It was barely 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning at Lower Trestles. Strains of AC/DC’s “Back in Black” were thundering from loudspeakers pointed toward more than a dozen surfers in the water and Emily Marshall was fixing breakfast for nearly 300 people on the sand.
Cooking in a surprisingly complete kitchen—propane griddles but with electric waffle irons, chafing dishes and a double sink complete with piping-hot water—Marshall, a manager with Fisherman’s Restaurant, had already been at work for three hours.
While surfing conjures images of needing nothing more than a board, trunks, a wave and a laid-back attitude, putting on a world-class contest for the world’s top surfers is anything but chill.
Marshall’s kitchen was just one element, not even the largest or most complex, of a complete compound erected in just days at the usually isolated Lower Trestles for the Association of Surfing Professionals Hurley Pro contest that started September 13.
Also included: Two two-story structures that include a lounge-like area that even serves beer and houses a complete television/video production studio.
“We kind of create a whole city,” said Jennifer Lau, event director for IMG, which handled the logistics. “Not a big one…we have our own little township here at Lowers.”
And there won’t be a trace of it within hours of the contest ending on September 19. From organizers to state parks officials to spectators, everyone agreed Hurley will leave the beach in better shape than they found it.
State Parks officials, environmentalists and surfers are all fiercely protective of Lower Trestles. The beach isn’t easy to get too, the waves are world-renown and the area, at the mouth of San Mateo Creek, is naturally sensitive. And while surfers generally don’t like a favorite break closed off to them for a week, nobody really complains about the Hurley Pro.
“I know some people don’t like the contests,” State Lifeguard Gary Harvey said as he watched the competition on Tuesday. “But this is good for State Parks. It provides an alternative funding source for our budget shortfalls—we’re definitely in a crisis—and we try to make it positive to promote the sport and promote our beaches. I think it can be a plus for everyone.”
Even with world-class surfers in the water, a lifeguard was stationed at either end of the beach. All told, state parks has about eight people working the contest, in addition to those on regular shifts. The contest draws a couple of thousand people a day during the week, but “of course that increases geometrically when Kelly Slater surfs,” Harvey said.
On Saturday, the final day, it’s likely the state park’s rescue boat, “Surf Watch 7” will be in the water, too. Harvey’s usually behind the controls of the 33-foot, twin-engine Crystaliner, but the budget crisis only allows the Dana Harbor-based craft out on an as-needed basis after Labor Day.
Harvey reported no problems at the contest. But if he and his lifeguards could relax a little, others were feeling more than their share of pressure.
Inside one of the two-story structures was a full-service production studio, where producers were putting a real-time, high-definition broadcast of the contest out over the Internet. The control room, kept air conditioned, was the size of a semi-truck trailer and stocked with computers and large-screen televisions where the director was watching feeds from four beach cameras on elevated platforms and calling for just the right shot at just the right time. As many as 75,000 people were expected to watch the Webcast at www.thehurleypro.com this week, said Hurley’s Digital Communications Director Evan Slater.
“With Trestles, it’s more of a Webcast event,” Slater said. “You don’t want 70,000 people down here messing up the landscape.”
The control room includes back-ups for the back-ups, Slater said, to ensure there’s no glitches. And Hurley also pre-produced some segments to give the Webcast more of a television feel.
That requires a lot of power, and a quiet diesel generator provides the juice, said IMG’s Lau. Out of site and almost inaudible, the generator was running on bio-diesel, fitting in with the ongoing effort at keeping the event’s footprint small. Hurley partnered with Mizu, which makes stainless-steel water bottles, to eliminate the need for plastic bottles. Those who bought a Mizu bottle could fill up for free at any number of water stations set up by another sponsor, Arrowhead.
Even Marshall and Fisherman’s Restaurant, which has provided the food for eight years now, were going green. The utensils they provided were made from starch instead of plastic. When you serve 500 people just for breakfast alone on a Saturday, that can make a big difference. Visitors, workers and the surfers found themselves enjoying freshly grilled salmon and tri-tip, with extras such as calamari. Marshall and her crew started each day at the restaurant at 4 a.m., and were on the beach by 5:30 a.m. Some parts of the meal were prepared at the restaurant, while some was cooked on-site. Food was trucked in—the permit with the state strictly regulates how many vehicles can be on the beach—and judges and staff had to be fed by 7:30 a.m. each morning. All told, Fisherman staffed the Trestles contest with about two dozen employees a day.
Five hundred meals is a big day for a restaurant, much less one set up on the sand miles from a walk-in refrigerator. “It’s a lot of work…at 4 a.m., you think you never want to do this again, but you get here and everyone is so appreciative and so happy it’s all worthwhile,” said Marshall, whose notebook is covered with photos of her with contestants from previous years. “This is our hometown, our backyard, so who better to do it but us?”
Hurley puts a big focus on the fan experience, too, and for the first time this year set up a Hurley shop to sell clothing. Also for the fans was a life-size “Walk of Champions” that gave a quick synopsis of the contest winners at Trestles over the past decade, even though this is the first year with Hurley as the title sponsor.
When the competitors come out of the water after a heat, fans greet them at the waterline, and the athletes—regardless of their performance in the water—happily and patiently sign books, photos, shirts, whatever is thrust in front of them, as well as smile for seemingly countless photographs. On Tuesday, Trevor Mezak kept his son, Cole, 7, out of school for a day—after promising to do all the class work—so the boy, himself a younger surfer, could get an autograph from surfing great Kelly Slater.
Mezak, a Capistrano artist who surfed professionally in the 90s, said he surfs Lowers nearly every day but didn’t mind the contest. “Hurley puts on a really good show,” he said, as Cole got his treasured signature. “They respect the state parks and clean up when they’re done.”
To that end, Hurley’s Evan Slater—no relation to the surfer—said Hurley and Arrowhead are coordinating a massive beach cleanup, extending far beyond the contest boundaries, on Saturday, which coincides with Ocean Conservancy’s 25th Annual International Coastal Cleanup day.
“It’s been amazing,” said Susan Goggins, executive director of the San Onofre Foundation, a new non-profit dedicated to the preservation of the San Onofre State Park area. Hurley allowed the foundation to set up a booth on-site. Foundation members planned to staff the booth Saturday to explain their cause and solicit members. “I’m certain they’re going to leave the beach cleaner than they found it.”
With the contest well under way, Evan Slater said there’s really no time to rest even though the event is annual. The request for permits for the 2010 event had to be in two months ago.
The surfers appreciate Hurley’s hard work, too. “It’s been awesome,” said Huntington Beach surfer Brett Simpson, after Kelly Slater ended his hopes for a title in the third round. “Hurley did a great job...they really catered to the surfers and the fans.”
A bit of class among competitors? After Kelly Slater beat Simpson in the heat, Slater stayed in the water, floating on his board so Simpson could have some time with fans on the beach. When Slater hit the sand, it was a mob scene. But even he had high praise for the operation.
“It’s great,” Kelly Slater said after his heat. “Hurley does a fantastic, world-class job.”
And by Tuesday, there won’t be any evidence they were there at all. Trestles will return to its tranquil self, a world-class surf break and pristine beach.
Vol. 2, Issue 38, September 18-24, 2009
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