San Diego lifeguards locked up the partly damaged Ocean Beach Pier due to safety concerns when the January waves destroyed its railing. Now, locals say, people keep cutting the locks and opening the gates leading into the pier. “This is the fourth time this has happened,” local Jim Grant said. “Not exactly sure what the […]
Last month, San Diego’s gnarly surf kept lifeguards busy towards the tail end of January. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department lifeguards even helped rescue folks from a plane that landed on the surf. On January 19, before 8 am, Dan Schade was walking by South Carlsbad State Beach when “a plane passed me along the […]
By Mike Madriaga On the morning of January 15, Carol Niotta and her Yorkie, Pebbles, walked out on their La Jolla home’s balcony to check if the tsunami emergency alert at 7:03 am, affected the surf scene below. “No lifeguards were on duty,” she said to me on January 30. “One woman was down at […]
By Mike Madriaga On February 4, lifeguard M. DeRieux, spotted a young boy as he “slipped off of his boogie board in a rip current directly off of the Mission Beach main tower,” reported the Lifeguards of San Diego Instagram page. “DeRieux [then] ran into the water with his can and fins while yelling to […]
By Mike Madriaga North County athletes are sendin’ it from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games — including Bryce Wettstein, Jordyn Barratt, Cory Juneau, and Heimana Reynolds. Per their Olympic Games’ profiles, Bryce Wettstein, who is 17, was born and still resides in Encinitas; Barratt is 22 and dwells in Oceanside; Juneau, 22, was born in […]
By Mike Madriaga If you want to fish, you have to be west of the checkered flag,” blared a voice from the PA speaker above us, “there’s also no fishing on the south side of the [Imperial Beach] Pier at this time.” “There’s nobody even surfing down there,” yelled fisherman Nick Cline, “not even swimmers, […]
By Mike Madriaga On December 13, a Wendi and Steve posted on Facebook that Skate San Diego “is closing” and “we are liquidating everything”; the two posted photos of a large stereo system, “thousands of” roller skate and rollerblade wheels, and fixtures. I called the skating rink, which is located at Denny Way west of […]
Dan Mann of Coronado handcrafts high caliber surfboards— some are made from another man’s trash. “I have two ‘trash boards’ on order and I am working to try and refine the process.” The last trash board he posted on his Instagram account in August sold for “a lot.” He explains, “it’s made from a broken […]
By Mike Madriaga On the week of September 6-9, Coronado’s Dan Mann and some of his buddies from Firewire Surfboards, trekked up to Lemoore to meet with World Surf League champion Kelly Slater, and their mutual friends. Pro-surfers from all over congregated here at the Surf Ranch, a 500-yard wave pool visualized by Slater. It’s […]
On August 26, former skateboard champion Tony Hawk busted out his 360-degree loop to give a few young skateboarders a chance to demo it by his headquarters in Vista. The loop resembles that of a roller coaster, but the difference is that the skateboarders fall straight down if they cannot make it around the 16-foot-tall […]
Mike’s covered the Surf Diego beat in the San Diego Reader since 2018. It’s a weekly section that features surfers and boogie boarders of all ages and skillsets. Name: Paloma Aguirre Bacalski Age: 40 From: Imperial Beach Location: Imperial Beach Pier Occupation: Coastal and marine director for Wildcoast Paloma Aguirre Bacalski was one of about 12 that paddled out in honor of […]