Mavericks Surf Report & Forecast
The Bay Area's big-wave arena.
Current conditions
~2 ft swell
Flat
Modelled on real 10-foot bathymetry. These figures cover size, shape and wind. Whether the wave is makeable comes from the simulation.
- Swell
- 1.9 ft at 17s from the SW
- Wind
- 13 mph NW cross-shore
- Tide
- 5.4 ft
- Break depth
- 6 ft
- Power
- 4 kW/m
- Water
- 62°F · 3/2 fullsuit
Updated Aug 25, 9:44 PM PDT · 2 swell trains · how this is calculated
How Mavericks 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 Mavericks, solved on the real seafloor at this hour’s swell and tide.
Why Mavericks looks like this right now
The numbers above, and what each one is actually doing to the wave.
Two swells at once
1.9 ft at 17s from the SW carrying 75% of the energy, plus 1.1 ft at 4s from the WNW (23%).
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 0.99 · 67% 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 →
Too deep for this swell
5.4 ft of tide, and the reef needs a bigger swell to feel it.
The reef sits deep enough that today's swell passes over without breaking. Swell size is not surf size. The bottom has to be shallow enough, relative to the wave, to trip it. How the tide moves the break →
Wind is cross-shore
13 mph from the NW, against a shoreline facing 251°.
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.
Mavericks surf forecast, next seven days
Building — ~3.9 ft short-period windswell from the W filling in Fri morning (+2.2 d, high confidence)
| Day | Surf | Best window | Swell | Wind | Tide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| swell can't reach the reef | — | — | — | Low 0.0 ft 4amHigh 4.7 ft 11amLow 2.5 ft 4pmHigh 6.0 ft 10pm | |
| swell can't reach the reef | — | — | — | Low 0.1 ft 5amHigh 4.9 ft 11amLow 2.2 ft 4pmHigh 5.9 ft 10pm | |
| swell can't reach the reef | — | — | — | Low 0.2 ft 5amHigh 5.1 ft 11amLow 1.9 ft 5pmHigh 5.7 ft 11pm | |
| swell can't reach the reef | — | — | — | Low 0.5 ft 6amHigh 5.3 ft 12pmLow 1.6 ft 6pm | |
| swell can't reach the reef | — | — | — | High 5.4 ft 12amLow 0.9 ft 6amHigh 5.5 ft 12pmLow 1.3 ft 6pm | |
| swell can't reach the reef | — | — | — | High 5.0 ft 1amLow 1.4 ft 6amHigh 5.7 ft 1pmLow 1.0 ft 7pm | |
| swell can't reach the reef | — | — | — | High 4.6 ft 1amLow 1.9 ft 7amHigh 5.8 ft 1pmLow 0.8 ft 8pm |
Daylight hours only. The best window is the run of hours the model rates highest that day.
How Mavericks works
World-famous big-wave right off Pillar Point, ~0.5 mi offshore. 25–60 ft faces, elite only, Dec–Mar.
- Bottom
- reef / boulder (deep-water big-wave)
- Best tide
- mid
- Best swell
- W–NW (big)
- Suits
- expert
Common questions about Mavericks
- What is the best tide for Mavericks?
- Mavericks 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 Mavericks?
- W–NW (big) suits Mavericks 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 Mavericks good for beginners?
- Mavericks suits expert surfers, over reef / boulder. 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 Mavericks?
- reef / boulder (deep-water big-wave). 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 Mavericks on real 10-foot bathymetry instead of treating the seafloor as a slope.
Nearby breaks
- Ross's Cove surf report · 3 ft
- Pillar Point (Surfers Beach) surf report · 3-4 ft
- Dunes Beach (Half Moon Bay) surf report · 3-4 ft
- Montara State Beach surf report · 2-3 ft
- Gray Whale Cove surf report · 3 ft