Doheny Surf Report & Forecast
The gentlest longboard point in Orange County.
Current conditions
3 ftmax ~4 ft
Fair · spilling
Modelled on real 10-foot bathymetry. These figures cover size, shape and wind. Whether the wave is makeable comes from the simulation.
- Swell
- 2.2 ft at 13s from the SSW
- Wind
- 10 mph W cross-shore
- Tide
- 4.5 ft
- Break depth
- 5 ft
- Power
- 3 kW/m
- Water
- 73°F · trunks
Updated Aug 25, 3:43 PM PDT · 1 swell train · how this is calculated
How Doheny 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 Doheny, solved on the real seafloor at this hour’s swell and tide.
Why Doheny looks like this right now
The numbers above, and what each one is actually doing to the wave.
One swell, uncrossed
2.2 ft at 13s from the SSW and nothing significant crossing it.
A single train is the cleanest case there is: the sets arrive from one angle, so the peak should sit in the same place each time instead of wandering. Why period matters more than height →
The seafloor spreads it
Kr 0.64 · 82% of modelled rays break.
Energy is fanning outwards over the bottom here, so the wave arrives smaller than the open-ocean swell height suggests. Nothing is wrong with the forecast. The seafloor took the difference. Why two breaks a mile apart differ →
Where it trips
4.5 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 cross-shore
10 mph from the W, against a shoreline facing 174°.
Running across the face rather than into or against it. Less destructive than a straight onshore, but it puts a texture on the wall and can make the peak harder to read.
How the sets come
About one set every 1 min, roughly 7 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 →
Doheny surf forecast, next seven days
Building — ~5 ft mid-period swell from the SSW filling in Wed morning (+17 h, high confidence)
| Day | Surf | Best window | Swell | Wind | Tide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 ft | 5pm to 7pmFair | 2.3 ft at 13s SSW | 10 mph cross-shore | Low -0.4 ft 2amHigh 3.9 ft 9amLow 2.1 ft 2pmHigh 5.7 ft 8pm | |
| 4-5 ft | 6am to 10amFair-Good | 3.5 ft at 13s SSW | 2 mph onshore | Low -0.5 ft 3amHigh 4.1 ft 9amLow 1.8 ft 2pmHigh 5.8 ft 8pm | |
| 3-4 ft | 6am to 7pmFair | 3.1 ft at 12s SSW | 6 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 10amFair | 2.3 ft at 10s SSW | 2 mph cross-shore | Low -0.4 ft 4amHigh 4.6 ft 10amLow 1.2 ft 3pmHigh 5.6 ft 10pm | |
| 2-3 ft | 8am to 5pmFair | 2.0 ft at 17s SSW | 9 mph cross-shore | Low -0.1 ft 4amHigh 4.9 ft 10amLow 1.0 ft 4pmHigh 5.2 ft 10pm | |
| 3-4 ft | 8am to 5pmFair | 2.4 ft at 14s SSW | 8 mph cross-shore | Low 0.3 ft 4amHigh 5.1 ft 11amLow 0.8 ft 5pmHigh 4.6 ft 11pm | |
| 3-4 ft | 11amFair | 2.9 ft at 13s SSW | 7 mph onshore | 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 Doheny works
Slow, rolling, waist-high walls in the lee of Dana Point harbour — a surf-school and longboard institution. Deeply sheltered, so it needs a real south swell to break at all.
- Bottom
- sand and cobble in the harbour lee
- Best tide
- mid to high
- Best swell
- S–SSW
- Suits
- beginner
Common questions about Doheny
- What is the best tide for Doheny?
- Doheny 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 Doheny?
- S–SSW suits Doheny 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 Doheny good for beginners?
- Doheny suits beginner surfers, over sand and cobble in the harbour lee. 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 Doheny?
- sand and cobble in the harbour lee. 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 Doheny on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.