Surfing Southern California During a Giant South Swell

Jul 31 2009

Our Take On Last Week’s Giant South Swell in Southern California

Posted by Ronnie at 6:27 am on July 31st, 2009 to California, News & Events, Surf Trips.

Last week a GIANT southwest swell hit the Southern California coast, creating massive waves and perfect surfing conditions. Orange County’s south facing beaches sat in prime position, receiving the majority of that particular swell’s energy. Point breaks, beach breaks and reefs were reported to be “Best Ever” during this run of giant swell. Luckily, a few of The Surfing Blog staff happened to be in San Clemente during this major swell event. Here are their stories:

Timmy V

This last swell that we had on the West Coast was the biggest I have seen in years. When I pulled up to the San Clemente Pier on Friday morning, the set waves were breaking all the way out by the end of the pier. We ended up surfing in-between the Lost Winds and Riviera beachbreaks. The waves were averaging around 10 feet with even bigger sets coming through every so often.

I have never seen surf that big or that good at those particular beach breaks. It was an incredible experience surfing my local breaks in those conditions. Everyone out there was pulling into the biggest barrels I have ever seen in San Clemente. Almost every set would produce some solid spitting tubes, most of them were unmakeable, but would last long enough to make it worth the attempt.

Unfortunately, I ended up breaking two surfboards. The first one I landed on my side right on the rail and smashed through it, which luckily I am able to fix. The second board was borrowed since I no longer had a board, and that one snapped in half on a bomb set.

This past weekend in California was really one to remember. I honestly felt I was surfing waves that I should be experiencing back home on the North Shore during the wintertime…not at lesser-known San Clemente beach breaks. Being here for last weekend’s swell made my whole summer in California worth it.

Chris G

This last weekend Southern California was hit with one of the biggest swells I have seen in years, so big that they even had to close down the San Clemente pier for the day because of some damage that the waves had done to the old wooden structure. Despite some of the havoc that these natural wonders wreaked, they also did a load of good during their weekend stay on the shores of Southern California.

On Friday, July 25^th, I pulled up to Trestles not really knowing what to expect, in-fact I really realized I didn’t know what was going on when my cousin pulled out his 6’10’’ gun. I had heard that there were suppose to be big waves, but I guess I didn’t really believe it until I saw it, and that afternoon I saw it. We rolled up to Cottons (one of the main Trestles breaks) through a private entrance, and after walking through a friend’s backyard we could finally see the break from the top of the cliff. The almost 20 foot faces were so enormous they seemed to be in slow motion, and the corduroy lines resembled familiar days watching surfers at Sunset Beach, only this time they were mainly lefts. Feeling a little unprepared and ill equipped, I sat with a number of spectators and photographers on the beach and enjoyed watching perfect wave after perfect wave peel down the point.

They next morning, I met up with some friends in San Clemente and surfed the tail end of the swell, and although it was significantly smaller, there were still plenty of waves with sufficient power. All n’ all, this last big swell was a hit and heaps of fun for both surfers and spectators.

Tyler G

One of the difficult yet beautiful elements of surfing is dependence. You depend upon the waves just as much as you depend upon yourself. You can just about always skateboard, wakeboard and even snowboard, but if there are no waves, you simply can’t surf. I think that might be why it is my favorite. You can’t just get, get, get; you develop patience as you try to connect with a force far greater than yourself. This connection with nature is probably one of the things that attracts and keeps many people surfing all over the world. As a result of this dependence on nature, you always want to be there for when nature is feeling generous. You wouldn’t, for example, want to go on a wakeboarding trip the weekend that the biggest swell of the summer, year, decade or perhaps century is supposed to hit. Alas, that is exactly where I found myself while a massive swell struck the California coastline.

When we go wakeboarding, one of the things that we have recently gotten really into is wakesurfing, where you surf the wake of the boat on a small surfboard. While it is not exactly like surfing, more like riding a standing wave, it is still a fun way to make your own waves. Oh the irony! Yeah, it all seems very clever until you come home and realize that your friends surfed waves bigger than your house.

The report I got when I returned: the biggest waves they have ever seen in California, closeout impossible barrels, dropping in and racing for your life just to make it out the back, the biggest in and out barrels of their life and basically . . . how much I missed out. Moral of the story: Always check the surf forecast before planning a weekend getaway.