Stab Magazine | The Crowds Are Thinning In Orange County

Live Now — Episode 3 Of Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico

303 Views

The Crowds Are Thinning In Orange County

Shark tales from the Orange Triangle. 

news // May 13, 2017
Words by Stab
Reading Time: 3 minutes

It’s 8:37 am and the phone rings. It’s photographer and friend Jason Kenworthy. He has five kids, all of them surf and skate. The posse keeps him plenty busy and when he does find the time to call he usually wants something. 

“Dude, you’ve gotta do something about this,” he says, barely grunting good morning.

“What do you mean?” I ask, trying to remember if I’ve done anything recently that may have rubbed him raw. Immediately I suspect I have.

“Dude! The fucking sharks. You need to do something, dude.” he continues, as if I’m Mick Fanning and can just go out and wrestle sharks.

“It’s getting serious. What are we going to do about them? Nobody’s surfing. You need to write some shit about this,” he continues.

Jason lives in Dana Point and, like so many parents around here, he ritually carts his groms to San Clemente to surf. They frequent San Onofre, Trestles, T-Street, Doheny and Salt Creek. In his blunt way, Jason was alluding to the fact that right now nowhere feels safe.

I spent the remainder of the day talking to friends and soaking in shark stories. The conclusion? Yeah, we’re fucked. As somebody that grew up surfing north of San Francisco in the so-called “Red Triangle,” it takes more than a fin to rattle me, but after hearing the stories of my friends in San Clemente and Dana Point, I’m convinced the ocean is conspiring against us.

“Did you hear about Neco?” says Jason. “Neco Padaratz was giving a surf lesson at Trestles to a couple of groms. He saw a fin, put the two kids on his board and then he got bumped.”

These stories of getting chased out of the water have become commonplace. Multiple originating from Uppers and Cottons. Then, of course, there’s the webcam maven that keeps breaching at Lowers.

No problem, just head to the beachbreaks…right?

“I know of two different incidents where people were chased out of the water at the beachbreaks…by a big one,” Matt Wybenga, a longtime surf filmer told me. 

“I watched a sea lion get chased out of the water at Calafia State Beach,” said a local lifeguard who preferred to remain nameless

It could be that everyone’s on a heightened state of alert. There have been considerably more eyes in the sky. The Orange County Sheriff captured some helicopter footage of 15 sharks cruising close to the sand in Capo Beach that immediately went viral.

“My godson was out flying his drone in Capo, he filmed a 16-footer less than 100 yards from shore,” said a baffled Art Brewer, who after 50 years of surf photography isn’t one to embellish. 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yxW4DSn9mmc

Too close for comfort at Capo Beach is the understatement of the week.

“I was surfing out at Strand the other day and a panicked sea lion swam inside of me, in the shorebreak…and it’s not like I was surfing that far offshore. I got out immediately,” said JP Van Swae, the grandson of the great Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison, the paramount California surf pioneer. 

Today my nine-year-old came home with a story too.

“My teacher’s friends were surfing down at Trails at San Onofre,” she explained. “They were surfing off a boat and took a break to have lunch. They were sitting on their boards eating sandwiches when a shark bumped and started circling them.” 

Trails is particularly sharky. I saw a big shark swimming a few hundred yards offshore last week while checking the surf. There was one guy out on a stand-up paddleboard.

From the pros to the grammar school kids, the level of paranoia is mounting with no real solution. In about two weeks the schools get out for summer vacation. In theory, all the junior lifeguard programs and surf camps take to the beaches, but right now there aren’t many people interested in dipping their toes in the water. Beach closures and shark sitings are the new norm. The old guys that hang out the back at Lowers and wait for set waves have been relegated to scrapping on the inside with the groms. 

“Ever since the attack, I don’t see as many people in the water. There are still people surfing, for sure, but the crowds aren’t what they were,” said the lifeguard. “The other thing, there aren’t any seals or sea lions out on the buoys and offshore rocks. They’ve literally disappeared. They’re definitely spooked.”

For the last couple of days, the wind’s been blowing and the swells been dropping. Never thought I’d say this, but that’s a good thing.

 

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Expect No Kiss, All Climax At The “World’s Most Perfect Pointbreak”

A Corona Cero Open J-Bay 2025 preview.

Jul 9, 2025

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien stars in ‘Friction of Perception’

"Hopefully I don’t come across like too much of a peanut."

Jul 8, 2025

10 Shapers To Watch In The Next 10 Years — Part One

“It’s like a drug empire, man. Cut the head off the snakes, and more will…

Jul 7, 2025

Mason Ho Joins Ritual Vision, Releases Remix Of Greatest Hits

Dion Agius riffs on the eyewear brand’s U.S. expansion, Ritualistic Tendencies, and the new stars…

Jul 7, 2025

Is It Time For A New Judging Format?

We have a modest proposal — a WSL head judge disagrees.

Jul 7, 2025

Luke Thompson Turns Last Year’s Priority Disaster Into Ballito Gold

+ earns himself a wildcard into Jbay.

Jul 7, 2025

Fiji Has Its First Professional Surfer, And He’s Unbelievable

16-year-old James Kusitino’s incomprehensible tube lounging leads to a deal with Former.

Jul 6, 2025

Laird Hamilton on The Limitations of Being a Purist, Invention vs. Ownership + Why He Never Had a Sticker Deal 

Untold stories from his How Surfers Get Paid interview.

Jul 4, 2025

Surf100 Challenge Series Presented By Pacifico: Episode 3

"The tribe has spoken," Dane Reynolds pronounced, and a surfer's torch was snuffed.

Jul 3, 2025

When Surfer’s Eye Is Actually Cancer

Erin Campbell's brutal journey from surf camp dreams to chemo drops, cryotherapy, and surgical horror.

Jul 3, 2025

Surfing’s 2025 Q2 Report

An assessment of surfing's vital signs throughout the second quarter of 2025.

Jul 2, 2025

What Actually Happened to Occy’s Mad Max Plunger Pool In Yeppoon?

Surf Lakes’ brass talks: internet hecklers, the unplugging of the plunger, and the Tom Curren…

Jul 2, 2025

Poor Goofy Foots 

Data shows that the world is stacked against goofs — they even make 15% less money than…

Jul 1, 2025

Britain’s First Wavepool Has Closed — What Really Happened?

Bankruptcy, social media hackings, debts unpaid — and yet, reopening looms.

Jul 1, 2025

Watch: Was Matt Meola’s Air Actually Better Than Hughie’s?

Watch the full Swatch Nines highlight reel and decide.

Jun 30, 2025

Houshmand Bludgeons Field To Win Second CT — Molly Picklum Tastes Blood, Snatches World #1 In Brazil

You can't argue with big surfing — that's Saquarema wrapped.

Jun 29, 2025

37 Years Old And World #1 — What’s Changed For Jordy Smith?

On rediscovering decades old surfboard templates, having a personality on the CT, and why this…

Jun 27, 2025

Tom Lowe Stars in ‘Let Me Live’

The wild, improbable ascent of Britain’s best big-wave surfer.

Jun 27, 2025
Advertisement