Blackies (Newport) surf report and forecast
Forecast for the selected hour
Now · 5am
1 ft · sets to 2
Fair-GoodBest today 6–11am
The swell and size hold it back.
The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
Loads when it comes into view.The wave field solved for this hour on the real seafloor, playing forward. A model, not a camera.
This hour
The 5am readingSwell, wind, tide, breaker, energy, water
- SwellNo train above 0.5 ft
- Wind1 mph from the ESECross-shore to a shoreline facing 215°Light
- Tide3.3 ft, risingNext high 3.8 ft at 7:05am · NAVD88, NOAA 9410660 observed
- BreakerPlungingBreaks in about 2 ft of water
- Water73° · air 66° · UV 0
High confidence.
Best window6–11am
Against what Blackies (Newport) likesWhy it is Fair-Good, not Good
Preferred tide and swell are surfer-consensus notes for this spot, not yet reviewed against measurements. Wind is judged by the general rule (light or offshore helps). No percent match: these are plain states and reasons.
Nearby at 5amNewport Beach (56th Street), Huntington Beach Pier and 3 more
The break
The seafloorSand by the Newport pier
Shallow is light, deep is dark; contours every few feet; the relief is exaggerated.
- Bottomsand by the Newport pier
- DepthCUDEM 1/9 arc-second (2022), relative to NAVD88. Depth shown is below the selected hour’s tide.
- CoverageRock reef and headland shapes resolve well. Nearshore sandbars are interpolated flat in this dataset, so a beachbreak’s bar is not in the picture. A tile’s year is its publication, not the survey date.
Why it breaks like thisThe seafloor focuses it, where it trips, barely any wind
Read from the current hour (today at 5am). Each number, and what it does to the wave.
The seafloor focuses it
Kr 1.63 · 24% of modelled rays break.
Contours underneath are bending wave energy together into a band. That concentration is the peak, and it's why this spot can be noticeably bigger than its neighbours on the same swell. Why two breaks a mile apart differ
Where it trips
3.3 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 2 ft of water.
A wave breaks when the water gets shallow enough relative to its height, so that depth is a contour on the seafloor, and the tide slides the whole break up and down it through the day. Same swell, different spot, a few hours apart. How the tide moves the break
Barely any wind
1 mph from the ESE, against a shoreline facing 215°.
Too light to shape the face either way. At this speed the wave's own texture wins, whatever the direction.
How the sets come
About one set every 1 min, roughly 4 waves in it.
Swell arrives in groups, not evenly. That spacing is what you are really timing your paddle-out to, and it's why the lineup can look flat for minutes and then produce five waves at once. Why period matters more than height
How Blackies (Newport) worksThe soft, shouldery peak just north of Newport pier, named for…
The soft, shouldery peak just north of Newport pier, named for the bar across the street — a longboard institution and the gentlest wave on the peninsula.
- Best tidemid to high
- Best swellS–SW
- Suitsbeginner-intermediate
2 swell trains in the current hour · How this is calculated
Common questions4 questions about Blackies (Newport)
- What is the best tide for Blackies (Newport)?
- Blackies (Newport) works best on mid to high tide. Tide matters because depth is what trips a wave: as the water fills in, the break slides shoreward onto a different part of the bottom, and over a shallow bank enough water stops it breaking at all. Our forecast solves each hour at that hour's real water level rather than assuming one.
- What swell direction is best for Blackies (Newport)?
- S–SW suits Blackies (Newport) best. The direction that matters is the one at the break, not the one on the buoy: the seafloor bends swell on its way in, so a spot can work on an angle the open coast is missing. We model that bending for each break rather than reporting the offshore direction.
- Is Blackies (Newport) good for beginners?
- Blackies (Newport) suits beginner-intermediate surfers, over sand by the Newport pier. That is the wave this bottom makes on an average day, and it moves: the same break is a different proposition on a bigger swell or a different tide, so read the day's forecast rather than the label.
- What is the bottom like at Blackies (Newport)?
- sand by the Newport pier. It is the reason this break behaves the way it does: the shape of the seabed decides where the swell focuses, where it trips, and whether it spills or pitches. We model Blackies (Newport) on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.