The Reality of Surfing Lower Trestles

Grew up camping on the Marine Campgrounds at San Onofre from a young age every summer for 30 plus years. Could walk to all the great waves and score. Gonna miss those times…..RIP Dad, miss you and thanks for everything 🤙🙏

Fun wave, if you can get one.

During a massive south swell, I walked into Lowers from Del Cannons shop in the late 70's after dark on a full moon only to find another 20 surfers already in the lineup at 10 pm. Cant imagine what todays crowds are like.

Take me to Church, I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies.

Surfed it in the early 90s . Stayed at the campground at the military base. So glade it wasn't like that. Great break.

Ahhh the good ol days when I was at camp Pendleton just down the road a quick thumbs up to anyone leaving base got me to Carl's Jr in five min ...lil walk and bam some best waves in socal yeah boy !

Go on the 3rd or 4th day of a good swell and you can usually find some windows. Other than that, how good can you surf and how fit are you? The paddle is tiring and then you're in the lineup with some of the best surfers in the world. Timing is everything, but I live close by, so I can always scrap it and cruise a different day. Go to any of the nearby breaks and have more fun without the need for skill level or ability to deal with a full crowd of rippers on a single peak.

No thanks

Yup. Stay at lowers. Theres really no other good waves around there.

has the wave got push bet there are so many second hand surfboards

The biggest, most powerful and consistent waves in California is HB. The outer reefs of HB are a wave magnet and hardly drop below 10-12ft. It's quite common for the waves to be 20-25ft 4 times per month..

Cheeky boy got a little session in at Trestles.

My dad used to tell me cuz I used to b** about the crowds he's all you should have seen these surf spots in the 70s man he said he used to have them all to himself

Nice video, Dan! Thank you. Trestles is an hour drive for me. I've never surfed it the enitre time I've lived here. La Jolla, Pacific Beach, and Encinitas pretty much offer enough fun spots for so many San Diego residents. Hope you get a chance to travel a little more south. One note. Avoid Imperial Beach due to high bacteria levels and sewage pollution. It's an international travesty.😢

The lineup hierarchy there must be nuts... you basically need to be pro or influential to get some

Dan Harmon is becoming the go to surf journalist on youtube, dont stop!

As an Old School local I've long since abandoned Trestles to the hungry hoards, but can still relish long past years of having surfed here with usually only ever a half dozen people in the water - back when it was still an off limits active Marine Corp base.
Between leashes, internet surf cams, and ebikes the break is ruined for almost everyone other than the most dedicated or aggressive.
The best time to hit it is after multiple days of double overhead + south swells have thinned out the ranks of amateurs - OR after a day of blown out conditions the west wind backs off for the classic 'evening glass off' effect, and you stay out until after dark.
Once in the 70s three of us were riding it flawlessly prefect at solid 15+ with 40mph offshore winds on Hawaiian pintail single fin guns when we had to abandon the most epic Lowers conditions in known history after the entire mountain just inland became engulfed in wildfire and a river of smoke & ash rained down directly into the peak like a blowtorch and forced us to flee for our lives.

I used to drive past it on my way down South of the Border…..

Spot on commentary on the crowd dynamics at Lowers. Been filming it religiously for several years in the summer as most of the contests. Dan is 100% correct on the talent level there. The next generation of young surfers, the 8-16 year olds currently, will the Socal Storm hitting the WQS & World Tour. There are dozens upon dozens of groms more than capable of making the World Tour. They are there surfing nearly every single day. The girl groms there are their own Momentum Generation and you are seeing the older of that crew with people like Caitlin Simmers, Alyssa Spencer, Sawyer Lindblad, Bella Kenworthy, etc already on the world tour but there are dozens behind them. Plus within the last 4 years the explosion and adoption of the Boardriders Clubs, now all the groms are getting to surf with former world champs and CT contest winners regularly. From Northern Baja, San Diego, La Jolla, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Clemente, Newport Beach, Huntington, LA, Ventura and all the way up the coast all now have Boardriders Clubs. The groms also now have USA Surfing, NSSA Surfing, Rip Curl Grom Search, WSL events and constant contest leagues. It is insane the support network for all the groms in Socal.

No longboarders overthere?Not alowed ? Looks like a perfect longboardwave, never saw footage of them riding that wave.

If ALL of YOU come to MY SOCAL (born and raised here since 1962 ) then NONE of us can have the lifestyle. THANK YOU..... YOU have ruined MY SOCAL ( surf and dirt). You will be PAID BACK for what you have done to MY SoCal

I lived there in Encinitas, late 1970's and surfed Lowers a few times. It breaks as you describe and looked about like these videos, maybe some sets just touch bigger but REAL close to this size. I had come moved from Florida from Gulf of Mexico coast in 1977 so from that perspective it was great. Had however surfed Punta Roca for 2.5 months in 1974 so from that perspective preferred the breaks that had more power and less crowded, even though by today's standards it was not crowded at all. Black's Beach, or the Beach Break at S. Ponto broke harder and actually barreled nicely.....not jetties then and on low to just incoming tide it really got good. Anyway, your video is a real good representation I would say.

I never surf lowers always surf uppers or churches lowers pisses me off

That wave don’t make you surf better. It makes you surf up to your potential so! I guess you could say it makes you surf better!!!🏄🏻‍♂️🤙🏄🏻‍♂️🤙🏄🏻‍♂️

I'll get there one of these days! Can you please review the other numerous spots around So Cal? Thanks again for another interesting review!

One thing you gotta respect about the crowd at Lowers is, if someone does drop in on you they turn up. So the people that surf Lowers are not evil thieves like at Church just down the way or Malibu. If every crowded spot was like Lowers well the world would be a better place, because the people there are just better beautiful people who are an asset to this planet. They're not the evil thieves who not only steal waves they steal, lie and snake in every aspect of their lives lol and then try and justify it. If you want to see pure evil thieves watch lol Malibu. You know the people I'm talking about, they're equivalent to that over flowing toilet you see in a public restroom, just one big pile of human feces. They are not an asset to a congested planet they are human waste. Great video btw! Sorry I had to call out the shat bird thieves, 'Laws Of Physics.'

ooh .. you coulda gotten shacked on this one 0:45 ..

Sounds awful, I'm planning to never ever go 😂

Go to Santa Cruz in late January or February and search Steamers, Pleasure point, and all the breaks north of town. The real crown Jewel of Cali's coast.

Damnnn bro you ripping 🎉

Dan, you're ripping the leftovers out there. I just want to mention, Church is really, really fun and not nearly as crowded because access is limited. You have to either enter through the military gate or walk all the way down from Lowers. But if Lowers is packed out, Church is a super fun right hand point.

Look a Lot of stupids fighting for ego