San Clemente earns three-peat US Board Riders national title

It seems having Lower Trestles as your home break helps as a training ground for surfers to lay claim to the best in the nation.

The San Clemente Board Riders Club earned its third consecutive US Board Riders National Championship win at Lower Trestles on Saturday, following a dominating performance to also clinch the coveted SURFER West Coast Board Riders Wheat Cup Championship a day earlier.

The three-day event brought together about 350 surfers from around the state and country to compete at the surf break just south of San Clemente. A pumping south swell filled in just in time, bringing waves in the 4-to 6-foot range on Friday and through the final day, allowing surfers who ranged from former pros, up-and-coming stars to young groms to showcase their talent.

Carlsbad Board Riders on Thursday earned the highest point total to move onto the West Coast Board Riders final day on Friday, but ultimately it was San Clemente, Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz to take the top three spots for a slot into the national showdown on Saturday.

The US Board Riders National Championship presented by A New Earth Project included a battle between the three California towns, as well as Hawaii’s North Shore and Jacksonville, Florida competing for the national Board Riders title – which comes with a huge perpetual trophy and bragging rights.

The concept of board rider clubs isn’t new, with Australia having community surf clubs for decades. Though there’s been surf clubs through the years across California, but the bigger Board Riders concept was born eight years ago by Huntington Beach friends Casey Wheat, Ziggy Williams and Chris Moreno, who started with clubs in Huntington Beach and Seal Beach.

The Board Rider club movement brings together surfers that span generations, with parents and their kids getting to ride for their surf town pride. The teams don’t just come together to compete, but also do community work such as beach clean ups and helping kids from inner cities learn to surf.

It’s not just the generational continuity within each coastal community, with generations of surfers getting to know one another in and out of the water, but also a national connection where a surfer from the East Coast can come out and be hosted by a West Coast club, or vice versa, Meeks added.

“It has become a national community of people who all believe in the same thing,” Meek said. “Now, you’re part of the club, part of the program and you will be treated really well.”

Connelly writes for the Southern California News Group.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .