SURFING SOAPBOX: A swell summer weekend

The first word that comes to mind when thinking back to this past weekend and Labor Day is “Wow.” What an insanely crowded weekend it was with beautiful weather in the ‘80s. With the first swell of summer, Laguna beaches were packed.

I took a walk with a friend at about 1 p.m. from Pearl Street beach south and was astonished at just how packed full the beaches were. Given high tide was approaching with a swell, there wasn’t much sand to begin with on this stretch of beach and the lifeguards were busy running up and down doing their jobs.

I’m sure the Laguna Beach lifeguards had plenty of rescues over the weekend.

Good thing that Coastal Cleanup Day is coming up quick this September 15, again being administered by the Clean Water Now! Coalition. Stations will be set up at the following beaches: Crescent Bay, Main Beach, Oak Street, Treasure Island and lower Aliso Beach. During the last cleanup, 3,280 pounds of trash plus 696 pounds of recyclable refuse was picked for a whopping total of 3,976 pounds of junk that don’t belong on our beaches or in our tide pools. So please come out and do your part.

In other beach-related news, the waiting period for the Boost Mobile pro held at Lower Trestles will begin September 9-15 and will be the sixth stop on the ASP (Assn. of Surfing Professionals) world tour out of 10 tour events.

The current top is as follows: Mick Fanning, Taj Burrow, Andy Irons, Kelly Slater and rounding out the top five, Joel Parkinson.

My prediction for this event: look for Kelly Slater to finally break the all-time event wins record currently held by surfing legend Tom Curren — with 33 wins on tour. The Trestles event is, ironically, the first event both surfers won in their respected careers.

Until next week; stay healthy, keep surfing.

Peace.

JAMES PRIBRAM is a Laguna Beach native, professional surfer and founder of the Aloha School of Surfing. He can be reached at Jamo@Alohaschoolofsurfing.com