Screengrab: DG Films / Youtube
Ocean Beach gets just about any pulse of northwest swell that so much as sneezes in the direction of San Francisco. If there’s energy moving through the Pacific Ocean in the winter months, that energy will find its way to The Beach. But still there are days that Ocean Beach gets waves and then there are days when it is absolutely classic. This week kicked off with one of those days: January 12, 2026.
Watching from the beach is deceiving if you’ve never actually paddled out on this stretch of sand. Highlights only show us surfers swinging around under the peak of a set wave, often with another one building up in the background. But surfers are rarely “sitting” out the back just waiting their turn because the entire beach is one conveyor belt. These highlights are blips in what could be an hours-long session that may have produced a ride every half hour. Every barrel represents a back that is completely cooked and shoulders that feel like lead weights. And it’s not like fullsuits make paddling nonstop for an afternoon any easier, either.
But who can argue that waves like this aren’t 100 percent worth it all?
