This year’s San Clemente Seafest put a little extra “sea” in Seafest.
Not only did restaurant and nonrestaurant chowder teams dish up tangy chowders, but a combination of northwest and southwest swells dished up possibly the biggest waves in the history of the event.
“It was definitely shaking the pier,” said Dale Gain, a worker at the Beach Garden Café’s chowder booth. “We even got sprayed a few times.”
The Beach Garden’s chowder booth was perched on the pier directly above the impact zone for most of the breaking waves.
That might just have rubbed off on the chowder, because the Beach Garden’s chowder had the most impact of any chowder, winning both the judges’ award and the People’s Choice award for best restaurant chowder.
In the non-restaurant category, San Clementeans Against Tollroads likewise swept the field, winning the judges’ first-place award and the People’s Choice award. Always Inn, the defending champion in that category, did not participate this year.
Visitors stopped by the beach, the pier and Parque Del Mar to sample chowders, watch a surf contest, gorge on lobster, check out and art exhibit and view a business expo. Lifeguards estimated San Clemente beach attendance at 12,000 Sunday, most of it concentrated at the pier.
“It was a beautiful day, Dale Gain said. “After the weather yesterday, I was just glad it turned out like this.”
On Saturday, a Pacific Northwest storm had just grazed the San Clemente area. It was long gone by the start of Sunday’s Seafest. But the surf – some of it possibly generated by that storm – produced waves with faces up to 10 feet high. Many of the waves were thick, dumpy closeouts, leaving surfers nowhere to maneuver. But surfers who were selective could be rewarded with 9-point rides on a scale of 10.
“It was fun,” said Doug van Mierlo, a San Clemente High surfer who won two divisions Sunday. “You just had to be selective – not go on anything that you know is going to break your board. I was just trying to get the one that had open face – not the biggest one, but one that could provide the score.”
Asked if he planned to celebrate his victories with a few chowders, van Mierlo had to laugh. “I kind of want to,” he said, “but I don’t know, I’ve got homework!”
Kei Kobayashi, 9, won his division Sunday by picking off a few smaller nuggets among those big, bashing waves.
“I’m going to eat right now,” he said. “Clam chowder!”
Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 9490-492-5127
