Watch: What It’s Like Surfing Topanga, LA’s Angriest Wave

Dashel Pierson
·2 min read
18

Forget Pipeline, Snapper Rocks, or Lunada Bay…

The surf world’s newest nucleus for aggressive, angry locals is a sleepy little mushburger righthand pointbreak to the north of Los Angeles: Topanga Beach. At least, that’s the claim per a new report on the hostile lineup from local NPR station, KCRW.

So, what’s a typical day look like surfing Topanga? Watch below:

The clip comes from Shacked Mag, an LA-based surf publication, with the caption:

“A couple of crowded morning sessions at what some call the angriest spot in Los Angeles.”

Sure, there’s a handful of blatant drop-ins, a couple collisions, some visible frustration amongst surfers, mostly mid-lengths and longboards, and poop stances…lots of poop stances.

But the merciless aggression, brutal violence, menacing intimidation, etc. that we read about recently per the KCRW report? Hmmm…

The report said:

“While most folks agree that the culture is not as intense these days, especially with the rise of smartphones that can capture fights on camera, the Topangry mindset still exists. Yelling, arguments, and tension in the water are common. One surfer described how during a recent session, he was “fully chewed out by a Topangry 12-year-old girl, and fully got bullied into submission as a 34-year-old man who's surfed here most of my life.”

Of course, any surf spot with a heavy crowd is going to have some degree of conflict, some body of locals attempting to regulate the lineup, some level of tension. And Topanga, being a fairly beginner-friendly wave, and in the post-COVID surf boom, is undeniably packed.

“If you have too many people trying to go after one limited resource,” said Topanga local, Chad White, “it doesn't matter what that is in human life, we turn into a**holes.”

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