Amphibious assault in Oceanside

The U.S. military developed their amphibious vehicle known as the Landing Vehicle Tracked, or LVT, in the 1930s. The first two LVT prototypes were dubbed the Alligator and the Crocodile (even though neither is an amphibious creature). A decade after their development, LVTs were a key component in the success of the largest amphibious assault in human history at Normandy during World War II.

The stand-up paddleboard, or SUP, didn’t root itself into mainstream surfing culture until the last decade of the 20th Century, when stand-up paddleboarding was taught at surf schools in Hawaii. Surf instructor Brian Keaulana added “Beach Boy Surfing” to the Buffalo Big Board Contest in 2003, and in just over a decade, stand-up paddleboarding has exploded.

Camp Pendleton has the world’s largest military amphibious assault fleet and is hosting the annual Water Warrior Amphibious Assault, where stand-up paddleboarding plays a big role. This Saturday at the Camp Pendleton harbor, you will see stand-up and prone paddleboard races, outrigger canoe and surfski races, a one-mile open harbor swim (including adults and kids), a vendor village, and kids’ stand-up paddleboard races. The Elite Amphibious Assault race is known as course designer Chuck Patterson’s “Torture Chamber.” This race involves soft-sand running, cargo-net scaling, inflatable-slide jumping, and a stand-up paddleboard race.