Ask anyone in Taghazout where the name comes from and you'll get the same story: orcas. Killer whales are said to pass along this stretch of coast, and at some point somebody saw them from the cliffs above the point and the name stuck. How often they actually turn up is another question. Most people who've surfed here for years have never seen one. The name suits the wave anyway.
Where it is
Killer Point sits under the cliffs north of Taghazout, past Anchor Point. From the village it's a 20 to 30 minute walk along the coast, or a few minutes' drive along the N1 and a short scramble down. You look down on the whole line-up from the top, which is a good thing: sit up there for a while before you paddle out.
How the wave works
It's a right-hand point, faster and more sectiony than Anchor, with steep walls and the odd barrel when the swell lines up. On small days at low tide there's also a short left off the peak in front of the cliffs. The bottom is a mix of reef, rock and sand.
Killer picks up more swell than Anchor, and it holds real size. That's the headline. On a day when the village breaks are small, Killer can still have waves, and on a big winter swell it keeps going when most spots have given up. It is always bigger than it looks from the cliff. Everybody says this, and everybody finds out it's true on their first paddle out.
- Swell: north-west
- Wind: offshore in easterlies
- Tide: low to mid is the usual call. At high tide the paddle gets much longer.
- Season: winter, roughly November to March
- Level: experienced surfers only
What it asks of you
Getting out is the first test. It's a long paddle, twenty minutes on a big day, and there's a strong current running along the point once there's size. Getting in means going off the rocks, and you want to have picked your line before you go, not while you're standing there with a set coming.
If you're coming off a week of lessons at Devil's Rock, this isn't your next step. Banana Point or Anchor on a small day is. Killer is for surfers who are comfortable in powerful water, over rock, a long way from the beach.
The crowd
Usually thinner than Anchor, because of the walk and the paddle. On days when Anchor is packed, though, a lot of the better surfers drift up here, so don't expect it to be empty on the best swells. Same rules as everywhere: wait your turn, don't paddle round people, and let the regulars have the set waves.
Today's size, wind and tide for Killer are on this page above.