Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The nervous worried look

Tourmaline is know to many as a beginner's surfing beach.
Tourmaline is know to many as a beginner's surfing beach.

We have visitors from Norway in our condo complex in Pacific Beach. The first thing they asked was where they could find a beginner’s beach for surfing. They picked the right place to live, as across the street was considered the best beach in San Diego for learning.

There are ways to spot beginners. In the water, they are always too far back on their surfboards. Or they are sitting in the middle of the impact zone, right in the path of other surfers. My favorite thing is when they have on a full suit, booties, and gloves. This is when the water temperature is 70 degrees.

Outside of the water, you can tell a beginner by the way he carries his board. Most common is when a guy surfer is holding a surfboard like a girl might hold it, on his hip like a baby. The soft top is a giveaway. But it is the nervous worried look in the eye that I check for first.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Surfers know that the way to ride a wave is at an angle, going in the direction the wave is breaking. Beginners go straight down the wave, directly toward the shore. One beginner can ruin the wave for everyone. Locals know that there are a lot of beginners and don’t yell. Someone will paddle over and explain. This is one reason Tourmo is known as a friendly beach.

Grommets (or “groms”) are young, not to be confused with adult beginner surfers. Kids around 8, 9, or 10 can learn to surf in a couple of days.

Beginners should practice in the shallow white water just south of the Pump House at Tourmaline. There is sand on the beach year round. As you move north, the sand is replaced by rocks. The prevalent current drags the newbies northward.

Just because they are beginners does not mean they do not have heart. I took one of my protégés to Windansea Surf Shop for a wetsuit. It took him 15 minutes to put it on. When he came out, he had it on backwards, which had to be difficult and painful.

I ask some locals this question. “How do you feel about your home surfing break (Tourmaline Surfing Park) being known as a beginner’s surfing beach?”

Sunny: “It doesn’t really bother me, but when people ask me where I surf, I usually say Pacific Beach. If I say Tourmaline, then they always tell me that it is a beginner’s beach, and think I’m a beginner, too.”

Adrian: “All levels can surf here, but depending on the swell, it can be variable. A big northwest swell makes this an advanced break, way too big for beginners.”

Craig Ross: “I like the bubble-butts. That is when the water is warm enough for surfer girls to surf around in their bikinis.”

Cliff: “It is what it is. Slow-motion waves for old people, beginners, and crippled people. People who are good surfers wouldn’t surf here.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 2024
Tourmaline is know to many as a beginner's surfing beach.
Tourmaline is know to many as a beginner's surfing beach.

We have visitors from Norway in our condo complex in Pacific Beach. The first thing they asked was where they could find a beginner’s beach for surfing. They picked the right place to live, as across the street was considered the best beach in San Diego for learning.

There are ways to spot beginners. In the water, they are always too far back on their surfboards. Or they are sitting in the middle of the impact zone, right in the path of other surfers. My favorite thing is when they have on a full suit, booties, and gloves. This is when the water temperature is 70 degrees.

Outside of the water, you can tell a beginner by the way he carries his board. Most common is when a guy surfer is holding a surfboard like a girl might hold it, on his hip like a baby. The soft top is a giveaway. But it is the nervous worried look in the eye that I check for first.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Surfers know that the way to ride a wave is at an angle, going in the direction the wave is breaking. Beginners go straight down the wave, directly toward the shore. One beginner can ruin the wave for everyone. Locals know that there are a lot of beginners and don’t yell. Someone will paddle over and explain. This is one reason Tourmo is known as a friendly beach.

Grommets (or “groms”) are young, not to be confused with adult beginner surfers. Kids around 8, 9, or 10 can learn to surf in a couple of days.

Beginners should practice in the shallow white water just south of the Pump House at Tourmaline. There is sand on the beach year round. As you move north, the sand is replaced by rocks. The prevalent current drags the newbies northward.

Just because they are beginners does not mean they do not have heart. I took one of my protégés to Windansea Surf Shop for a wetsuit. It took him 15 minutes to put it on. When he came out, he had it on backwards, which had to be difficult and painful.

I ask some locals this question. “How do you feel about your home surfing break (Tourmaline Surfing Park) being known as a beginner’s surfing beach?”

Sunny: “It doesn’t really bother me, but when people ask me where I surf, I usually say Pacific Beach. If I say Tourmaline, then they always tell me that it is a beginner’s beach, and think I’m a beginner, too.”

Adrian: “All levels can surf here, but depending on the swell, it can be variable. A big northwest swell makes this an advanced break, way too big for beginners.”

Craig Ross: “I like the bubble-butts. That is when the water is warm enough for surfer girls to surf around in their bikinis.”

Cliff: “It is what it is. Slow-motion waves for old people, beginners, and crippled people. People who are good surfers wouldn’t surf here.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

March is typically windy, Sage scents in the foothills

Butterflies may cross the county
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.