The OC Beach Scene

Apologies to all of my beach-loving friends out there, but I feel that, with only 3 days to go until what is quite possibly the most important election of the modern era, The OC Beach Scene needs to start tackling the difficult political questions that my readers are asking. First off, what’s up with McCain’s weirdly short arms? Are we really ready to put aside our short arm biases and vote this ill-proportioned old man into office? I, for one, am not so sure. And what’s with all this talk about McCain reaching across the aisle to shake hands with his Democratic Senate brethren? Obviously, with those arms, that is a physical impossibility on par with midgets high-fiving and Lieutenant Dan “walking with Jesus” in heaven. On a more serious note, can we trust this anatomically-challenged senator to handle that important 3 A.M. phone call when he can’t even reach the nightstand? Can a short-armed man strong arm a political opponent? What does John McCain look like in a 3/4 length sleeve shirt? All important questions, my friends, and all questions that we should be asking ourselves as we head down to our local polling places this November 4th.

Hey everyone! Surf Cinema is a new feature that I’ll be doing periodically. In each edition of Surf Cinema, I’ll be reviewing a different surf film or surf-inspired film (for the difference between surf- and surf-inspired films, think Endless Summer vs. Point Break). For our first installment of Surf Cinema, I’ll be looking at one of my all-time favorite films and a true masterpiece in the surf movie genre–The Seeding.

If you’re like 99.9% of the general population and you’ve never heard of this movie, don’t feel bad. However, if you have any interest in surfing or art or even just really good filmmaking, then you’re gonna want to head down to your local surf shop and pick up a copy of The Seedling right away (sorry to all of you living out in Middle America–it’s gonna be a bit of a drive). Directed by surfer/artist Thomas Campell, The Seedling is an important artifact of the longboard/retro movement going on in California in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Featuring beautiful, stylish surfing, moody music, and an incomprehensibly cool vibe, The Seeding captures the essence and the feel of the longboard aesthetic better than almost any other film before or since its initial release in 1999. With an amazing cast of California surfers, including legendary surfer/shapers Donald Takayama and Skip Frye, modern-day surf heroes Joel Tudor and Josh Farberow, and a whole crew of rising young stars such as Dane Peterson and Kassia Meador, The Seedling makes a strong case for style in an era dominated by ugly arm flailing and horrible chop-hop airs. Thomas Campbell put in another great effort with 2004’s Sprout–a foray into alternative board design; however, it fails to recapture the understated beauty, the effortless cool of The Seedling. Simply put, The Seedling is a one of a kind, a contemporary classic–essential viewing for the modern retro enthusiast.

Named for the seemingly endless staircase that leads down to the sand (trust me, it’ll feel like a million steps after walking back up on a hot summer day), this beautiful South Laguna beach is well worth the trek! With its emerald blue water, white sands, and picturesque sandstone cliffs, Thousand Steps has long been a well-guarded local secret and is easily one of my favorite beaches in Orange County. However, not only does Thousand Steps offer stunning vistas and a calm, relaxing atmosphere, it’s also locally famous for its great waves, and on any given day you can be sure to see some amazing skimboard and bodyboard action!

Thousand Steps beach is divided into two distinct areas, with each seeming to attract a different crowd. Straight out from the stairs is 9th Street, so-named because–you guessed it–it is located just below the corner of 9th Street and South Coast Highway.
This stretch of beach is definitely more family oriented–expect to see plenty of beach umbrellas and Capri Sun stocked coolers. A nice feature for families is that a lifeguard is always on duty at 9th Street during the summer. South of 9th Street is 10th Street (creative, I know). While it is quite a walk down to this beach, its out of the way locale also allows for certain freedoms–such as alcohol consumption–that are less easy to conceal at family-friendly, lifeguard-patrolled 9th Street. Watch out though, as drinking is prohibited at all Laguna beaches, and you can–and will–be ticketed by the police that periodically patrol the area.

This past week, the whole federal bailout business has begun to hit a little too close to home for Orange County surfers and toll road opponents as a new controversy has sprung up out of the Trestles debate. It seems that, along with their money-hungry buddies on Wallstreet, the Transportation Corridor Agencies are requesting to be bailed out by the federal government as well. According to the Orange County Register, the TCA, who owns and operates both the San Joaquin Hills and Foothill/Eastern toll roads, has applied for a $1.1 billion federal loan in order to refinance $4.6 billion in debt.

So my question is, if a corporation is so far in debt that they are relying on federal funds to bail them out, if their existing toll roads are performing so poorly that the TCA can’t finance their projects with their own money, then why are they still pushing for the extension of an underperforming, money-draining highway? It just seems like common sense to me that one would want to clear up their nearly $5 billion debt before starting another multi-billion dollar project. But then again, I’m just an English major who is still baffled by the concept of negative
money.

