The Magic of Trestles (And A Brief History)

[@adhndrsn]

Enjoyed this video very much. Here’s a little personal historic Trestles surf story for you all. Throughout my surfing life Trestles was my favorite spot, though I lived further north. One early morning in Fall 1969 three friends and I went down south for a day at Trestles. I was 16 years old at the time. Back then we had to climb down a steep cliff face near the south end of San Clemente to get to Trestles. The only way down was hanging on to your board with one hand and a garden hose, insecurely attached at the top, with the other hand. We made it down and started walking south on the beach. Got it to Cotton’s where there was a nice house. (Surf trivia: The actor James Arness’ son Rolf, nicknamed Rolfie, lived in that house at the time. Rolfie was an excellent surfer). Just south of Cotten’s we crossed over into the Camp Pendleton stretch of beach. We changed course slightly and walked on the smooth rocks, ankle deep. This was so we could quickly run out and get on our boards if Marines came after us. It was common knowledge among surfers that they couldn’t do anything to people if they were actually in the ocean. Unfortunately for us there was a fairly steep sand ridge at the shore which we couldn’t see over. Suddenly, between Uppers and Lowers, a half dozen Marines came charging down the sand with 45’s pointed directly at us screaming “stop right there motherf*ckers”. No chance to get out into the water. They marched us up to a couple vehicles and off we went to Camp Pendleton. The Marines confiscated our boards and left us at the Oceanside base gate. I think we pooled our money for a taxi back to San Clemente, though I’m hazy on that part. In the end they held our boards for thirty days and charged us a fine to get them back. Not the best surf trip ever. Still, once we had our boards we were surfing Trestles that day. Thanks for posting the video. Reminded me of one of my favorite surf stories.

[@tahoe4beauty]

What a hoot... this was my crowd, I lived in Dana Point and went to San Clemente High, class of '68. One cold ass stormy winter day 3 of us had Uppers to ourselves riding stand up barrels until we had to come in frozen to the bone. No one was around so we lit a fire and stood there hard rattling, blowing seawater out of our noses, until we spotted a lone Marine walking our way. It was decided to take this guy on and get him to let us walk out instead of facing that brutal ocean with the strongest North to South current we had ever been in. This plan all went to shit as soon as we saw his Captain bars, and he started barking orders to put our boards down, and talking into his hand held radio calling for the truck. I feigned defeat but never let go of my board, waiting for my chance to bolt. He fell for the oldest trick when I sold it, "Is that the truck coming now?" I had a full step and a half lead by the time he looked back and lunged to get me, which gave my buddies the opportunity to Y off an escape as well. We almost drown laughing... I bet he never lived it down, loosing 3 prisoners in a matter of minutes. Good Times!

[@alanhenderson45]

@@tahoe4beauty Nice! We envied you guys that lived down there.

[@BigDaddy-hn7oh]

When Nixon came back after his resignation me and my friend surfed barbwire with Nixon watching us for a half hour me president Nixox and my friend Tom . Just us .no marines .did u ever eat those giant pink clams in the soft sand at the river mouth .

[@tahoe4beauty]

@@BigDaddy-hn7oh I did not..this is the first I have heard of them. A girl in SCHS wrote a letter to Nixon spilling the beans on how secure Cottons Estate was for a Western White House, that's how that came to be. I had my first car and was able to get the Blue (Officers Sticker), as a dependent, so I could drive in getting a salute like I was the President! Wheeee.....!!! I would park at Church and run my heater watching empty waves. And Smile ~

[@alanhenderson45]

@@BigDaddy-hn7oh I didn’t hear about the clams or see them. Missed out. When I read your post I realized the my story was 1968, before Nixon bought the estate. Hard to remember exact time periods so long ago. I was 15 then, not 16, but we had a couple friends who were old enough to drive. They’d take us up north and down south with them for a couple years until we got our licenses. If you ever saw Big Wednesday, we were much like the surf rats that are hanging and skateboarding at Bear’s shop when Matt shows up. There were a lot of great classic surf shops in Hermosa back then when it was a major surf town, and we idolized the guys on their surf teams.

[@sdoc5117]

I grew up in SC and surfed Trestles basically every day for over 20 years. I've moved away since then but miss it greatly. It's magic, probably my favorite place in this world. Fortunately not much has changed. Great vid.

[@josephsterling264]

I first surfed Trestles in 1969…it was very un crowded…got to enjoy those waves till 1974…when I moved to Hawaii…one of my favorite fun waves!

