Salt Creek Surf Report & Forecast
Orange County's best-shaped reef peak.
Current conditions
3-4 ft
Poor-Fair · plunging
Modelled on real 10-foot bathymetry. These figures cover size, shape and wind. Whether the wave is makeable comes from the simulation.
- Swell
- 2.2 ft at 13s from the SW
- Wind
- 10 mph W onshore
- Tide
- 4.5 ft
- Break depth
- 5 ft
- Power
- 3 kW/m
- Water
- 73°F · trunks
Updated Aug 25, 3:43 PM PDT · 2 swell trains · how this is calculated
How Salt Creek 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 Salt Creek, solved on the real seafloor at this hour’s swell and tide.
Why Salt Creek looks like this right now
The numbers above, and what each one is actually doing to the wave.
Two swells at once
2.2 ft at 13s from the SW carrying 91% of the energy, plus 0.6 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 1.00 · 92% 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
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 onshore
10 mph from the W, against a shoreline facing 254°.
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 →
Salt Creek surf forecast, next seven days
Building — ~4.9 ft long-period groundswell from the SW filling in Sun morning (+4.5 d, medium confidence)
| Day | Surf | Best window | Swell | Wind | Tide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-4 ft | 5pm to 7pmPoor-Fair | 2.1 ft at 13s SW | 10 mph onshore | Low -0.4 ft 2amHigh 3.9 ft 9amLow 2.1 ft 2pmHigh 5.7 ft 8pm | |
| 3-5 ft | 6am to 10amGood | 3.2 ft at 13s SW | 2 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 10amGood | 2.7 ft at 13s SW | 3 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 SW | 2 mph offshore | Low -0.4 ft 4amHigh 4.6 ft 10amLow 1.2 ft 3pmHigh 5.6 ft 10pm | |
| 4-5 ft | 8am to 11amGood | 2.5 ft at 18s SW | 3 mph cross-shore | Low -0.1 ft 4amHigh 4.9 ft 10amLow 1.0 ft 4pmHigh 5.2 ft 10pm | |
| 4-5 ft | 8amGood | 2.9 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 | |
| 4-5 ft | 11amFair-Good | 2.9 ft at 14s SW | 7 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 Salt Creek works
A genuinely good reef-and-sand peak below the Ritz bluff — The Point holds size and shape when the beach breaks are closing out. The most reliable quality wave in Orange County.
- Bottom
- reef and sand under the bluff
- Best tide
- mid
- Best swell
- S–SW, and W that clears Dana Point
- Suits
- intermediate-advanced
Common questions about Salt Creek
- What is the best tide for Salt Creek?
- Salt Creek works best on mid 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 Salt Creek?
- S–SW, and W that clears Dana Point suits Salt Creek 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 Salt Creek good for beginners?
- Salt Creek suits intermediate-advanced surfers, over reef and sand under the bluff. 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 Salt Creek?
- reef and sand under the bluff. 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 Salt Creek on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.