito, Cronkhite is a very fast and very steep frontside point break. It is unforgiving and can be very local in vibe, but if you like to surf fast, and hollow dropins, it's worth checking out.

Bolinas, on the other hand, is a long stretch of beach breaks, situated just next to Stinson Beach (which is also surfable, though most bay area shark attacks on surfers occur at this beach....yikes!). The main break at Bolinas is just outside of the inlet that leads into the Bolinas lagoon - the swell tends to break on a sand bar about 300 feet outside of the lagoon entrance. This break is mellow and softer and a popular spot for longboarders. It's a great beginner break for folks new to surfing.

There are two primary areas to surf in San Francisco - just inside the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point, and along the Pacific, primarily at Ocean Beach.

Fort Point offers a nice peeling "left" break on both the inside and outer breaks. When paddling out, be careful of entering and exiting the water as the rocks are very slippery. Just park your car and make your way down the rocks and start paddling out. This is not a beginner break - you should be intermediate to advanced as you have to time your paddle outs with the sets and there can be an unpleasant local vibe at times (just ignore the chatter, but don't cut anyone off).

A very local spot known as "dead mans" is located just below the 17th hole of Lincoln Park Golf Course, by the Legion of Honor Museum. The 'secret' is out, but that doesn't matter. The break is rarely surfable and when it is, it is crowded with locals. To access it, you park at the parking lot of China Beach in Sea Cliff and paddle 'south.' This break is seldom working though; the swell direction, tide and breezes all have to be just right to make this break a happening spot - most of the time this break is unsurfable. I do not recommend paddling out here unless you go with someone that knows and surfs this break - it is a very awesome "left" with perfect peels when it is working. It is so awesome in fact, that the locals will give you the stink eye if you attempt to paddle out here.

Ocean Beach is the long stretch of sandy Pacific Coastline on the western border of San Francisco. There are four primary areas that surfers refer to: Kellys, VFW, the Dunes, and Sloat.

Kelly's is the northernmost spot, located at the first parking lot, just below the Cliff House where Balboa street intersects the Great Highway.

VFW is the second and third parking lots, between Fulton street and Lincoln Way - across the street (and south) from the Beach Chalet restaurant.

The Dunes, aka "the avenues", aka "the middle of the beach" is the stretch of Ocean Beach that starts at Lincoln Way and ends at Sloat Blvd.  Popular places to park are on the stretch of 48th Avenue from Santiago Street down to Kirkham Street.

"Sloat" is where Sloat Blvd intersects the Great Highway; there is a shrinking parking lot with a bathroom and outdoor shower (shrinking due to tidal erosion - the parking lot is half the size now than in 2009). The water here is the deepest and can oftentimes be the most crowded.

The waves tend to break a bit further out and typically become less steep and bigger as you make your way South from Kellys towards Sloat.

Ocean Beach can offer world class waves at times though most would classify it as being challenging most of the time - Surfing Ocean Beach should not be taken lightly by beginner surfers.  Keep in mind that the paddle out can be hard - rows of white water breaks can challenge even the best duck-diver. The water, as it is all around the bay area, is very cold. Don't even think about paddling out without a 4-3 wetsuit. The rip can be very strong here - it is not uncommon to paddle out at Sloat and have the current take you half a mile North to somewhere in the Dunes.

If you are just getting into surfing or haven't gone in a while, head South to Pacifica. Lindemar beach is a nice cove that offers gentler waves and there is almost always someone out in the water.  Its a great beginner break.  The biggest danger at Lindemar is getting hit by someone else's board - it can get crowded! That being said, Lindemar can often have some awesome waves - many advanced surfers often ditch their egos and surf the North-end of Lindemar when the waves are nice and they want an easier paddle out than at Ocean Beach. Rockaway beach just around the corner also has some nice waves at times as well.

Spring time tends to bring afternoon winds and is typically the worst time of year to paddle out. The Summer waves tend to be smaller and good offshore breezes are infrequent and hard to find. The Fall and Winter bring stronger swells and off shore conditions and is generally accepted as the best time of year to surf.  Mornings are generally a great time to surf as the water is glassier then.