Remember, Remember Lowers As We Slip Into September
Michael Dunphy’s San Clemente tracks.
When the first south of the summer hits Southern California, we sing a hymn for Lowers. The scene is painfully “surf”. Cameras line the sand, clinging to tripods like barnacles on a boat. There are groms, moms, Kelly Slater on a black electric bike, and Chris Ward making a case for his IG handle. The lineup is loud. It’s angry. And, if the sun’s out on the weekend, it’s better for everyone’s mental health to avoid the cobblestone.
At the start of summer, the edits trickle down our feed. The locals hype, love, loathe and forget about the sharks breaching out the back. The folks across the pond get a vision of how good California can get. But, for the epicentre of surf that Southern California is, the quality of waves is alike to taking Ritalin when you desperately need to sleep. It’s trying: Occasionally decent – rarely good.
Then, through surfing’s window of the web, silhouettes of the Hurley Pro wave in the distance. The south swells haven’t stopped, and unlike how Pipe is written off by January/February – when it’s best; Lowers is remembered as we ride into September.
So here Michael Dunphy complements the Surfliner’s tracks with rail lines of his own.
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