[@philliplaplante8086]

My Trestles surf story from a Newport local: Back in April 2004 in the middle of the week, the first significant south swell of the season popped up. I had a new board I was eager to try, so I made the trip down to Trestles by late morning. It was sunny, glassy, well overhead and pumping. Much to my shock, there were just a handful of guys in the water. Then, the reigning World Champion at the time, Andy Irons paddled out with former World Champion Sunny Garcia. We exchanged a few waves and I was impressed by their surfing. Then, sitting next to Andy, a nice set wave came in and I had the inside position on the peak. I turned and took off. Andy hopped me and off we both went on a long glassy wall, with him just a few feet ahead of me. Andy turned hard off the bottom and went up the face and got stuck on the lip as he hit the top and fell right in front of me. I had to take evasive action to avoid running him over as I continued my ride for a few more turns. I decided not to hassle Andy and cut him some slack for hopping and falling in front of me. Sadly, neither one of those former World Champions are surfing any longer. Andy was dead 2 years later and Sunny is no longer able to surf after a failed suicide attempt.

[@packinghousetuesdaynightme9105]

From Surfer Magazine: Prior to an early 1980s storm, Trestles was exclusively a right-hander. It was only after massive squalls moved the sand that the point was transformed into the A-frame we know today. "On the cover of Surfing in 1983 there was a shot of Mike Crookshenk on the Trestles left," recalls Sam George. "After that it was discovered. In the afternoon, the left is perfectly front-lit. It became the premiere surf studio of Southern California in the 80's."

[@RokkoPC]

I remember that 83 storm when I was a kid just learning the ocean with my pops. He started surfing there when the marines would whiz gunfire over there heads to scare em out of the water. He started taking me there soon after that left started breaking. That left is one of my favorite waves (goofy here). The right isn’t bad either 🙂

[@lukevicelja9761]

Thank you for the killer dana video! I am a dana point local and you it is always amazing seeing stories about our past surf history

[@SatoriStudios_]

Very much enjoyed this. Great video. Need more videos and history about Southern California

[@michaelfarar4232]

When surfers call Rincon the Queen of the coast....i think a lotof people see Trestles as the King. But theres so many spots in So Cal that are just as good. Im from Venice and beyond and we surfed Lowers 7 8 times and it was always epic. 1 time we got it double overhead plus and it was so good. My cousins grew up in San Clemente so i met the entire crew going back to the 70s 80s. Real beach people...unlike what Malibu has become.

[@RokkoPC]

Malibu is the Kook Epicenter of the World. Hollyweird Barney’s trying to be cool. What a 💩show. Lowers the crowd sorts it self out, if you can’t surf, you will NOT get waves.

[@michaelfarar4232]

@RokkoPC Agreed. The only shot at getting waves at Surfrider is during a huge short interval Hurricane 🌀 swell. Clean up seats keep the Kooks on land and more sets plus more waves per set. Hurricane Marie 2014 and Linda 1997 were prime examples but rare due to both being the only 2 Class 5 Hurricanes ever recorded since sattelite imagery in the Eastern Pacific. Linda brought doh to a few toh clean ups at Malibu

[@kfame227]

Hey man your videos are awesome!! I hope to see more from you. I really love learning about the history of California surf. Your work on trestles and killer dana are really cherished here.

[@Slashingtons]

I've had some of my best waves at Lowers. One particularly great memory when we snagged a lucky evening session, when an arriving swell started to fill in early, before the next day crowd expected it to hit. Seems more crowded now than ever. Last week I counted 64 surfers out at Lowers, on the web cam view. So packed for one-ish peak!!! But it looked like there were a lot of great waves pumping through if one was willing to weave through the encumbering swarm of bodies. Not sure if this is a correction or not, but I've always heard the break labeled "Church" in this video as "Churches".

[@johnmanning5193]

I surfed back in the mid to late '70s. Never got past grom stage, but I've known about Trestles all these years and it looks like a wave that maybe an old dude like me (now) on a long board could handle.

[@slyder-tv]

In 1977 Michael Ho squeaked by aussi PT to walk away with $3,000. and 1st place during the Sutherland Pro. 108 invited surfers from around the world surfed in the first ever contest at Trestles for an entire week. Lowers was firing and the boys now Legends made history.

[@philruitcel2696]

Prior to surfline and iphone alerts I caught lowers with maybe a dozen surfers out during a combo NZ/ Mexican hurricane swell. I think it was '73? Solid consistent waves with five wave dbl overhead sets. I remember it was early fall, with Santa Ana winds blowing There was a huge fire on camp Pendelton and the sky was really eerie. On the return to Laguna we surfed second reef Brooks St. sheet glass/ light offshore. No leash's...no crowds, no kooks

[@LucasZambranoFilms]

why no leashes?

