So, as we all know, the west coast has been going bonkers all summer long. During the time that is usually their big "lull", they have had swell after swell after swell. A few weeks ago, two giant blows formed, touching and marched all the way up the coast of Baja and out to sea, leaving all of SoCal and Baja with OH+ swell for like 15 days... They are in the midst of another hurricane, Marie, that is hammering the coast with swell.
And the great part for them is that El Nino's best waves happen in THE WINTER! So they have had the southern hemi of all southern hemis, and after 4 straight months of pumping surf in board shorts, they are going to have record breaking winter swells pummeling the coast all the way into 2027....
Having lived there for a decade, I am well aware of how consistent and good CA gets, but this year has been all time for them. This is one of those stretches that factors into my viewpoint that when CA is good, it can be the best place on earth for waves. Waves of all kinds. Lefts. Right. Points. Reefs. Piers. Jetties. Beach Breaks. Deep water channels. Deep water reefs. Big wave spots. The wedge. Summer. Winter.
CA takes on every swell angle in the entire pacific, unlike islands and other coastlines that face only certain windows and directions. When the swells are pumping anywhere in the Pacific, California is going to get the goods. And 2026, IMO, has been ground zero for the "every day surfer" who can't hop on a jet and be in Indo at the drop of a hat.
Anyway, here are some gems from CA this past week along. There are thousands of these floating around now. But this particular session in SoCal moved me when I saw them. This shows Southern California in all of it's glory, tossing up waves that would be considered world class anywhere on earth.
Photog: Corey Wilson
Surfer: Oliver Kurtz
Photog: Corey Wilson
Surfer: Oliver Kurtz
Photog: Corey Wilson
Surfer: Oliver Kurtz
Photog: Corey Wilson
Surfer: Oliver Kurtz
Photog: Corey Wilson
Surfer: Oliver Kurtz
Yeah, Zach. SoCal has been nuking, bro. Pieces of the Seawall fallin in the ocean. Cars gettin barrelled in the parkin lot. Skimboarders on the streets.
More
And, board shorts at Lowers.
And..
Blacks doing Black's things.
Dayum! Holy mother of Poseidon! 😱
Yeah man. I try not to go down the rabit hole too much of looking at my old spots and getting all depressed over it.... I am just saying that this particular year is probably the best I have ever seen it out there, and there is nothing but more swell on the horizon for them....
It's one of those things where, when I lived there was was on SI and stuff, I would get a lot of the "yeah yeah, we get it. The surf was good today, and yesterday and it will be tomorrow" kinda thing, so I tried not to always talk about how good it was....
That said, I think we all get mesmerized by all the shots we see in tropical locales, like Indo and other island chains and what not. But right here in the continental US, right here on our west coast, we have a fucking gold mine of waves, and they are often overlooked and not really overly covered in the surfing world. And that sounds crazy.....
CA is doing it's fucking thing right now, and I raise my glass to all the compadres out there handling business and getting time in. They must be getting tired, and this is only the beginning.....
So, this is really of no consequence because I cannot verify the data, since records were NOT kept in the 1800s, but I read something interesting about CA and El Nino over the weekend.
Basically, the article said that mack in the early to mid 1800s, ships used to anchor at least 1/4 mile from shore on the CA coast, because what they called "South Westers" would come in from the south and the wind would batter ships into the coastal rock formations etc... So for over 100 years, the SoCal coast was notoriously dangerous for sea farers, with indications of "hurricane force winds" and things like that.... And around 1860, POOF, gone. These "South Westers" stopped showing up, and in the following decades, they began utilziing and building more infrastructure along the coastline for ships.
So, basically what they were getting at was that "Back in the early to mid 1800s, the water along the CA coast was warmer, and the micro-climate of the region was different than it is today" and for those reasons, they are speculating that Southern Hemi hurricanes used to come all the way North and affect the SoCal coastlines directly. 150 years later, that happens maybe once every 20 years. The systems never make it up the Baja coast and go out towards Hawaii and the open ocean...
