Fort Point

Surf Guide

The first surf spot in North Central California, and one of the most unusual places to go surfing on the planet, Fort Point is a left that breaks directly under the Golden Gate Bridge. On the best days, the wave starts around the point, directly under the bridge and wraps nearly 90 degrees into the cove on the inside. Fort Point is an experience: safe and dangerous, beautiful and eerie, exposed and protected, easy and hard. All of these things at the same time. Fort Point is safe because when the big, bad ocean outside the bay is closed out, blown out or otherwise unsurfable, Fort Point can be 4 to 6 feet, hot and glassy. During the winter, Fort Point is usually offshore and rarely blows out, even in the strongest northwest winds. Fort Point is dangerous for a few reasons. When the ocean is pouring in and the tide is pouring out, there's a lot of water going every which way under the bridge. Outgoing tides rip through here like the Colorado River. On the strongest tides in the winter, the current flows out as fast as seven knots, too strong to paddle against. Another danger is that the break is lined with rocks, and there is a big rock in the middle of the break, marking the inside lineup. A wipeout on a big day here could be harmful or fatal if you get swallowed by the rocks. A lot of Fort Point locals wear helmets and those nasty rocks are why. Finally, it can be tricky getting in and out through the rocks that line the break. And then there's always the possibility of some nutcase jumping off the bridge and landing on your head. Fort Point is beautiful because the view from the water at the Point is overwhelming: the Bridge overhead, the Marin Headlands to the northwest, Tiburon and Belvedere to the northeast and all of San Francisco straight inland. On a windy weekend, the Bay is a field of sails and boats, with container ships and freighters weaving through the chaos. Fort Point is spooky because it's like surfing in the Land of the Giants. Everything around you is grotesquely out of scale: the bridge towers above you and the container ships are immense and close. And all that out-of-scale-ness makes you think of submarine-size great whites, but don't worry...too much. There's never been an attack at Fort Point, but in 1959, a man was killed by a shark at Baker Beach, less than a mile away. Fort Point can be a pretty good wave. With the right angle on the swell and the right tide and the right wind, it's a decent left point: sometimes hollow, sometimes fun, sometimes blown and ragged and gnarly and challenging. This wave is the definition of fickle: tide sensitive, wind sensitive. Not the hollowest wave in California or the longest-walled or the fastest, but definitely in the top five for being an unusual experience.