Laguna Beach Aliso Creek River Wave Unveils Surfing Waterslide

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Dec 27, 2025 1:33 PM ET

When conditions align, a rare novelty wave emerges in Laguna Beach, CA.

The Aliso Creek river wave forms when the basin fills with water, making its way towards the beach, then breaches the sandbank and begins flowing into the ocean – oftentimes, with a little assistance from eager wave-riders armed with shovels and digging hands.

Like its sister novelty river wave at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu, it’s a popular spot for unconventional surfing, bodyboarding, skimboarding, etc. And one person who knows Aliso Creek better than anyone else, is Laguna Beach native Blair Conklin. The three-time skimboard world champ is one of the best river surfers to ever ride Aliso. But recently, during one of the flows, Conklin took a different approach to the novelty spot.

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Instead of skimming the standing wave, or riding a soft-top surfboard, Conklin went upstream, then let the river do the work, and cruised down the stream like a natural waterslide. In the process, he narrowly escaped collision with a surfer up and riding.

Conklin has been on the mend, recently, recovering from surgery after a dislocated shoulder.

And in his previous look at Aliso Creek, Conklin shared another unique view at the novelty spot – a flow running so perfectly, utterly mesmerizingly, that it was perhaps a natural occurrence of the scientific phenomenon known as the “Laminar Flow.”

As for this latest look at the creek, Conklin showed another aspect of the novelty wave – when high tides and surf connect with the river, and when the whole thing breaks into the ocean, it creates a dangerous rip tide. Describing the occurrence, Conklin said:

“The green water at this creek mouth occurs when the ocean water mixes with Urban Runoff. This is a phenomenon that happens when tide cycles and large waves fill up the mouth of a creek. When the water finally starts to spill over the sand dam, it creates rapid waves that lead to large amounts of water flowing in to the ocean. This can create dangerous waves and currents right in the surf zone of the beach.”