Olympic surfing venue battling erosion threat

SAN CLEMENTE – A surfer’s paradise nestling in a Southern California state park that delivers consistent, high-quality waves, Trestles Beach was the logical choice to host surfing at the 2028 Olympics.

But as Trestles prepares to showcase the world’s best surfers in three years’ time, locals hope the Olympics can shine a spotlight on – and help protect – this narrow strip of coastline that is steadily shrinking due to erosion.

“You can see that the beach here is pretty narrow. It used to be much wider,” says Suzie Whitelaw, president of the local advocacy group Save Our Beaches San Clemente, adding that Trestles has shrunk by approximately 30 feet in the past 10 years.

Whitelaw, a former oceanography professor with expertise in marine sediment dynamics and environmental geology, said the erosion is largely due to human development inland.

“Decades ago, 100 years ago, they started building dams. And the dams keep back the water, but they also keep back the sand,” she said.

“And over the decades, we just ended up with a huge deficit of sand. Every year the ocean reclaims a part of the beach. It needs to be replenished, needs to be replaced.

“So now that the natural sources (of sand),the rivers, are pretty much blocked off and we’re not getting a natural replenishment, humans have to step in and do artificial replenishment.”

The erosion is also accentuated by an increase in the power of waves due to the warming of the ocean.

Throughout the region, the ocean is swallowing up stretches of coastline, with erosion leaving multi-million dollar homes teetering on the edge of cliffs and sliding closer to the sea.

To combat erosion, the neighbouring town of San Clemente has dumped more than 190,000 cubic meters of sand on its beaches, and anticipates