There are plenty of average spots (by NS standards) that are way better than 90% + of the breaks in SoCal. I used to surf certain spots and be the only person out or there would be handful of people.It's crowded and everybody surfs pretty good - like they can all position well, take late drops, get barreled, do turns. So, yeah, it's competitive. And with the whole world rotating through during the season at some point you just have to say "sorry I don't know you" and go.
Now I am stuck in overcrowded closeout beach break purgatory.