If you’re headed out to the beach this weekend, make sure you pack your winter wetsuit because water temps have dropped big time in the past few days.
Just when the water was warming up a bit, the winds kicked up and dropped water temps in the bone-chilling 50s.
The chilly water will help out lifeguards, because people will stay in the water for shorter periods of time because of the temps.
If you are headed down to the beach, check out our OC Fourth of July Beach Guide
For those who have enjoyed the free parking at Trestles, those days could be over, reports Orange County Register reporter Fred Swegles.
Here’s what he wrote:
Because of California’s budget crunch and state parks’ efforts to raise revenue, San Onofre State Beach will soon begin charging $10 a day to park cars in Trestles’ 84-space public lot at El Camino Real and Cristianitos Road.
Are you headed to the coast on Fourth of July? So is everyone else. Here’s some info to help navigate you through the madness:
DRINKING? Make sure you hide your beers in West Newport:
This area has long been the drunken party central, where house parties in front yards are flowing with booze; hardly anyone has any clothes on; and the cops are scanning the area to bust anyone doing anything even slightly suspect.
Check out this video from last year’s craziness. And here’s another from Youtube, courtesy of djjson on Twitter.
Hundreds of thousands of people flood into Newport, and the Police Department has about 200 officers on scene to make sure things don’t get out of control. Newport - and back in the days Huntington Beach - have a bad rap for having crazy fights and riots on the 4th of July.
Huntington Beach has toned down, after police started crackin’ the whip and fining everyone for everything. But Newport is still pretty wild. Last year, police gave more than 370 citations for various violations, issuing more than 590 parking citations and arresting 159 people.
They note that 83 percent of those arrested have addresses outside of Newport Beach (Read: Inland Empire) Last year’s arrest totals were up 27.2 percent from the previous year’s total of 125, according to the police. The biggest problem areas include drinking in public, public intoxication, fighting, uncontrolled parties, possession of fireworks and igniting them in public.
Fireworks are illegal to possess in the city of Newport Beach despite their sale in nearby cities.
So check it out - just be careful about taking your drinks out in the areas bordering the following areas, because fines are tripled: Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Boulevard, 32nd Street, the Pacific Ocean, and 54th Street.
The Police Department suggests people minimize the number of guests they invite to their parties, control those who attend, and make sure people who are drinking keep all open alcoholic beverages on their private property.
Also, make sure you don’t park illegally, the towing companies are out scouting ways to make big bucks on this day. If you want more details, check out www.NBPD.org.
PARKING:
Will be insane everywhere. Good luck.
ROAD and PIER CLOSURE:
If you’re headed through or going to Huntington Beach, you may want to take note of some road closures along Pacific Coast Highway. The roads from Goldenwest street to Beach Boulevard on PCH will be closed starting at 5 a.m., until 2 p.m.
City beach parking is only accessible at Beach Boulevard, and gates open at 5 a.m.
Here’s an interesting story I came across on Surfline and although it hasn’t happened at any surf spots in this neck of the woods, maybe it’s something that should due to the growing number of people learning to surf.
Just recently on the East Coast a handful of signs were posted at six of Long Island, New York’s most popular surf spots.
The Surfer’s Code signs have been put up in an effort to address the hundreds of entry level surfers that local surf schools take out into the local lineups during the crowded summer months.
The goal of the Surfer’s Code signs is to reduce the amount of avoidable injuries and confrontations due to the ignorance of surfing etiquette and lack of respect in the city’s lineups.
Orange County locals Timmy Reyes, 26, and Chris Ward, 30, both won their opening heats at fourth stop on the ASP World Tour, the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro at Imbituba in Santa Catarina, Brazil and will continue their event campaigns when competition resumes.
Reyes won his Round 1 heat over nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater, 37, relegating the legend to Round 2, while advancing directly through to Round 3.
“There are some pretty fun waves out there, but our heat was pretty slow,” Reyes said. ”I think Kelly (Slater) needed a 2-something at the end and I just went in. I was exhausted and wasn’t going to chase him around for a 2. He easily could have got it, but he didn’t. The clock wound down and I came away with the win.”
Reyes got off to a slow start in 2009, but is hoping the early round victory will help build some momentum for his season.
Watch video highlights below:
“I’ve had some pretty close heats this season and things just haven’t gone my way,” Reyes said. ”I was pretty frustrated, especially in Tahiti, and I was almost ready to throw in the towel and sit down for the remainder of the year. After Tahiti, I went and got some waves to myself and cleared my head. My sponsor (of 10 years) O’Neill really stood behind me and I’ve come to Brazil looking for a result. I feel like my surfing is there and if I can start stringing together some results, I’m sure my confidence will return.”
Ward aslo had early round success, advancing directly into Round 3 with a Round 1 heat win over Australian Ben Dunn, 23, and fellow American Damien Hobgood, 29.
This is a pretty wacky story coming from the Orange County Register’s cop reporter Sal Hernandez.
First, there were all the crazy stories about the sea lions learning how to jump on boats (eventually sinking a bunch of them). Now apparently, they’ve learned how to drive the vessels!
Here’s what Hernandez wrote about the event:
The three deputies had just left a Newport Harbor dock after responding to calls of juveniles smoking pot and a young sea lion trying to bite people. They tied up the boat while they checked the dock. The sea lion, which was snapping at people, refused to stay in the water when the deputies tried to shoo it away.
Eventually, the deputies decided to put the sea lion into the fire boat and take it out to sea, where they would try to set it free.
While deputies maneuvered the boat at the main controls, the sea lion took a seat at the foul-weather station, a secondary control station for the boat.
“It ran into the driver’s seat, flapped its flipper, turned the lights on and honked the horn,” Slikker said.
At one point, the sea lion was able to get the throttle to go full speed — in reverse.
Read the full story here, and you gotta check out this video:
Here’s something I came across that looks pretty useful.
Now I know it’s summer time, but if you’re going on a surf trip where the water temperature is going to be freezing cold, this is something you just might want to buy.
The Surf-Fur is used for getting into your wetsuit to help keep the body temperature warm and toasty and also for changing out of your wetsuit.
It looks much like a trenchcoat and is made up of fleece with a 100% wind-proof and water-proof fabric.
The Surf-Fur comes in black or blue and costs $119 for adult sizes and $109 for the groms. For more info. on this new product, check out surf-fur.com.
The 2009 OC Surfer of the Year contest has launched! Vote for your favorite shortboarder, longboarder, rising star male and female. Contest ends on July 9. Click here to read bios and see slideshows of nominated surfers. 
Local surfers recognized Surfline wire news
