Surf Forecast  Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach surfspot characteristics

More about Daytona Beach surfspot

General: Continuing south, we get to the opposite of Flagler and Ormond Beach's laid-back atmosphere: Daytona Beach, home to the Daytona 500, Bike Week, spring break and about every other high-speed drunken tourist attraction in the state. Needless to say, Daytona Beach can be an extreme zoo, and if you go there during one of the aforementioned festivals, between February and April, you may be in for a shock. Sometimes, traffic will stand still for hours. During these times, take I-95 and avoid Daytona altogether. In fact, some of the surf shops even close down because the bikers and spring breakers in this crowd don't surf, and they bring all foot traffic to a halt. Call one of the surf shops, because they known when it's coming.</br></br>Keep heading south and you'll see the Main Street Pier -- Daytona's go-to spot. The north side is called Pier Bowls and works best on southeast and east swells, when it can get hollow with long rights. On the other side of the pier is where you want to be on south swells; it can get mechanical and occasionally hollow when the right elements come together. The vibe isn't too bad at the pier, even with the crowd. You can also watch people bungee jump from the lineup -- welcome to Daytona. Tides: Incoming but can be fun at higher tides too Size: Thigh-2x overhead Wind: W, but the pier will block sideshore winds on the downwind side Swell: Any swell direction works Bottom: Sand Paddling: Easy on the average day but paddling can be a challenging on bigger swells. Spot Rating: Average overall with various spots up and down the coast. This is a great area for newer and beginning level surfers to get some reps.

All levels for the most part.

Plenty of parking available at the various spots.

Fall-Spring, Hurricane

Crowd Factor: Can be very crowded at some spots but it is wide open overall. Local Vibe: Not bad in the water.

Can get a little dirty at times.

Drunken tourists, cops, crowds and errant bungee jumpers.