See our gallery of the venue area here.
row2k recently spent a few days in the Los Angeles area photographing the annual OCC at UCSB January scrimmage, and stopped by the 2028 Olympic rowing venues at Marine Stadium and Belmont Shores in Long Beach for pre-Games look. Here is what we saw at the Belmont Shores Beach Sprints venue , including breakwaters, wildlife, and significant surf just two miles away; photos and impressions from Marine Stadium to come.
Currently, Olympic Beach Sprints racing is planned to take place at ‘Rosie’s Dog Beach,’ which is just southeast of the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier (see map below), while previous Beach Sprints events at Long Beach took place just to the northwest of the pier at Long Beach City Beach.
Looking south from Belmont Veteran Memorial Pier to Rosie’s Dog Beach
While the region is home to several popular surf breaks, the area from Alamitos Park to the Port of Long Beach where the Queen Mary is now ensconced as a luxury hotel is protected by three breakwaters, including a 2.5 mile-long breakwater about 2.5 miles out to sea that spans nearly all of the entrance to the cove-like bay.
The Queen Mary
If conditions on the day row2k visited are a reliable indicator, the breakwaters are extremely effective; see conditions below:
Calm seas at Belmont Shores; you can see the breakwater at the horizon
Breakwater and Great Eastern Shipping Company ship
Compared to conditions at Seal Beach Pier just 2.25 miles to the south of Rosie’s Dog Beach, it is absolutely tranquil. Not everyone is excited about overly protected waters for the competition, especially more experienced Beach Sprint athletes who consider reading and riding waves to be an essential part of the discipline, and potentially a competitive advantage, especially as athletes from ‘classic rowing’ take up beach sprint rowing.
And although conditions have definitely surged into the unsafe zone at recent Beach Sprints events, the wave-riding element of the sport is absolutely one of the most fun for spectators.
Over the falls at Seal Beach Pier
On that point, I am told that some beach sprints folks are advocating for Seal Beach as the venue, but I can’t see it; the spot is exposed to the open ocean, is often mainly jacking shorebreak, and also has waves that refract off of extremely long jetties on both sides of the beach, creating a Newport Beach Wedge-like effect; the surf on the day I visited was no joke.
Surfer on the southeast side of Seal Beach Pier
Even the beach at the mouth of the San Gabriel River was showing 3-4 foot waves on sets, and this was not a really big swell.
Surfer at the San Gabriel rivermouth surf break
The jetty at the southeast end of the beach; San Gabriel River is on the other side
The area can likely accommodate a full Olympic venue fairly easily; there is almost an almost half-mile-long parking lot along the water that could absorb grandstands, temporary buildings, transport buses, television infrastructure, etc. without too much trouble. Like most of LA, space is tight, but it is definitely doable.
Racing conditions on land should not be too bad either; the sand is more fine than coarse and is definitely on the softer side, and the length of the beach seems about right for the land part of the competition.
Sand at the water’s edge
I am not completely sure what happens at the highest tides – I was there at mid-tide on the day before the full moon, and there was some evidence that a really high tide could shrink the beach, but thoughtful scheduling would take care of that.
The water was fairly clean overall (Surfline verdict: Fair), although you don’t want to eat the fish, and the man-made islands just offshore are oil-pumping islands that were decorated to camouflage the oil operations. The Port of Long Beach is a very active port, generating $100B/ year in trade; in fact, the biggest waves on the beach came from passing ships.
Island White
You shouldn’t… Barracuda
As for local color, there should be plenty of pelican and seal sightings during the racing, so the SoCal vibe should be intact despite the slightly industrial port feel to the north.
Another local
And of course, there is one of these a two-mile drive from the venue:
SoCal vibe at strength