Jacking Horse 

Direction: Right

Level: Beginner - Intermediate

Best wind: South West

Best swell size: 2 - 6 ft

Best swell direction: East - North East

Best tide: Any tide. Due to it’s location on the beach, at low tide Jacking Horse is surfed further out to sea while at high tide it’s surfed closer to the shore. However you probably don’t wanna go at the peak of low tide as it will be shallow and rocky.

Best for: People who have come to Siargao to learn how to surf or those who want fast and easy access to the waves for a quick surf.

Crowd factor: Medium - High.   Jacking Horse is conveniently located on the beach in the busy Cloud 9 area and is a great spot for beginners so it does get quite crowded. At all times of day you’ll see many instructors pushing students side by side in Jacking Horse.

Kind of wave: Jacking Horse is a great beginner wave. Although it is a reef break, it has the feeling of a beach break / sandy bottom waves and is better for beginners than most waves in Siargao.  Not nearly so big as Quiksilver or Cloud 9 yet located in the same area.  The take-off is quite mellow and soft but Jacking Horse can deliver long, good quality right-handed waves.  

Warning!; there can be a very strong current running sideways across the break.   This means it can be extremely hard to paddle back out to the line-up once you've ridden a wave.  The current is strongest around high tide, especially when it’s high going to low and during full moons. The current is manageable on a longboard. However, If you’re shortboarding, prepare to have a struggle fighting the current back to the line up. I was told that the way to do it is to first paddle towards Stimpy’s (the islands out to sea on the left) and then when you are in line with the Cloud 9 tower start paddling right towards the peak / line up of Jacking Horse.

Surf season: All-year

Because Jacking Horse is a beginner spot it is surfed year round no matter the wind or conditions.  However, it's working best in the peak season of late September - early December.  During the summer months of June, July, August, and September Jacking Horse is very small and sometimes unsurfable so instructors will take their students to Quiksilver or Cloud 9 instead. Despite this, you will still find some instructors doing a student’s first surf lesson or beginner’s practicing by themselves in Jacking Horse throughout the summer.  Throughout the winter Jacking Horse will have on-shore winds but unless the wind is really strong it is still possible to surf... because really, if you're a beginner and you're still just learning to catch waves and stand up then the quality of the wave isn't that important to you. So you’ll find people surfing Jacking Horse year-round and through all conditions and tides.

How to get there: Jacking Horse is located at the North end of the Cloud 9 beach area.  The wave can be accessed by entering the main gate of Cloud 9, going to the beach, take the small foot path on the left and walk along until you see the surfers in the water at the end of the path, that's Jacking Horse.