Photo: Brad Jacobson / Youtube
Teahupo’o became the center of the surf universe once it was selected as the event site for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The wave itself and the people of the small Tahitian village it’s named after made international headlines countless times leading up to the summer Games, from debates about holding a contest several thousand miles away from the true host city to protests over construction of a judges’ tower. Simply put, Teahupo’o was surrounded by drama. And then it put on one hell of an Olympic show.
Now that Trestles has been selected as the location for Olympic surfing in the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Games, would you be at all surprised if the SoCal wave magnet churned up its own drama-filled saga for the next three years? I wouldn’t. All eyes will be on the wave for the next 36 months, and it’s not like Trestles hasn’t been the center of battles between surfers and developers, or surfers and politicians for decades.
Fresh off the announcement of Trestles as home to the next Olympic surfing competition, a new run of swell rolled in. Los Angeles-based videographer Brad Jacobson, who’s never one to miss a swell anywhere in SoCal, took the drive down to document it. It was pumping, which is really what Olympic officials will be hoping for in the 10-day event window. Lowers, of course, isn’t going to offer anything other than its skatepark-like peaks at best. If you’re a glass half-full fan then you’re hoping an Olympic event at Trestles is highlighted by progression — an aerial display punctuated by something we’ve never seen before? We can only hope.
