Steamer Lane
Santa Cruz · near Santa Cruz · SF Bay Area
Surfing
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Best season
- Oct–April · Winter delivers the best northwest groundswells
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Surfing detail
- Break types
- reef
- Swell
- Northwest · 4–12ft · Three distinct sections fire on different swells
- Tide
- Lower tides expose more reef and produce hollower sections
- Wind
- Morning offshore is transcendent · Afternoon onshore closes it out
- Crowd
- One of California's most crowded advanced breaks. Locals are serious and have surfed this reef for decades. Arrive early. The O'Neill Cold Water Classic is held here.
- Board
- Shortboard 5ft8 to 6ft4 · Step-up for bigger winter swells
- Wetsuit
- 5/4mm hooded suit with booties Nov–April · 4/3mm rest of year · Water is 54–58°F year-round
- Intl tip
- The blufftop walk from Steamer Lane to Natural Bridges State Beach (famous for monarch butterfly overwintering) is one of the best coastal walks in the Bay Area. Do it after your morning surf session before the fog burns off.
The guide
The soul of Northern California surfing. Steamer Lane sits directly below the Santa Cruz lighthouse and the Surfing Museum, sur…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Steamer Lane — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.9512, -122.0283