MacKerricher Surf Guide

MacKerricher Surf Guide

Pudding Creek is an unreliable, peaky beachbreak that's only surfable when small and clean. The currents can be bad and there's the occasional submerged rock. Next comes the southern boundary of MacKerricher State Park and Virgin Creek, a quality beachbreak in a small cove with wedgy rights peeling into a channel. The left can be good, too, but the right is much better -- tuberides are possible. The drops are often steep, followed by a shoulder that either peels or backs off. Check this place when the swell is small, clean and peaky; watch out for rocks, too. The soft sand bottom changes sporadically.

MacKerricher State Park is six windblown miles of sandy beach and dunes with some exceptional tide pools, driftwood, craggy outcroppings and the small, serene Lake Cleone. It's basically all generic beachbreak with the exception of Laguna Point, known to have some surfable waves at low tide, but not really a primo spot to set your sights on. Again, this is an area reserved strictly for small, clean, windless days that normally occur during the late spring, summer and early autumn. The bottom drops off significantly from the shoreline, thus inducing some brutal shorepound, undertows and currents. The farther north you go, the shallower and more gradual the bottom gets, so this is your best bet for finding waves. .

Just north of Cleone is a road called Ward Avenue, which leads you directly to a rocky, peaky beachbreak capable of getting good during lower tides and southeast wind. The small pocket beach at the mouth of Seaside Creek lies at the north end of the state park, where the road momentarily skirts back down to the waterline. This is another rocky, temperamental beachbreak that's only good when small and clean -- mainly a summer spot, best at medium tide.