Controversial Novelty Wave Awakens in Orange County (Video)

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Dec 7, 2024 12:40 PM ET

Compared to its coastal Orange County counterparts – like Huntington Beach, Newport, San Clemente, etc. – Laguna Beach is a Southern California mecca for surfing novelty spots. Pretty much every wave, every nook and cranny in town, is a weird, fickle, fleeting exercise in surf weirdness.

But none, in terms of strangeness and novelty, stack up to the Aliso Creek river wave.

And recently, the stagnant water broke, the deluge unleashed, and the standing wave came to life. Frequent documenter of all things novelty in Laguna, Chris Monroe (aka Beefs TV), was on the sand to capture all the craziness, particularly from local pro skimboarder, soft top enthusiast, wave pool aficionado, and novelty wave specialist, Blair Conklin. The dude has this place dialed.

It’s all good fun.

However, the Aliso Creek river wave has been embroiled in a controversial battle between the surfers and skimmer, versus city officials. In fact, Greg Viviani, aka SoLagLocal, was actually fined by local police for digging out the water recently. Here’s how that situation played out:

“What’s this citation for?” Viviani asked the cop.

“Digging a hole,” replies the officer.

One commenter on the video, sarcastically, wrote:

“Do they also give tickets for sand castles?!”

Following the incident, Viviani started a petition to keep access open to the wave. The petition reads:

“We do not want any new municipal codes pertaining to the Aliso Creek Beach Berm! The High Tide Ocean Water fills up the creek during big swells and high tides. The majority of this is NOT pollution or Urban RunOff during these tide swings.

“When the creek stays filled, stagnate, non oxygenated water creates dangerous bacteria, horrible smell and mosquitoes etc! When the creek is flowing it has less chance of bacteria build up. NO ESTUARY ‘RESTORATION PROJECT’ - Complete waste of time, money, resources and will cause so many more problems!”

Environmental disaster, or inevitable phenomenon with a bonus of novelty wave fun?

The debate rages on.

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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