Question 1

Is Surf City good for beginners?

Accepted Answer

Surf City is best suited to experienced surfers — it's most often good on larger 6 ft+ surf that breaks with more power than beginners should take on. Conditions change daily, so always check the live report on this page before paddling out.

Question 2

What's the best tide for Surf City?

Accepted Answer

Surf City tends to be best on a high outgoing tide — the tide stage LazySurfer surfers have rated highest here. Tide changes how the swell breaks, so check the two-day tide chart on this page for today's high and low times.

Question 3

What swell direction is best for Surf City?

Accepted Answer

The best swell direction for Surf City is from the south (S). Swell arriving from the south lines up best with how this break faces, which is when LazySurfer surfers have rated it highest.

Question 4

What's the best wind for Surf City?

Accepted Answer

Surf City is most often good with light wind from the northwest (NW) — the wind LazySurfer surfers logged on their best-rated sessions here. Wind direction grooms or chops the wave face, so check the live report for current wind.

Question 5

Where does LazySurfer's surf data for Surf City come from?

Accepted Answer

LazySurfer reads public data directly from NOAA's National Data Buoy Center and the National Weather Service — the nearest NDBC wave buoy (station 44065) and the nearest NOAA tide station (Atlantic City (Ocean)). The same raw readings NOAA publishes, with no proprietary smoothing.

Question 6

Does LazySurfer predict whether Surf City is good for me?

Accepted Answer

Yes. LazySurfer trains a custom deep-learning model — a PyTorch neural network with per-user embeddings, retrained weekly on real logged surf sessions from the LazySurfer community — to predict the 1-to-5 star rating you personally would give, rather than a single average rating for everyone.

Ideal wave height	6 ft+
Ideal period	long-period groundswell (16s+)
Best swell direction	S
Best wind	light wind from the NW
Best tide	high & outgoing

Wave height	2.6 ft
Dominant period	—
Swell direction	SSE (148°)
Wave buoy	NDBC station 44065 (55 mi away)
Wind	3 kt from the NW — NDBC JCRN4 (18 mi away)

Day	Swell height	Period & direction	Wind
Sat Aug 29	2 ft	7s ESE	7 kt ESE
Sun Aug 30	1–3 ft	7s SE	11 kt SW
Mon Aug 31	2–3 ft	5s SSE	7 kt E
Tue Sep 1	1–3 ft	9s SE	9 kt SW
Wed Sep 2	3 ft	9s SE	8 kt NNE
Thu Sep 3	2–4 ft	7s ESE	9 kt W
Fri Sep 4	2 ft	8s ESE	6 kt ENE

Surf City Surf Report & Ideal Conditions

Best conditions for Surf City

Current conditions

Surf City 7-day surf forecast

Tide

Frequently asked