Playa Santa Catalina Surf Guide

Playa Santa Catalina Surf Guide

Santa Catalina is a broad, flat, rocky shelf that gradually slopes into a south/southwest-facing bay, with lava-rock fingers that jut out at the top of the reef and force any swell bigger than two feet to rear up and rifle down the line. At high tide, the first section on the right is a high-'n'-tight barrel followed by a speed run into another barrel section a-ways down the line, followed by a series of bowls all the way through the inside. At low tide, the right barrels and hisses and spits super close to the jagged volcanic reef, making it safe only for the crazy or Tom Curren, who visits regularly and has been known to get very long, very deep tubes here.

The left is shorter -- and you sure as hell don't surf it when it's double overhead or bigger, at risk of getting creamed on the way back out -- but it can be a good option for goofyfoots or anyone else sick of battling the ever-present crowd. It also has a little barrel section off the drop, but its wall is way shorter than the right's. The bonus is you could get three lefts to every right. So if you're a real frother and can't sit still for the occasional lull with a crowd on the rights, then perhaps the lefts are for you.

Catalina, while it often can get quite big, isn't really a difficult wave to surf, at least at high tide. Swells come in and feel the reef and draw up into a fairly obvious A-frame, with a long right wall and a shorter left bowl -- take off, stall, and pull in. Or lay out a giant bottom turn and a hook under the lip -- up to you. It's definitely a performance wave, and after a few weeks of surfing here your level will unquestionably go up a notch.

Low tide is a different story and most folks don't even bother, even though it looks appealing -- it's too shallow and unpredictable. If you must surf at low tide, make sure to kick out before the inside double-up bowl section -- that lava is pretty damn sharp. Ideally, you could bring three boards: your regular, everyday shortboard for everything up to a few feet overhead, a rounded pintail mini-gun or hybrid step-up for surfing both Catalina and the outer islands up to double overhead. Then, if you're prone to charging, a seven-foot-plus gun isn't nonsensical for those triple-overhead-plus days at Catalina, which are not all that uncommon during south swell season.