[@wesleyturner1979]

@@LucasZambranoFilmsno leashes in 73…

[@Northwest360]

Great video! Would love to see a San O one

[@Thurston.Howell.the.3rd]

Nice to see a video refer to Church by its proper name. Cheers !

[@calsurflance5598]

Great research . Loved the old photos. Nicely done!👌🏄‍♂️🏄‍♂️

[@GaryChavez-nu7uy]

Place is magical

[@clevername333]

I caught my first wave here. Spent a lot more time on Old Mans just a beach over from this.

[@J_Smith7]

Great history review. Same with the Killer Dana video. No doubt one of the most brutal environmental losses- as you put it many breaks "vaporized." The loss of marine life also massive. The quote from Chris Aarons is also quite heavy. Adding this story and lesson to another documentary covering more beach losses would be great- many areas of the world to review with ports and breaks wall destroying other breaks, beaches and marine life. Now we just need a billionaire to buy out the marina and tenants, and remove the killer dana break wall. Or change it to the Ron Drummin plan- do we know what he pitched to the county director of harbor and beaches? Is there a map?

[@rickden8362]

Why is it when you've seen the first 30 sec of a surf flic you've seen it all. It's all the same, endless roundhouse cutbacks with the occasional off-the-lip. It's like they're playing an endless loop of the same guy.

[@aqueousmoments]

Truer words have never been spoken

[@vera02]

To a lay person that’s how it appears.

[@rickden8362]

@@vera02 I've been surfing for over 60+ years and still looks that way.

[@BoughtASatellite]

Yeah I love surfing but I can’t sit down for more than 20minutes watching a surf movie/film it’s all the same seems only style is difference in every surfing video

[@markstrickland6760]

I am happy to say l've experience it best wave I've. ever road. 😅😊

[@wesleyturner1979]

Shhhhhh don’t spill the beans! No one knows where this spot is. Your going to blow this secret spot up for all the locals 🤫🤷🏼‍♂️

[@foobarbecue]

The labels are a bit off... Basically they all should be further north/west. Lowers is close but uppers is way further north. You have church marked in the marine corps vacation spot; it's actually right about where your Middles label is. Great video otherwise though!

[@robertcleveland2038]

Was great to See old photos of Dear Friends Hobie and Mickey 👍❤️👍❤️

[@bigtinyhomeadventurebigtin5201]

Thanks Nixon!

[@BigDaddy-hn7oh]

With the Advent of the Banning of the gillnet the white shark is ever-present getting bigger by the year get some

[@Deanguilberry]

Ah, the barreless wonder of Trestles.

[@billmaharry4874]

It’s not uncommon to get to surf with 600 people in the lineup

[@OneRoomSchoolHouse]

now do Santa Cruz lighthouse

[@janet.osmonson7451]

Da low key surf music on this belies what this beautiful place became..progress.. actually tragic.. fogettaboutit Lmao

[@KentKiner-dt5rp]

Get ready to deal with lot of A holes that are to cool for school if you surf there you know what lam talking about

[@eddieds312]

Its a soft forgiving wave Its the pillsbury Doughboy of surfbreaks

[@kevinallen6197]

They should remove Dana point harbor. It's an abomination

[@RokkoPC]

Pollution pit, baby beach is a cesspool most of the time.

[@danieldayton3497]

Cutbacks suck Micky Dora never did a cutback

[@RockyW78]

Better take your brass knuckles.

[@johndoeyedoe]

Looks kinda lame. Barrel dodger central. Cobblestone Reef. 🤣🤣🤣 Definitely NOT a wave of consequence. Idk how you could be bothered if say, pipeline, was your local. Or Chopes...

[@wesleyturner1979]

It’s a fun wave. Even a 45 year old fat cook like me feels like a pro after completing 5, bucket dumping cutbacks every wave.

[@RokkoPC]

@@wesleyturner1979I agree, it’s not a wave to chase if you’re looking for drainers, but it’s like showing up to the best skate park in town when it’s firing.

[@wesleyturner1979]

@@RokkoPC it’s amazingly fun! I have more fun on that kind of wave than trying to make barrels and risk getting washed up onto boulders at my local break (El Capitan).

[@michaelrios1800]

Sooo fun , but just a little too crowded almost every decent swell.