Is El Porto Changing?

[@kylecowgill5200]

This is an excellent video Brad, thanks for making these. They're a lifeblood for us SB guys

[@1234waveskier]

Grew up at El Porto, in fact it was the first place I surfed. Had a balsa wood board. The year was 1959, I was 12 years old.

[@CaliBorn73]

As a bodyboarder that used to live in the SB during the mid to late 90's, it's nice to see that Porto inside working again. There use to always be thick little dumpy barrels to be had on the inside right in front of the snack bar.

[@ralphiewigs2208]

Storm and swell on January 6 and 13th scoured the bottom in parts of north orange county. These were reliable (probably 300 days per year) sandbars and they absorbed a lot of surfers. This past spring, summer and now, it's been little more than shorebreak. Spots that are breaking are overwhelmed by crowds. Good combo swells help, but not enough. Now with an El Nino winter coming on, I'm thinking this could be a long term situation...don't know exactly what's going to bring back the sand.

[@daarchdukefranzferdinand236]

Santa Monica was an insane unmakable close out Jan 6 2023

[@dune4396]

@@daarchdukefranzferdinand236 it never gets good there lol

[@hgfs6479]

Learn to surf the shorebreak

[@franciscoavilespino1258]

thank you for these Brad! love El Porto!

[@Jeromeovision]

The video I’ve been waiting for! Haha el Porto was looking promising again this past weekend.

[@brobrianhbsurfer5178]

Same in HB. Been using my bodyboard more lately. Inside pretty fun

[@shoesters6298]

Yup BB is the way to go it seems

[@scottswan3202]

Twas a nice day! Thanks Brad!

[@Ranger830]

Dude I’m in Florida! Breaks here change around with every storm or hurricane swell! Sand moves and peaks change. Then after awhile they change back again lol. This is nature.

[@craig8638]

That first guy you interviewed sounds like me talking about my local beach break north of San Francisco. Every dog has its day but man is the wait hard.

[@robertferguson2468]

Used to live on 45th St. El Porto will always be pound town. Only good waves are on the inside and you gotta take a beating to catch them. I never surfed El Porto since leaving 20 years ago. Surf it if you wanna practice duck diving

[@andrescurls29]

I'm excited for more South Bay waves :)

[@randomfunny1000]

Looks like perfect waves for foiling.

[@alienzordfalcon5162]

Terrible waves for foiling

[@Weldon2004]

Turns out while you were driving through the parking lot, my photo buddy and I were out on the beach shooting stills. I was shooting R5/500mmII and he was shooting Z9/500mm. We'll have to run into you one of these days 😀. Dave Weldon

[@BradJacobson]

Hey Dave! Yeah, I noticed both of you when I walked up but wasn’t sure who it was.

[@marcvince1261]

I'm wondering if all those small long interval forerunners over the last year packed the sand up the beach. Is the beach higher? Not the people but the sand on the beach!

[@nightrush79]

Wave has a mind of its own and so does the crowd.

[@vickryan]

Yes, that's true, Elporto has been complete crap (garbage surf, shorepound) for 6 months now. Flavio Pires says "it's the worst it's ever been." I think I have to agree with that, in my 20+ years at Elporto. Never seen garbage shorepound for such a long duration of time.

[@MasterDoesMincraft]

I was here like 2 weeks ago at it was pumping, just had to find the sweet spot-- took like 25 minutes to find it each time i wanted to catch something lmao

[@cvo223]

This was my experience in San Diego this weekend too.

[@kookarini]

The courtesy is due to the caliber of surfer in the water as well as it not being wall to wall kooks. Thanks for sharing Brad!

[@droneographers2946]

County line gets like that once in awhile. Stands up and wont break

[@therocknessfnmonster]

I was there the day before this video was taken. Two and a half hours for one air drop 😅 . I will agree with the statment about fewer drop-ins. I put it up to it being a little bigger. Only more experienced people out in the water and they know the etiquette.

[@gmau3945]

back in the early 70s when the Oil Pier was still there it was better more often. I lived in Playa del Rey and used to surf it often

[@Itsdlu]

Do they ever give out ticket for parking citations at El Porto?

[@BradJacobson]

Sometimes. It’s hard to figure out when they’re ticketing though

[@avs9800]

Didn’t they put an artificial reef in El Porto

[@BradJacobson]

Yes but they did it wrong and it never worked 👎

[@surferlove2364]

The shorebreak we have had the past 12 mouths have been insanely fun!

[@ericwickeywoodworkersurfbo6135]

I think I'll paddle over there, that way a set will land here, where I just was.

[@slpernie]

I heard that hammerlands was decent not too long ago. Ill be starting a save el porto fund me page if this keeps up. Lets see what el nino brings.

[@TheMJReeves]

Yeah Flavio!!!!

[@ScottBarker]

Also if you see me getting out of the water. 100% guarantee wave of the day coming through.

[@j3f423]

Yup last year was brutal

[@FluffyAlpaca81]

I know the feeling. Very frustrating.

[@Profabdesigns]

get rid of those potato chip sized short boards and get a summer glider and you’ll be happy again. It always cracks me up you Winnie’s with 5’6” quad finned chippers not catching a thing.

[@jamesfay7281]

84/85 was arguably a worse stretch. If you're really serious about getting good or better surf you're not living/surfing in Santa Monica Bay.

[@sdsul2422]

pure madness, its like finding a mostly empty can of discarded warm beer on the sidewalk and sucking down the remnants for all their worth.

[@shoesters6298]

Works if you bodyboard 😂

[@iiLeeDz]

Honestly I don't even bother to surf Porto, it's been awful for the past year. Also just got back from a 2 month Indo trip and I don't think I'm ready to trade the caviar for a SPAM sandwich.

[@jane6330]

Why is the girl at 3:24 kinda…

[@PhilBenabaum]

Careful out there on these shit waves. I separated my shoulder a month ago at hammer, hit the sand . Not worth it!!

[@chriscochrane-m7w]

Wagner kinda rips though!

[@xisotopex]

I first experienced "down the beach syndrome" when I was 13, on the beach in Mexico... it was flat where I was, but down the beach, I thought I saw waves, so I started walking, and I kept walking...eventually the hotels were gone and it was just jungle... but lo, I found a muddy creek mouth with sloppy waves... score...

[@jabbabbabba]

Sux by most standards. Just sux less, recently.

[@coldwatercanna2147]

Longboards bros….longboards….

[@djizzah]

Total Shiite

[@genewest8426]

Brad do you know Apryl that surfs El Porto the shark researcher?

[@BradJacobson]

I don’t but sounds like someone I’d like to meet

[@realkanakamaoli]

Its all about the shorebreak closeouts

[@averagejoegrows]

soooo many KOOKS !

[@laurat1129]

8:01 Wagner's so good at surfing those waves, he looks like he's skiing moguls.⛷️