Table Top surf guide
Surf: Table Top is another heaving right barrel, starting next to an exposed platform of rock and running into a shallow coral reef scattered with dangerous rocks on the inside. E-SE preferable to NE which will frag it.
Environment: Getting in early at the peak is essential so the crowd is as intense as the wave. The adjacent Backdoor/Survival peak only breaks a few times a year when there's some W in the swell.
Surf: General: Table Top is one of the first waves as you come around PR's northwest corner, just north of Surfer's Beach. The name is fitting in a couple ways: the flat, exposed reef looks kinda like a table; the barrel is round and right in front of the cliff, ensuring that you will, at some point, eat it. This is a serious wave, though. If you have it wired you sit right in front of the rock and take off right next to it, and there's little option other than pulling in. The takeoff zone is tight and can get a little heated; stay cool, stay high in the tube, and smile.
Tides: Not the biggest tidal changes but lower generally better.
Size: Head high-double overhead+
Wind: South
Swell: NNW, N, NNE
Bottom: Reef
Paddling: It is a decent paddle from the parking lot and if there is size it will be a decent amount of work.
Spot Rating: On the right swell there are some really good righthand barrels on offer.
Access: Drive down the hill and park in the dirt parking lot.
Crowds: Crowd Factor: Tight takeoff zone so it doesn't take much.
Local Vibe: Can vary from very intense when perfect to slightly mellower when just average.
Environment: Not bad.
Hazards: The three S's: shallow, slabbing, sharp.
Season: Late summer and fall for tropical cyclone swells but late fall through early spring for consistency.