Surf Break Map: Cottons, Trestles Surf Area, California

Surf Break Map: Cottons

This is the most northern break in the Trestles area…and the most fickle. Cottons is generally known as a left that breaks along the most northern part of San Mateo Point. It will break on a bigger SE through SW swell’s but it takes a very large swell to get it working properly. It seems to like the medium period swells (and sometimes large hurricane swells) the best. When everything connects you can string together some long sections.

When Cottons is breaking it attracts sort of a weird crowd. The wave is sort of rolly in the deeper water at the top of the point, so you see a lot of guys with bigger boards, guns, longboards, big-guy fun boards. The extra-length lets them get into the wave way on the outside and get a pretty long ride. Since the wave sort of bogs out after setting up on the outside section you end up having a whole different pack of shortboarders on the inside taking off on deeper sections and generally getting faster more critical rides on the inside. As the tide drops the packs start to edge closer together and the wave starts to get a more consistent shape and speed.

Spot details
Best swell direction: Large S-SW swell (180-210)…generally over 6’+ works best.
Best Wind: E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Mix of rock, sand, and sea-grass
Best Season: Late Spring, Summer and Fall. Anytime you get a big southern hemi swell.
Crowds: It is fickle enough that it gets really crowded when it breaks.

Surf Break Map: Barb-Wires, Trestles Surf Area, California

Surf Break Map: Barb-Wires

Barb-wires is a short sectiony wave that breaks on the reef that, if the point was more developed, would have been the left off of Uppers. Located between Cottons and Uppers, Barb-wires is sort a crowd bleed-off wave…it is right in front of where the Cristianitos trail ends and it is sectiony enough that you can paddle out and grab a couple of ok (but not great) waves fairly quickly.

Most times, if you are a decent surfer, paddling out at barb-wires when you have 3 really good waves close by is sort of like torturing yourself. You end up riding these short little sections while waaaay better waves peel down the close-by points. The wave itself can be very sectiony and almost walled up on certain swells, particularly when there is only one swell in the water. Barb-wires is a semi-friendly spot for people that are learning (but aren’t just beginning to surf), not ready to battle for waves, don’t like crowds, or don’t like surfing long waves because it makes their legs tired.

Barb-wires is at its best (best being a relative term of course) on a combo swell of S and W-WNW energy. The crossed up swell mix treats Barb-wires more like a beach breaks and helps to add a touch more definition to the wave. There will still be better waves at the other areas but you won’t feel like kicking yourself quite as much.

Spot details
Best swell direction: Small to medium swell combo of S-SW swell (180-220) and W-WNW swell (260-280)
Best Wind: E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Mix of rock, sand, and sea-grass
Best Season: Pretty much the same year round but more likely to get the swell combo in the Spring and Fall.
Crowds: It is fickle enough that it gets really crowded when it breaks.

Surf Break Map: Upper Trestles, Trestles Surf Area, California

Surf Break Map: Upper Trestles

Uppers is one of the most consistent waves at Trestles…and while it isn’t quite Yin to Lowers’ Yang, it is a pretty good ride.

The wave is a long right-hander that breaks along a rocky section of point just to the south of Barb-Wires and Cottons. It breaks on both S-SW and WNW swells but works best on the winter W-WNW’ers. Uppers can be sectiony at times, particularly on bigger swells, but it does consistently crank out some long makeable sections.

Uppers generally works best on a medium- to long-period W-WNW swell (270-285) and it likes to have some water underneath it…not a full blown high tide but at least the tide-push after the low-tide. Enough sand on the sea-floor also plays an important roll in wave shape…years where there has been a ton of run-off, (and the sand berm near the creek has been breached), sand fills in a lot of the imperfections in the rocks that make up the Uppers point helping to smooth out the wave and letting it connect for longer rides.

Spot details
Best swell direction: W-WNW (270-285) and swell S/WNW swell combos
Best Wind: E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Mix of mostly rock, with some sand and sea-grass
Best Season: Fall, Winter, Spring…but still fun in the summer.
Crowds: While not quite as bad as lowers it does get pretty crowded. Weekends, Santa Ana wind days, and big swells are particularly bad.

Surf Break Map: Lower Trestles, Trestles Surf Area, California

Surf Break Map: Lower Trestles

Lower Trestles is one of the “Crown Jewels” of California surfing. Generally referred to as Lowers the wave is located south of Uppers and north of Middles.

Lowers is the most well-defined point/reef in the Trestles surf area. The point sticks out a bit further than the others in the area, and the rock reef that extends off of the point is both better shaped and extends further out into deeper water. The combination of those two features helps to create a long, but very workable right and a shorter, but faster (and sometimes more hollow) left that breaks back towards Uppers.

Lowers works on almost any swell that it is exposed to but it breaks the best on large S and SW swells.

Even on big swells the peak and takeoff area are pretty small, which concentrates the crowd. Big but inconsistent swells will turn the pack into an ugly feeding-frenzy mess with lots of people dropping in and burning each other. You can pretty much always count on a crowd at lowers, and to be honest not many waves sneak through the peak unridden. The best you can hope for is lots of set waves in a big swell to help thin out the group at the peak and weed out some of the more timid surfers.

Spot details
Best swell direction: S-SW swell (170-220)
Best Wind: E, light-moderate Santa Ana winds are the best.
Sea Floor: Mix of mostly rock, with some sand and sea-grass
Best Season: Summer, Fall, and when we get big SW’ers in the Spring.
Crowds: On bad days it looks like the LA marathon starting line.