So, like I said, I can't verify the data, because since Scripps has been logging daily ocean temps back in 1916, the Pacific coast in San Diego specifically has gained about 5 degrees of surface and bottom temp increases over 100+ years. So, that Data doesn't line up at ALL unless SoCal was warming for centuries, and then the decline started prior to 1916.....
And secondly, they are indicating that back in the day, CA was hit with hurricanes in a similar manner to how the south east coast gets it right now, and with the other factors that come with the Pacific, one could imagine that there were some MONSTERS back in those days, if a warmer pacific ocean was churning up southern hemi swells back in the day? I mean, no one was surfing back then, but damn. Can you imagine?
Thought it was an interesting read, but I am questioning the legitimacy of the claims. They backed it up with dozens of records of sunken ships and damage along the coastline, but that doesn't paint a clear picture of exactly what happened. Did the ship hit a reef? Run aground? Or were these really all anchored offshore and hurricanes slammed the ships into the coastline? Who knows.
Old shot at beacons 2017 found on wifes phone
Old shot at beacons 2017 found on wifes phone
Fun spot in the summer!
I have really fond memories of surfing Trestles a few times. I've surfed it crowded (managed to get fun lefts off the pack by splitting the peak with a guy who only wanted the rights. Figure out who that guy is that always goes right, and paddle right next to him on his left). Also managed to get it uncrowded once or twice. Best ever for that was paddling out with Skeglegs on a late evening, waist to chest high at best, wait for the sun to dip, last 20 minutes the crowd melted away and we had trestles with 5 guys out for the last 20 minutes.
Pic I took at Lower Trestles, after getting a BUNCH of lefts like this one. Midday, no real swell, the lefts. Trestles uncrowded and fun.
@mitchell Are you out there now? You must have picked the only stretch of days without swell filling in everywhere. I was just looking at the forecast models and there is another giant blob coming up Baja. Again. So if you are there for a couple more days, you should start seeing some of that magic 2026 west coast swell. That would be SICK!
@zach619 No - several years ago. I imagine with the WSL event and the swell consistency this month, Lower, Uppers, Cottons and Church are all pretty pack.
Yeah man. That is a unique wave. A great one. I have never surfed lowers when it's cranking, as I had my own lesser known spots to hit. But I would always hit it passing through to OC or LA or whatever. I have surfed it from waist high to head high and it never disappointing. It's also a spot that is pretty heavily regulated, so most time I am there, I see "conversations" between guys.... But generally speaking, even when it's packed there, it's typically full of really good surfers, so it's not the shit show that you will see in most places in SoCal. If you just hold your line, move with the lineup, and don't fuck waves up, you will get plenty of waves. Sure, you will have to watch johnny local pro paddle around everyone every now and again, but for a place that is always crowded, I think it's a generally peaceful lineup. TONS of talk, shit talk and chatter, but it's really just crusty old guys that surf there every day, talking shit to semi-pro surfers that have come there for the day. Typical SoCal nonsense. But Trestles is also a place that one could say "There are no locals"...
Orange County claims Trestles. But anyone that has been there and parked up by the 5 can see the San Diego/Orange County sign on the road. Lowers, and every part of Trestles is in San Diego County. By about a 1/4 mile....
So, "Orange County" claims the wave, but the closest neighborhood is what, 10 minutes? Nothing to the south... It's in San Diego, although they don't claim it....
Most places in SoCal are: "Well, my grandparents lived in the house on that cliff. I was born and raised her. I am a 3rd generation Sunset Cliffs resident. Blah Blah.... Trestles is home to everyone and home to no one. You can see a total kook on a foam board in the lineup with Kelly Slater.... Strange place. Super fun.
Shame that they let a Brazzo win there, again....
Northern California 15 years ago. Long hike out a trail to get to this spot. It has a reputation for being localized. 3 or 4 guys out so I shot a couple pictures and passed on paddling out. It just didn't feel right.
