Ocean Beach
San Francisco · near San Francisco · SF Bay Area
Surfing
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Best season
- Sept–Nov best quality · Winter biggest but heaviest · Summer often flat/onshore
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Surfing detail
- Break types
- beach
- Swell
- Northwest · 4–10ft · Powerful, shifting peaks
- Tide
- Lower tides best · Avoid rip currents at all tidal stages
- Wind
- Offshore mornings in fall are genuinely good · Consistent afternoon onshore
- Crowd
- Experienced surfer community. The ocean doesn't care about your feelings here — neither will the locals if you paddle out without knowing what you're doing.
- Board
- Shortboard or step-up for bigger winter swells · Mid-length on smaller fall days
- Wetsuit
- 5/4mm hooded suit with booties and gloves Oct–May · 4/3mm rest of year · Water never exceeds 60°F
- Intl tip
- The Outerlands restaurant on Judah Street (two blocks from the beach) is one of San Francisco's best neighborhood spots and attracts the OB surf community on weekend mornings. Expect a wait. Worth it.
The guide
San Francisco's way of reminding you that the Pacific Ocean doesn't care about your reputation. OB is a powerful, shifting beac…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Ocean Beach — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.7558, -122.5131