How to Surf a Beach Break (El Porto and Everywhere Else)

Beach breaks are hard.

That's not an excuse, it's the starting point. A point break hands you the same wave in the same place over and over. A beach break moves. The sandbar shifts, the peak relocates, the current drags you off it, and the wave that was perfect an hour ago is now a closeout thirty yards down.

One of the best things I ever learned in surfing came from Ian Cairns. I started working with him when I was 16 and he scared the life out of me. I found out later he told my dad I should go back to playing baseball. I had a hard learning curve. But I wanted it badly enough that I used his system, and it's still the system I teach:

1. Know the swell forecast, the tide and the sandbars.
2. Commit to a plan.
3. Don't sit.

The sandbar is the whole thing

At a point break, the rock or the reef doesn't move. At a beach break, the bottom is sand, and sand moves with every swell, every tide cycle and every bit of current.

That means the lineup you memorized last month may not exist today. It also means that on any given day there's usually one bank doing the heavy lifting and a second one that's decent, and your session is mostly decided by whether you found them.

Which is why you watch from the sand for a few minutes before paddling out. Where is it actually breaking. Where does it peel instead of close out. How far does the peak move between sets.

Current is a tax you pay all session

At El Porto during summer and fall, I've had sessions with current running from south to north, lefts, and short rights running against that current. That's an observation, not a rule for every session. Swell, wind, tide and sandbars can change the pattern.

Use the forecast as a starting point, then watch what the water is doing before paddling out. If you can't confidently assess the current or conditions are beyond your ability, stay on the beach and speak with a lifeguard.

Current matters more than people think, because every minute spent drifting off your peak and paddling back is a minute of work that produces nothing. Pick a landmark on the beach, check it constantly, and correct early instead of waking up fifty yards down the beach wondering why nothing is coming to you.

Pick two banks, not one

Peak 1 is your best bank. Most consistent, best shape.

Peak 2 is the backup. Fewer great waves, but pieces of good ones, and crucially it's where you go when Peak 1 is stacked with people.

Having a Peak 2 is the difference between a session and a waiting room.

Do your homework before you paddle out

Whether you surf in LA or anywhere else in the world, ask these before you get wet:

What's the primary swell? Is it long period or short period, meaning are the lines long and spaced or short and quick? What's the tide doing? Are you going right or left, and how often? Long turns or short quick ones? Where's the most consistent wave? What's the second most consistent sandbar in case the first is too crowded?

Your time is valuable. You can get better. Eliminate as many variables as you can, because we have the technology now to do it. Be a nerd about it.

That structure gave me enormous freedom in surf comps. I had massive anxiety during contest season, and having a system gave my brain something to focus on besides my own nerves.

The ocean doesn't owe you consistency

It offers you contrast. The glassy days and the messy ones.

If you can learn to appreciate that contrast, you'll start seeing progress show up in places you didn't expect. Especially on the good days, because you'll be ready for them.

Let's keep building.