Along a sliver of sandy beach between the cobblestone-lined ocean and a dense shrub habitat, a mini beach festival appeared, built in just a few days to welcome the world’s best surfers.
Scaffolding and tenting created makeshift buildings for judges and athletes, along with their coaches and friends, at the Lexus Trestles Pro. Fans haul down beach chairs and towels, in lieu of grandstands, filling in whatever sandy space they could find. The ocean, at times, soaked belongings and sent people scrambling as the tide pushed higher.
Creating the temporary arena on the sand at Lower Tresltes, just south of San Clemente and north of Camp Pendleton, is no easy task, but the El Segundo-based World Surf League has successfully done so for decades — and with the Olympics on the horizon in three years, the WSL is sharing its insider knowledge with LA28 Summer Game organizers who hope to mimic a similar footprint at the delicate beach.
The surf event last week drew thousands of people, a chance for Olympic officials to study how a surf event can be set up and operated at the San Onofre State Beach, which was announced in April as the choice for the 2028 competition. While they weren’t available for comment, the appearance of the LA28 officials is an indicator of the early planning in the works for the event still three years away.
“As things progress, more will come to light,” said Graham Stapelberg, WSL tour president, who has worked with State Parks on events at the surf break since 2001. “The good thing is, to their credit, they are thinking along the lines of how we run our events here. And that’s really important.”
The announcement came in April that the surf break – wedged between Orange County and San Diego – won the bid to host the LA28 surfing portion of the Olympics.
Picked for the quality of the surf break’s waves, Lower Trestles is a bit off the beaten path. When the news dropped, many people worried the Olympic competition would be a mega event bringing massive crowds and impact the protected landscape.
Monthly meetings are already gearing up between Olympic organizers and State Parks officials discussing ideas for the first-ever Olympics held at a surf spot in the United States, said State Parks Superintendent Kevin Pearsall.
“The majority of the site will be similar to the World Surf League event,” said Pearsall. “A lot of it will be incredibly similar, but the reality is it’s the Olympics.”
Surf contest organizers for the World Surf League and contractors who set up booths on the sand typically have six days to set up the event infrastructure, said Stapelberg.
“There’s a lot that goes into it — how we have to squeeze into the area, take into consideration some of the sensitive environmental areas,” he said. “We have a long involvement working with the State Parks, understanding their needs, understanding the needs of the community and making sure we can still deliver for all of our key stakeholders.
“I think it’s the reason we get to come back every year, I think we take it to heart and we take it seriously, we respect all of those stakeholders,” he said.
His group shared with the Olympic crew that came down for the tour the logistical challenges they deal with, such as how to haul in materials to create two-story structures while navigating a 12-foot-high bridge that doesn’t leave much room for bringing in large pieces.
“You literally have to build everything from scratch, with relatively low-impact equipment,” Stapelberg said. “It’s a huge undertaking, so it’s a testament to the team that gets involved, but also speaks to the experience in being able to do it. Every year, we get better and better.”
The setup has had to evolve with the changing landscape over the past 20 years. Once, the structures were set on the front side of the dirt access road, with plenty of sand in front as a buffer from the ocean’s waves. Now, with the erosion impacting many Southern California beaches, including Lower Trestles, buildings are set behind the access road, Stapelberg noted.
To make room, the WSL is allowed to cut back invasive species taking up space, but must leave behind native habitat, he added.
One big difference will be access. To get to surf contests, fans can mosey down the trails, walk up or down the shoreline or even watch from a boat. That likely won’t be the case for the Olympics, which are expected to be a ticketed event with stringent security.
And, the surf break may be shut down for a period of time, whereas during World Tour events or other contests, the ocean is open except for when the competitors are in heats.
“That’s going to be important, how you approach that, and I think what’s key is communication with the community,” Stapelberg said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it’s never going to happen again in any of our lifetimes — that’s just the reality of that. So I think there has to be some appreciation and understanding.”
The site also has parking challenges. A parking lot above the beach that opens just for contests holds 186 spaces. With 36 surfers competing at the World Tour event, the WSL can only give one parking spot per athlete. But for the Olympics, teams are joined by coaches, medical staff and others in their entourage.
There’s talk of a temporary platform for trains that already pass by to stop. That way, just people with tickets can access the beach and attendance figures can be counted, Pearsall said.
A train stop would help solve the parking issue, but also help mitigate the illegal — and dangerous — problem of people crossing over the tracks to access the park, Pearsall said.
“Everyone is excited to have a possible train stop, I think everyone is really enthusiastic about that opportunity,” he said. “What a cool and unique experience to be able to take a little train ride to watch the Olympics of surfing.”
A train track would also bring people directly to the beach, rather than having to hike down the steep dirt trail.
San Clemente photographer Sheri Crummer, 74, watched last week’s surf contest with her long lens fixated on the surfers. She used a small dolly to get her gear to the beach, navigating the steep dirt trail and across the tracks.
“That was a little testy, this is heavy,” she said. “I crashed a couple times.”
Surf fan Veronica Wold said she hopes Olympic attendees won’t be “corralled,” with fans used to being able to approach their favorite surfers for photos and autographs.
“Just to have access for the fans,” she said. “I think that’s important.”
The intent for the surfing portion of the Olympics is, for the most part, for spectators to watch remotely, Pearsall said.
“It’s not intended to be a highly-visited event on site,” he said. “This isn’t football or a game, it’s the Olympics of surfing, so everyone is going to be able to catch it incredibly well online or on TV.”
Alex Mignogna, coastal adaptation manager for the Surfrider Foundation, said protecting the beach, with its coyote bush, coastal sage, beach primrose and other natural landscape, is “of utmost importance.” In Tahiti, there was worry and protests when a large scaffolding was built on the delicate reef for the 2024 Olympics.
She was glad, she said, to hear WSL officials were working with the Olympic organizers to understand the delicate habitat.
“With WSL, they’ve done this with State Parks so many times, they clearly care — they have the WSL One Ocean program geared at protecting this place, and they do it well,” she said.
Surfrider, based in nearby San Clemente, hopes to have a seat at the table with Olympic organizers, she said.
“To be able to speak to the needs for protecting this area and keep a watchful eye and provide consultation would be a big win and would feel like the LA Olympics are taking a meaningful step in ensuring this space is left as well as it is found,” she said.
Kanoa Igarashi, a two-time Olympian who won silver in the Tokyo Games, said the most important thing is ensuring the natural landcape and the waves are not impacted.
He pointed out at the 10-foot, picture-perfect waves on the final day of the Trestles Pro last week, saying, “The wave is kind of the art piece that Trestles brings us.”
Igarashi, who grew up in nearby Huntington Beach, called it a “natural wave pool,” a surf spot that goes right and left, allowing for big curves or big airs. In his opinion, it’s one of the top 10 waves in the world.
“I’m just really excited for more people to see what we have here,” he said. “And at the end of the day, as long as we have this — the waves — we don’t need anything else. As long as we protect the waves and the nature around it, I think we’re good.”