12-Foot Bombs Detonate on San Diego’s Premier Surf Spot (Video)

It’s been somewhat of a slow, weird winter in terms of waves.

Talk to any surfer – particularly those in Hawaii and Europe, Southern and Northern California – and they’ll tell you the same. Not much action, a few moments here and there, but nothing too noteworthy. The East Coast has been a different, although colder story.

Over the weekend, however, that all changed. A decent-sized west/west-north-west hit the West Coast, igniting many spots. Across the border, Todos Santos awoke for the 2026 Thriller at Killers competition. And stateside, Black’s Beach in San Diego turned on.

Captioning the clip, SoCal Surfer scribed:

“This was one of those true XL Black’s Beach days.

“On February 7, 2026, a powerful W / WNW swell lit up Blacks Beach with 8–12ft surf (double overhead), delivering epic canyon sets, phantom peaks, and heavy barrels up and down the lineup. Surfline called it 8–12ft in the morning, and the scale absolutely showed — long-period energy, serious water moving through the canyons, and waves detonating out of deep water.

“This episode captures the raw reality of San Diego big wave surfing — fast takeoffs, deep barrels, late drops, and surfers pushing limits on one of Southern California’s most unforgiving stretches of coast. While the bulk of this episode is from Feb 7th, a few evening clips from February 6th are included to set the tone leading into the XL day.”

Judging by the footage, it looked like one of those classic wintertime swells at the San Diego beachbreak gauntlet. Teepee peaks unloading up and down the beach, sneaker sets taking out the entire lineup, and a few moments of glory within the tube…if you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Black’s can be tricky like that – while it’s a wide-open playing field, being open to catch the pass isn’t always easy.

Fingers crossed for more of this before we head into the springtime doldrums.