U.S. Marine Corp poised to reabsorb Old Mans.
There are many places in Southern California where baby wave enthusiasts can gather with their longer craft, malinger in parking lots, talk small talk, vibe then paddle out into tiny ocean lumps for to make glide but none more iconic than San Onofre. Just south of Upper Trestles and pressed up against the Marine base Camp Pendleton, San O has long been a favorite amongst steezy toms and mollys. Though the parking lot, and road in, might have washed away, the spirit remains but might it soon be snuffed out?
While the vast majority of the golden state’s beaches are owned by Sacramento, San Onofre is actually part of the aforementioned Camp Pendleton and owned by the Marines who have benevolently leased the strip back to California for $1 per year for the past 53.
It expires on August 31, 2024.
While the state is currently negotiating with the Marine Corps, word on the strand is that rent is going to go up. Substantially. Whispers are that the asking price is roughly $5 million per year leaving cross-steppers in a cold panic. Might Old Man’s be reabsorbed thereby forcing log heads to enlist in order to toe the nose?
The Marines, for their part, are attempting to soothe nerves. First Lt. Taylor M. Dorsey, a communications representative for Camp Pendleton, told Voice of San Diego that the beach will remain public no matter what. “If a succeeding agreement cannot be established before Aug. 31, the maintenance and operation of the San Onofre Beach State Park will fall under the authority of Camp Pendleton. Camp Pendleton is dedicated to minimizing any impact to the public and will ensure that patrons retain uninterrupted access to the park regardless of lease renewal agreements.”
But we all know what China said when it reclaimed Hong Kong and we also know what has happened since.
The question, I suppose, will San Onofre creatures add to, or subtract from, America’s military might?
Also, why doesn’t Filipe Toledo longboard?
Currently more questions than answers.
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Send everyone to Cardiff reef and Malibu or wherever Joel Tudor is…. stand bye… content Incoming….more as the story gets Submitted/choked out
He does! And surfers make great floating targets! I see a training opportunity….
Loggers can always black up their furniture and head down the beach to Trail 1. Plenty of baby waves and baby GW’s to be found there.
isn’t So Cal surf just one big baby wave?
sure, every so often you get some oomph at a very few select spots, but other than that almost the entire state of So Cal consists of baby waves.
so who cares, just go down the road to another baby wave.
shame to see that parking lot go though, for I have personal knowledge of many babies be made there in that very parking lot.
Is there anywhere for the logging lot lizard to go? San O and Cardiff were the only loggy waves where the car park is right on the beach, like a tailgate zone for the big game, that I can think of south of Blakies. Just back the old panel wagon up in the dirt lot and you were home for the day. Board nose resting on the bumper while the tail in the sand getting a tint more yellow in the sun while the jazz plays on the radio and your Birdwell’s dry. Is the beach lot bingo over in San Diego? How many more Val’s can squeeze in at Termaline. Will this bring on a new shortboard revolution? Do the Marines plan to boost enlistees by offering access to private surf camping areas? I don’t know any of these answers! And none of them seem important enough to have even typed here in these comments. What can we do? Please don’t follow up! Give us a shark story to divert us away from the worries of not caring or feeling bad about caring about a place that can’t matter to your readers. Help us focus on something worth while. Is there a chance that Kelly may be a good or bad father to the child growing in the woman he refuses to marry? A story on how Griff will soon figure out that there is a God and he is not Him? Perhaps something encouraging Eli to get more focused on the big wave side of pro surfing due to the length (or lack there of) of his chin bone and how a 60 footer ridden by him would clock in a 100 feet and the world record. I don’t know just give us something to get our minds off of how the climate hates retro nostalgic surf activity and the hipsters that do it. Mahalo, work.
There’s Tourmaline and La Jolla Shores for the old logger crowd.
Extra crowded Tourmaline and Shores. Got it. Loggers have 90% of the continent to log but Vals can only really surf a very popular well known brakes that make them feel like they belong. This could be the summer that the Val scene dies. If there is no available parking for a 1976 van/2024 sprinter/2025 cybertruck why even go surfing? Or could it move permanently to Bali? or Saludita? The leash laws in Byron Shire don’t jive with Joel and Al’s vibe anymore. Either way we all win. Life’s hard then you be come a VAL.
SPORTS!!!
One of the few safe spaces for retrosexuals.
Creatures have already begun to migrate to the Harbor and points south.
Migrating elsewhere with the SanO lower parking lot being closed