Save Trestles! More here and here.

For decades the surf break with the odd name south of here has been legend, one that wave riders say is a creation of natural interactions between land and ocean that make it one of the best — if not the best — on the nation’s coastline.

Now, they fear the forces of nature that sustain the “Yosemite of Surfing” will be overwhelmed by the forces of development, in the form of a planned toll highway.

Transportation officials say the road is needed to ease intense congestion on Interstate 5 between the suburban sprawl of Orange County and San Diego. Surfers say it will ruin Trestles by blocking sediment flows that make the surf breaks world class.

“That’s where we go to feel the nature in our sport. There’s no more nature left in surfing if they start screwing with Trestles,” said Jericho Poppler, one of the sport’s most decorated stars.

The proposal has made instant activists of many surfers, who have banded together for “paddle out protests” to protect Trestles, the only World Championship Tour stop in the continental United States. Toll road opponents also have expressed their displeasure through more than 7,000 comments at public hearings last summer.