Lower Trestles Dropped as Professional Surfing Site

Lower Trestles, which had recently been added as a stop on the World Championship Tour of Professional Surfing, was dropped Thursday because of a lack of sponsorship for the event, said Graham Stapelberg, executive director of the Assn. of Surfing Professionals.

Lower Trestles, which has some of the best waves in the world, was added to the 14-stop tour in December after ASP officials voted to dissolve the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach.

But because of the restrictions placed on the May 5-10 event by California Parks and Recreation, which included limiting the contest to five days, sponsors were hesitant about investing and worried about the effect of such time restraints on television coverage.

“Normally, the ASP grants a minimum 11-day waiting period to those events held at excellent wave locations such as Trestles,” Stapelberg said. “This ensures significant time to produce a television show, which is an essential ingredient to staging such an event.”

Bad weather and poor surf conditions can delay a contest. If an event is shortened, television broadcasts, which are tape-delayed and edited to include highlights, might suffer.

While the majority of professional surfers applauded the move from Huntington Beach to Lower Trestles, the surf industry was not happy about the relocation because of limited public access to the beach. Lower Trestles is on a secluded piece of land that’s owned by the U.S. Marines but operated by California Parks and Recreation.

With little parking available and a 1 1/2-mile hike from the lot to the beach, Lower Trestles was expected to draw substantially fewer spectators than the 100,000 who showed up for the U.S. Open in August.

Stapelberg said the ASP is looking at other California locations, including Huntington Beach, to replace Trestles.

Cheryl Robinson, administration assistant of community affairs for Huntington Beach, said the city would be more than willing to talk to the ASP; however, she said major reconstruction is scheduled for an area near the Main Street Pier.

“Construction starts in May and will last a year,” Robinson said. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t look for a possible site [about a mile] south of the pier.”

Bob Mignogna, publisher of Surfing Magazine, said he was never happy with the move from Huntington Beach to Lower Trestles.

“It was a move to satisfy the desires of the young pro surfers of the WCT tour who want to have every event in the high surf-quality spots,” Mignogna said. “And while there’s no doubt that Trestles is a great spot, it clearly wasn’t the most practical decision.”

Mignogna said it’s important for surfing to reach out to the mainstream public, since the bulk of the industry is in Southern California.

“You can’t exactly indulge the mainstream when you’re in an isolated area where only the die-hards will attend,” he said.