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Teiki Mathieu Baillan surfing a self-made Alaya surfboard in Macaroni, Mentawaï, Indonesia. Photo by C. Naslain, 2009.

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 Ray Bay

USA, California, Orange County

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Datum: WGS84 [ Help ]
Precision: Approximate

GPS History (1)

Latitude: 33° 44.358' N
Longitude: 118° 7.044' W

User rating (24)


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 Access

Located in the small beach community of Seal Beach
in the breakwaters at the mouth of the San Gabriel river. There is a large parking lot or some street parking is usually available.

English (Translate this text in English): Located in the small beach community of Seal Beach<br />in the breakwaters at the mouth of the San Gabriel river. There is a large parking lot or some street parking is usually available.

English (Translate this text in English): Located in the small beach community of Seal Beach&lt;br &#47;&gt;in the breakwaters at the mouth of the San Gabriel river. There is a large parking lot or some street parking is usually available.

English (Translate this text in English): Located in the small beach community of Seal Beach&amp;lt;br &amp;#47;&amp;gt;in the breakwaters at the mouth of the San Gabriel river. There is a large parking lot or some street parking is usually available.

DistanceIn the city

WalkInstant access (&lt; 5min)

Easy to find?Easy to find

Public access?Public access

Special accessDon't know

 Surf Spot Characteristics

Alternative name Seal Beach River Mouth

Surf Spot Quality

Wave qualityRegional Classic

ExperienceAll surfers

FrequencyRegular

Wave

TypeRivermouth

DirectionRight and left

BottomSandy

PowerHollow, Fast, Fun

Normal lengthLong (150 to 300 m)

Good day lengthVery Long (300 to 500 m)

Tide, Swell and Wind

Good swell directionNorthWest, SouthWest

Good wind directionNorthWest, NorthEast

Swell sizeStarts working at Less than 1m / 3ft and holds up to 3m+ / 10ft+

Best tide positionLow and mid tide

Best tide movementRising and falling tides

More details

Week crowdFew surfers

Week-end crowdCrowded

Webcam urlhttp://www.surfline.com 

Dangers

- Rips / undertow
- Pollution

 Additional Information

Works best in the morning when conditions are usually glassy or very light offshore. Best tide is low or incoming. There are three breaks in the river mouth between the breakwaters. "Crabs" by the south wall, "Middles" and "North Wall". The center break is usually a peak with a long right wall almost like a point break and on a good day if the banks are right, it is possible to ride 150 yards all the way through Crabs! The North Wall is both a hollow right and a short but hot left! At times there is a very strong north west current that will send you express to Catalina Island!

English (Translate this text in English): Works best in the morning when conditions are usually glassy or very light offshore. Best tide is low or incoming. There are three breaks in the river mouth between the breakwaters. &quot;Crabs&quot; by the south wall, &quot;Middles&quot; and &quot;North Wall&quot;. The center break is usually a peak with a long right wall almost like a point break and on a good day if the banks are right, it is possible to ride 150 yards all the way through Crabs! The North Wall is both a hollow right and a short but hot left! At times there is a very strong north west current that will send you express to Catalina Island!

English (Translate this text in English): Works best in the morning when conditions are usually glassy or very light offshore. Best tide is low or incoming. There are three breaks in the river mouth between the breakwaters. &amp;quot;Crabs&amp;quot; by the south wall, &amp;quot;Middles&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;North Wall&amp;quot;. The center break is usually a peak with a long right wall almost like a point break and on a good day if the banks are right, it is possible to ride 150 yards all the way through Crabs! The North Wall is both a hollow right and a short but hot left! At times there is a very strong north west current that will send you express to Catalina Island!

English (Translate this text in English): Works best in the morning when conditions are usually glassy or very light offshore. Best tide is low or incoming. There are three breaks in the river mouth between the breakwaters. &amp;amp;quot;Crabs&amp;amp;quot; by the south wall, &amp;amp;quot;Middles&amp;amp;quot; and &amp;amp;quot;North Wall&amp;amp;quot;. The center break is usually a peak with a long right wall almost like a point break and on a good day if the banks are right, it is possible to ride 150 yards all the way through Crabs! The North Wall is both a hollow right and a short but hot left! At times there is a very strong north west current that will send you express to Catalina Island!

