Half Moon Bay (Pillar Point), CA tide times

The hero block shows the next high tide at the Pillar Point gauge in local Pacific time (PST in winter, PDT in summer). The 7-day table covers all the highs and lows. High water at Pillar Point arrives about the same time as San Francisco's Pier 22½ gauge a short way north — both sit on the open Pacific coast and read close to in-phase.

Mean range at the Pillar Point gauge is about 1.6 metres, climbing past 2.1 metres on spring tides and dropping near 1.0 metre on neaps. The pattern is mixed semidiurnal — two highs and two lows of unequal size each day, the bigger swing falling on the lower-low water — the standard Pacific coast signal that San Diego, Monterey, and the rest of California shares.

NOAA CO-OPS station 9414131 at Pillar Point Harbour. NOAA computes predictions through harmonic analysis of decades of measured water levels at this exact gauge. That is the gold-standard method for tide prediction in US waters and produces accuracy you can plan a surf check, a tidepool walk, or a kayak crossing around — under normal weather.

Yes. Mavericks is a deep-reef break that works on solid northwest groundswells in winter. The break is best at lower stages of the tide when the outside reef edge stands proud — high water buries the reef and the wave loses its shape. Local surfers and tow-in crews read the tide table together with the swell forecast (the National Weather Service buoys at 46214 Point Reyes and 46026 San Francisco) and the wind forecast for the Pillar Point offshore zone.

No. For piloting in or out of Pillar Point Harbour, working the offshore Mavericks zone, or transiting the open coast between San Francisco and Santa Cruz use NOAA's authoritative chart products, the Coast Guard's notices to mariners, and the harbour-master's guidance for the breakwater entrance. Winter swell on the breakwater entrance is a working hazard; tow-in conditions at Mavericks are not a tide-table matter.