Summers in San Diego are wonderful, but late fall-winter is where its at. This past week was a prime example. Our weather was holding steady around 70 degrees with a hint of an offshore breeze. A beautiful swell lit up the beaches and gave a tease at what is yet to come…

It is mornings like these that a hike down the cliff to Black’s is worth every step. It is one of the few places that you can go and confidently find top level surfing. The biggest question is where to set up?

This week, I actually set up on the ramp leading down to the sand at South Peak. This area doesn’t always break, but when the swell is in the 8-10′ range, it tracks nicely. Also from that vantage point, the sun is at your back and you are looking into the barrels as they peak all the way up the beach. This, of course, requires a lot of glass to bring the action into focus so I used my 500mm with a 1.4x multiplier.

It also helps to remember to look behind you! The image above was looking south towards La Jolla with the Scripps Pier jutting out into the waves. A spot of sun broke through the clouds, highlighting the almost perfect conditions with the breeze blowing spray off the top of the waves. A surfer’s paradise in December! All my images from the day can be found at a cool surf website called Swellco.com here: https://swellco.com/search?fd=2023-12-07&td=2023-12-07&s=1079&ph=OD6J