Atmosphere

When El Nino pushes big south swells and Huntington is walled out "Ray Bay" Seal Beach can produce sick overhead fast hollow tubes with 5 second coverups! Usually not so crowded during the week can become a zoo on the weekend with beginners!

English (Translate this text in English): When El Nino pushes big south swells and Huntington is walled out &quot;Ray Bay&quot; Seal Beach can produce sick overhead fast hollow tubes with 5 second coverups! Usually not so crowded during the week can become a zoo on the weekend with beginners!

English (Translate this text in English): When El Nino pushes big south swells and Huntington is walled out &amp;quot;Ray Bay&amp;quot; Seal Beach can produce sick overhead fast hollow tubes with 5 second coverups! Usually not so crowded during the week can become a zoo on the weekend with beginners!

English (Translate this text in English): When El Nino pushes big south swells and Huntington is walled out &amp;amp;quot;Ray Bay&amp;amp;quot; Seal Beach can produce sick overhead fast hollow tubes with 5 second coverups! Usually not so crowded during the week can become a zoo on the weekend with beginners!

General

Seal Beach, yes there are Seals in the water and "Ray Bay" has to do with the largest concentration of Stingrays in SOCAL due to the outflow of warm water from the upstream power plants, is a local "secret" spot poo pooed by the Huntington crew until it turns on then they flock to it in droves!

English (Translate this text in English): Seal Beach, yes there are Seals in the water and &quot;Ray Bay&quot; has to do with the largest concentration of Stingrays in SOCAL due to the outflow of warm water from the upstream power plants, is a local &quot;secret&quot; spot poo pooed by the Huntington crew until it turns on then they flock to it in droves!

English (Translate this text in English): Seal Beach, yes there are Seals in the water and &amp;quot;Ray Bay&amp;quot; has to do with the largest concentration of Stingrays in SOCAL due to the outflow of warm water from the upstream power plants, is a local &amp;quot;secret&amp;quot; spot poo pooed by the Huntington crew until it turns on then they flock to it in droves!

English (Translate this text in English): Seal Beach, yes there are Seals in the water and &amp;amp;quot;Ray Bay&amp;amp;quot; has to do with the largest concentration of Stingrays in SOCAL due to the outflow of warm water from the upstream power plants, is a local &amp;amp;quot;secret&amp;amp;quot; spot poo pooed by the Huntington crew until it turns on then they flock to it in droves!

 Photos

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Ray bay
United States of America

Ray bay
United States of America

Ray bay
United States of America

Ray bay
United States of America

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 Comments

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By ANTIPRO , 03-07-2008

LAST TIME - FOR THE LAST TIME, IT`S CALLED "POWERPLANT"!! IF YOU CALL IT ANYTHING ELSE, YOU ARE PROBABLY NOT WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE. GOOD TO MEET THE CREATURE, HOPE YOU ENJOYED
"the SPECIAL" AT THE GATHERING. S.B.U.Z. RULES !!!!

By Anonymous , 04-02-2008

This place wins the prize for MOST overrated - I've surfed here for years and it never gets good. Finally this year decided to leave for HB and man this was the best decision of my life. Way better waves, better shape, better water quality, cute girls on the beach and overall a much better vibe. Seal has its place for those old farts who don't want to forget the 60s but was probably never that good to begin with. All of you can have this place since my surf time is too valuable to be wasted on mediocre waves.

By jspetzman@hotmail.com , 06-01-2007

Creature - If you surf river or Northside Seal then you know the Creature. Lives on 1st shapes those wide tailed tear-drop 5 fin boards and rips that place apart. I've seen him on N.side already this year ripping the parking lot rights. I believe he is mid 50. He owns barracudas on a big S.swell. In fact some say he does live on the Jetty (especially on a 6' S cracking off the end.)

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