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DISCLAIMER: SURFING IS HARD, YOU MUST BE ABLE TO SWIM WELL. (Otherwise this is dangerous for you and for us, and that's not cool. No prior surf experience is required, but we reserve the right to determine your swimming ability and to determine whether you can surf or not.)
Feeling SWELL? Dig the dirtbag lifestyle? On a mission to check off every beach name-dropped in the 1963 Beach Boys classic Surfin’ USA? This just might be the trip for you! We’re traveling to San Onofre State Beach’s bluff trails with Annenberg prof Keith Plocek!
This chill beach day will be a great opportunity to learn how to surf, make friends, and experience a mecca of SoCal surf culture!
We will depart from USC at 6:30, and arrive at San Onofre around 8AM. After a short hike from the trailhead, we’ll arrive on the beach for a glassy morning sesh while the wind and tides are in our favor. The hike is about a mile, so bring lace-up shoes in addition to your flip-flops. After surfing our hearts out, we’ll enjoy a lunch on the beach before heading back.
Bring a surfboard if you have one, and a wetsuit if you want one. Otherwise, we’ll handle everything else.
PACKING LIST:
Wetsuit (if you have one)
Surfboard (if you have one)
H2O (at least 2L)
Beach clothes
Day Pack (sunscreen!!!!!!/sunglasses/snacks/hats recommended)
WAIVERS
Boards will be supplied, and we will rent wetsuits as the water gets colder.
PROFESSOR: KEITH PLOCEK
DEPARTMENT: Journalism
Keith Plocek is an assistant professor of professional practice at USC Annenberg, where he teaches a variety of journalism classes, including Storytelling for Action Sports. He has written about surfing for general-interest publications, such as LA Weekly, where his 2016 cover storyon the 50th anniversary of The Endless Summer looked at the film’s impact on surf tourism—and the consequences of that travel on coastal communities. He has also contributed to surf publications, such as The Inertia, and he scored thefirst aerial photos of Kelly Slater’s artificial wave pool in Central California by attaching a GoPro camera to a kite and dragging it behind his Jeep.
PEAK: SAN ONOFRE -TRAILS
DIFFICULTY: 2/5
SCENERY: California pre-terraforming
FUN FACT: Spanning 7 miles of coast, San Onofre (Sano for short) is one of the most wave-rich areas in the continental US, welcoming surfers of all performance levels.
TRIP LEAD: COLIN DUFFY