Waddell Creek
Davenport (north of Santa Cruz) · near Davenport / Santa Cruz · SF Bay Area
Surfing · Wind Sports
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Best season
- Winter for size · Handles a lot of swell
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Best season
- March–October (spring/summer best)
- Water temperature
- Cold (mid-50s°F) — 4/3 wetsuit + boots
What is here
- Amenities
- California's kite/windsurf wave mecca · Cross-shore wind over swell · Flatwater lagoon for beginners · Iconic Santa Cruz coast
- Best for
- Wave riding on the classic NorCal coast
- Features
- The NorCal wave-riding mecca · Cross-shore wind over ocean swell · Beginner lagoon + advanced waves · Legendary 'Kite Beach'
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Hazards
- Ocean swell & shore break · White shark territory (Red Triangle) · Rips & current · Rocks at the creek mouth
Guides, rentals and operators
- Lessons
- Yes
Surfing detail
- Break types
- point · beach
- Swell
- NW and W · 3–12ft · Exposed point-and-beach combo, holds big swell
- Tide
- Works across tides depending on section
- Wind
- Strong afternoon wind — famous for windsurfing/kiting too
- Crowd
- Exposed and often windy; a serious spot. Also a legendary windsurfing/kitesurfing beach.
- Board
- Shortboard · Step-up on bigger days
- Wetsuit
- 4/3mm minimum, 5/4mm in winter with boots · Water 50–58°F
- Intl tip
- Waddell is the ocean terminus of the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail through Big Basin Redwoods. The wind that draws kiters and windsurfers is legendary. Davenport, a few minutes south, has a beloved roadhouse and cliffs popular with whale watchers.
Wind Sports detail
- Discipline
- kite · windsurf · wing
- Conditions
- waves
- Venue
- ocean
- Wind kt
- 20
- Wind
- NW, 15–28 kt afternoons — cross-shore thermal over ocean swell
- Intl tip
- NorCal's kite/windsurf WAVE mecca — cross-shore NW wind (15–28 kt) over ocean swell. A beginner lagoon at the creek mouth; advanced waves outside. Cold water (4/3 + boots), shore break, rips, and it's in the 'Red Triangle' (white shark territory). Lessons at the lagoon. Iconic. For experienced ocean riders; beginners stay in the lagoon.
- Nickname
- NorCal's Kite Beach
The guide
Waddell Creek, at the edge of Big Basin Redwoods State Park about 20 minutes north of Santa Cruz, is an exposed point-and-beach…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Waddell Creek — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.096, -122.277