Brooks Street (Laguna) Surf Report & Forecast
Laguna's premier reef — rare, shallow and serious.
Current conditions
3 ftmax ~4 ft
Fair-Good · plunging
Modelled on real 10-foot bathymetry. These figures cover size, shape and wind. Whether the wave is makeable comes from the simulation.
- Swell
- 2.1 ft at 13s from the SW
- Wind
- 6 mph WSW onshore
- Tide
- 5.7 ft
- Break depth
- 5 ft
- Power
- 3 kW/m
- Water
- 74°F · trunks
Updated Aug 25, 6:42 PM PDT · 2 swell trains · how this is calculated
How Brooks Street (Laguna) is breaking right now
Solved in your browser from this spot’s seafloor and current swell
What the seafloor does to this wave
A cut straight out from Brooks Street (Laguna), solved on the real seafloor at this hour’s swell and tide.
Why Brooks Street (Laguna) looks like this right now
The numbers above, and what each one is actually doing to the wave.
Two swells at once
2.1 ft at 13s from the SW carrying 90% of the energy, plus 0.5 ft at 6s from the W (6%).
The long-period train is the one building your wave. It holds the most energy and reaches deepest. The shorter ones cross it, which is what makes the surface look busy and the takeoff shift around. Why period matters more than height →
The seafloor is neutral here
Kr 0.92 · 90% of modelled rays break.
Energy arrives roughly as it left deep water: this bottom neither concentrates the swell nor fans it out, so what the buoy sees is close to what you get. Why two breaks a mile apart differ →
Where it trips
5.7 ft of tide; waves are breaking in about 5 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 →
Wind is onshore
6 mph from the WSW, against a shoreline facing 236°.
Pushing into the back of the wave from the sea, making it crumble and break early instead of standing up. Note this is measured against the angle THIS break faces, which is why one spot can be blown out while the one round the headland is fine.
How the sets come
About one set every 2 min, roughly 8 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 →
Brooks Street (Laguna) surf forecast, next 6 days
Holding — 2.5–4.6 ft, no notable swell in the window
| Day | Surf | Best window | Swell | Wind | Tide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-5 ft | 6am to 9amGood | 3.0 ft at 13s SSW | 3 mph cross-shore | Low -0.5 ft 3amHigh 4.1 ft 9amLow 1.8 ft 2pmHigh 5.8 ft 8pm | |
| 3-4 ft | 6am to 7amGood | 2.6 ft at 13s SSW | 2 mph cross-shore | Low -0.5 ft 3amHigh 4.4 ft 10amLow 1.5 ft 3pmHigh 5.8 ft 9pm | |
| 2-3 ft | 6am to 7amGood | 2.1 ft at 10s SSW | 2 mph offshore | Low -0.4 ft 4amHigh 4.6 ft 10amLow 1.2 ft 3pmHigh 5.6 ft 10pm | |
| 3-4 ft | 8am to 11amFair-Good | 1.9 ft at 18s SW | 3 mph onshore | Low -0.1 ft 4amHigh 4.9 ft 10amLow 1.0 ft 4pmHigh 5.2 ft 10pm | |
| 3-4 ft | 8amFair-Good | 2.3 ft at 15s SW | 6 mph cross-shore | Low 0.3 ft 4amHigh 5.1 ft 11amLow 0.8 ft 5pmHigh 4.6 ft 11pm | |
| 3-4 ft | 8amGood | 2.5 ft at 14s SW | 5 mph cross-shore | Low 0.7 ft 5amHigh 5.3 ft 11amLow 0.8 ft 6pm |
Daylight hours only. The best window is the run of hours the model rates highest that day.
How Brooks Street (Laguna) works
A proper reef right that only wakes up on a solid south — home of the oldest surf contest in California. Shallow, fast, and it breaks a handful of times a year.
- Bottom
- shallow rock reef
- Best tide
- mid to high
- Best swell
- S–SW groundswell
- Suits
- advanced
Common questions about Brooks Street (Laguna)
- What is the best tide for Brooks Street (Laguna)?
- Brooks Street (Laguna) 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 Brooks Street (Laguna)?
- S–SW groundswell suits Brooks Street (Laguna) 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 Brooks Street (Laguna) good for beginners?
- Brooks Street (Laguna) suits advanced surfers, over shallow rock reef. 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 Brooks Street (Laguna)?
- shallow rock reef. 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 Brooks Street (Laguna) on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.
Nearby breaks
- Salt Creek surf report · 3-4 ft
- Doheny surf report · 3-4 ft
- Blackies (Newport) surf report · shorebreak only
- Newport Beach (56th Street) surf report · 3-4 ft
- San Clemente Pier surf report · 3 ft