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Spot: Trestles, CA
33°22′53″N, 117°35′17″W
The Waves
From north to south, the spots are:
Cotton’s Point is actually in Orange County. It is mostly a left, sometimes a right and a pretty damned good wave on a big southwest swell. This wave is and has been beloved by Corky Carroll, Herbie Fletcher, and Richard Nixon, who established his Western White House on Cotton’s Point, much to the chagrin of his next-door-neighbor, SURFER Magazine founder John Severson.
When you get to the end of the trail you can turn north for Cotton or south for Uppers/Lowers, or you can go straight out to a place some called Barbed Wires. This is a string of beachy-peaks breaking over rocks at the end of the trail, between Cottons and Uppers. This is a crowd-pressure release spot that can get pretty good on peaky swells.
Uppers is mostly a right and sometimes a left. The shape ranges from closed out and crumbly to razor-edged and perfect, depending on swell quality, tide, sand, etc. Uppers is generally the winter break while Lowers is for summer, although that’s not written in ice plant. Uppers tends to have an older crowd than Lowers but is usually less competitive, although on certain lined-up winter swells, it will get so damned good that it draws all the hotshots up from Lowers and it’s on for young and old.
Lowers is a cobblestone and sand point that is both a left and a right. The right is longer and the left is hollower. Lowers is one of the best small hotdog waves in California and the world. This is where Christian Fletcher developed his aerial surfing in the late 80s, and it has been the scene of some important contests over the years, including Christian Fletcher and Kelly Slater winning the Body Glove Surf Bout events there in the late 80s. A shockingly good wave on a southwest swell, but also shockingly crowded. The takeoff zone is about as big as a phone booth, and surfers try to cram into it like college students.
We swore to Mickey Munoz that we would not mention Middles, and we are as good as our word.
Church is a part of Camp Pendleton and really a different deal that Trestles. But there are so damned many surf spots in San Diego County that we’re throwing it in here for the sake of brevity. Church is mostly a right with some lefts up at the top. Church is generally a longboard wave and for beginning shortboarders because it is fairly slack most of the time. But a few times a year enough swell gets through to make Church fire, and when the offshores are blowing it can look (and feel) like a Rick Griffin cartoon. This is a place that would really benefit from a swell-generating machine out on Catalina Island, because a good day at Church is good indeed, but a little too rare.
Best Swell, Size and Direction
Big southwests are lovely and appreciated, the bigger the better. But big, lined-up wests are also cause for much rejoicing, as both Uppers and Lowers can make you cry they get so good. Stormswells, windswells and anyswells are welcome through here, too.
Trestles suffers from being tucked so far east and blocked a bit by Catalina Island. Ideal size for all of this area is four to six feet, although Cottons has been surfed beyond double-overhead and is capable of being a very very good wave. It’s the rare souther or west that will overload Uppers and Lowers, although it can happen. That winter swell of January 1998 that closed out Waimea Bay and created that huge Ken Bradshaw day at Outside Log Cabins came all the way to Trestles and made the whole point from Cottons to Church look like mini-Sunset. You could say that Lowers closed out that day. But that was once in a lifetime, or a decade, anyway.
Surrounding Spots
South of Lower Trestles, Middles is a spot between Lowers and Church, which is a right point with some lefts in front of Camp Pendleton.
Difficulty Level
Lowers and Uppers are generally for intermediate and above surfers, because they are crowded and competitive and rocky. Beginners will be okay on the smallest days, or down at San Onofre – beginner heaven
Localism Factor
According to a San Clemente surfer who has worn out many pairs of shoes walking down to the Trestle: “At Uppers there is an established group of regulars who actually care about the place and are not afraid to call you out if you’re a little over active in the water. Paddling inside or behind, too many waves, multiple drop ins etc will make your day less enjoyable and your towel disappear. It's the kind of place where you can actually talk storey with random strangers and be cordial. ... Then they'll paddle across you or drop in on you.
The guys who hang out at the shack are like the conscience of the place. The shack is theirs, don't put your stuff there. If you put in the time to help construct stuff or show respect to place and person, welcome down.
Lowers has fanatical regulars. Not locals, but die hard addicts. Not a lot of camaraderie here, not much chit chat, lots of stink eye. Pushing, shoving, kicking are the norm when the place is on. I really hate it when guys push around glaring and yelling at each other, and when in position they back off at the last minute or blow the wave you let them take when you've got two under your belt on a two hour sesh. The groms are a horror show that way, but are some of the hottest kids in the world, no kidding. (get it?)”
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