Read the Register’s full article here: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/road-toll-loan-2198081-transportation-foothill

Ok, so I realize that today is Tuesday (actually Wednesday now in most parts of the world), but I’m gonna go ahead and do the Sundat Spot Check anyway because it’s fun for me to write and I didn’t have the time to do it this weekend. Also, as what is very possibly the last south swell of the season makes its way to our shores, it’s important for you, my loyal readers, to get out and enjoy today’s featured spot before it shuts down for the winter!

So, without any further adieu, I present to you…drumroll please…Doheny! Yes, the water is a disturbing shade of murky brown. Yes, the line up is always crowded with legions of foam board wielding newbies, and yes, the waves are almost always at least a couple feet smaller than those at nearby Salt Creek. However, Doheny will always hold a special place in my heart as the spot where I learned how to surf. And I don’t mean “learned to surf” as in clumsily hobbled to my feet for the first time in the forgiving backwash of an ankle high wave. I mean really surf. Doheny is where I perfected my style (or lack there of). Doheny is where I first walked to the nose. Heck, Doheny is even where, during a freak south swell in the middle of winter, I got my first legitimate barrel. (Nobody seems to believe this story, but seriously, it’s still one of the top five waves I’ve ever caught to this day).

Today, Doheny is still an important proving ground for young Orange County longboarders, and on any given summer day, you’re sure to see a whole crew of pint-sized groms getting five on ankle-slappers and squeezing into miniature barrels on classic equipment. With its fun, thin-lipped peelers and consistent, if small, summertime surf, Doheny is the perfect place for budding loggers to polish their techniques along with other like-minded, retro enthusiasts. Seriously, apart from the stray shredder who seems to have gotten lost on his way Creek, it’s like the shortboard revolution never happened here–and none of these kids seem to miss it. The boards are heavy, the surfing is stylish, and, most importantly, the vibe is always positive out in the water at Doheny.

To get to Doheny, head south on Golden Lantern until it dead ends at Dana Point Harbor. Turn left on Dana Point Harbor Dr. and then take your second right at Puerto Place. Find parking, have fun!
Local tip: Avoid the exorbitant $10 parking fee charged by the California State Park system by parking in the metered lots closest to the jetty.

Calling all surfers! If you regularly surf at California surf spots, or are currently vacationing in California for the purpose of surfing, UCLA researchers want to talk to you! Help them evaluate the worth of your local break by filling out their survey at www.beachology.com/surf. Filled with amusing questions asking you to rate the waves and the attitude of surfers at your local break, this survey may not only help protect California beaches, it is also a lot of fun to fill out! It only takes a few minutes, and its for a good cause, so why not, right? If you have a vested interest in your local beach and would like to see it protected for future generations, there is really no reason not to fill out this brief survey!

P.S. Tell them you surf everyday and spend a ton of money doing so! (Just kidding, tell the truth kids).

Several years back, on an early fall day much like today, with a solid late-season south swell churning in the water, Laird Hamilton showed up at Malibu and changed the surfing world as we know it forever. “What climactic event took place that day?” you might ask. Did he tow into Third Point bombs with the Jaws crew? Did he backflip over longboarders on his experimental hydrofoil board? Not quite. He simply hit the water with his trusty paddleboard and an old kayak paddle and…stood up.

While Hamilton was received by the hostile line up with jeers, obscene gestures, and ominous cries of “you’re ruining our sport forever” (of course, I wasn’t there, but I can’t imagine it going any other way), the surf media quickly grabbed onto the story as a chance to print the word LAIRD in all capital letters, and the sport of stand up paddle surfing was born.

Stand up paddle surfing, dubbed “SUPing” by those in the know, has its roots in ancient Polynesian culture; however, it is only in recent years that SUV-driving baby boomers looking to finally try out surfing have really propelled this obscure form of waveriding into the mainstream. Effectively eliminating the steep learning curve of traditional surfing with its extra-wide deck and boat-like buoyancy (handy paddle not included), the stand up paddleboard has quickly become the vehicle of choice for uninspired newbies and arthritic geriatrics who can no longer spring to their feet quickly. And who can blame them for wanting to SUP? I mean, you don’t even have to get wet!

While this uncoordinated crew of SUPers might not appear like much of a threat with their funny paddles and goofy looking booties, I am warning you now–these guys are no laughing matter. With a diverse repetoire of deadly moves including the shoulder hop, the no-look paddle swipe, and the 12 foot board kickout-to-face combo, SUPers are so adept in destruction that they often take out surfers without even realizing it! So what now? What can we possibly do to fend off this incoming horde of wave wreckers and surf sabotagers? I, personally, advocate an aggressive first-strike policy that includes dirty looks, audible groans, and when all else fails, strategically worded sarcasm such as,”Hey, did that SUP board come in the mail with your AARP membership card?” or “Does that thing have a hemi??” Drastic measures, I know, but ultimately a small price to pay in order to protect our surf breaks from paddle-wielding goons!

For more information how to become a kook, please check out standuppaddlesurf.net.

After eight years of…well, pretty much nothing…Pratte’s Reef, El Segundo’s much-discussed artificial surf break, was finally dismantled last Thursday. Originally constructed in 2000 as a consolation for Chevron’s destruction of another nearby surf spot, Pratte’s Reef, a v-shaped formation of sandbags set 30 yards offshore, has proved to be nothing but an expensive failure. While the promise of consistent, well-shaped surf never came to fruition at Pratte’s Reef, we can nonetheless walk away from this costly experiment with several important insights:

1. Waves and the underwater landscapes that create them are incredible natural phenomena, and even with all of our technology and computer imaging and scientific equations, we may never be able to engineer surf breaks that can compete with those already in existence.

2. Since we cannot accurately replicate and reproduce the surf spots that we so fondly cherish, it is important that we protect them while they can still be saved.

3. El Segundo is a scummy area and should probably be nuked off the face of the planet anyway. If El Porto and/or the Lakers’ practice facility can be saved in this process, that would be preferable.

To learn more about Pratte’s Reef and the process of building artificial surf breaks, check out this report from the Surfrider Foundation: Pratte’s Reef Positioning Paper

Located just around the bend from Salt Creek in Dana Point, Strands Beach is a completely different world. With its quirky waves and rundown, forgotten shoreline, Strands is like the red-headed stepchild of South Orange County beaches–an outcast surf break for outcast surfers. Attracting an eclectic combination of reclusive kneeboarders, scooter-riding burnouts, and other nefarious individuals from the fringes of the surf community, the lineup at Strands is often almost as varied–and as challenging–as the waves themselves. From heaving shorebreak to dumpy closeouts to perfect A-frames, you never know quite what to expect at Strands, and that is part of its enigmatic appeal.

Unfortunately, the Strands of days gone by may be gone forever. The Strands of the weird; the Strands where the parking is free and the lineup is uncrowded. This Strands–old, familiar, strange–is quickly being replaced by the Strands of the wealthy–the Strands of the haves and the you-can-have-not. Once a last bastion of wild Orange County, a place where trees and vines and brush rose up to swallow and ensnare the few signs of human life dotted along its shore, Strands has finally been conquered–its defiant bluffs molded into graded hillsides, its unruly vegetation replaced with concrete and rebar and other ominous signs of encroaching civilization.

While it may be too late to stop the construction at Strands–the Surfider Foundation effectively put an end to their hard-fought Save Strands campaign in 2005 after exhausting all options–we still have time to prevent this tragedy from repeating itself elsewhere along our coast. Please visit surfrider.org to learn about other endangered coastal habitats and ways that you can help in the effort to save them.

Ok, so I realize that we are well into October and that the brisk, blustery winds and ominous-looking rainclouds are sure-fire signs of the rapidly approaching fall season; however, there is still time to make use of the last of the sun’s summer rays by getting out of the house with our furry friends! From dog parks to dog beaches to–and I’m being dead serious here–dog buses, Orange County offers plenty of opportunities for you and your pet to have some outdoor fun!

Dog Parks:These pet-friendly parks are the perfect place for your dog to make some new friends and run wild without the restraints of a leash. Many dog parks offer some special perks for your pooch, including shaded resting areas and doggie bowls perfect for parched perros. The Laguna Niguel Pooch Park, located at 31461 Golden Lantern, is a great option for pets and their people in the Dana Point/Laguna Niguel area. For those canines with a bit of an artistic streak, the Laguna Canyon Dog Park is located just down the road from the Sawdust Festival at 20612 Laguna Canyon Rd.

Dog Beaches: These days, the surf and sand isn’t just for us humans! The Huntington Beach Dog Beach, running from 21st Street to Seapoint in Huntington, has been named Orange County’s “dogfriendliest beach” by ocdogfriendly.com due to its wide expanse of sandy, leash-free fun. For those of us in South County, Laguna Beach allows leashed dogs to explore its miles of pristine shoreline from September 17th through May 31st. Need a ride? The Doggie Bus provides free rides from Tustin to Huntingon Beach Dog Beach most weekends! Head on over to doggiebus.com for more info, including an updated schedule.

For a complete list of dog parks and beaches in Orange County, as well as plenty of other ideas for having fun with your four-legged friend, be sure to check out these great websites:

ocdogfriendly.com
hautedogs.org
petfiniti.com