LA JOLLA – Surfers say they’re on board with a statewide bill that could turn both Windansea and Black’s beaches in La Jolla into surfing reserves, as long as it doesn’t violate local traditions and protocols.
Assembly Bill 1938, by Assm. Jacqui Irwin of Thousand Oaks, would allow local governments up and down the coast to identify conservation measures to protect and restore the ecosystems and natural resources surrounding surf breaks.
The bill is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is scheduled to be voted on May 14. If it passes there, Irwin’s office said it would likely go to a full vote of the Assembly within a couple of weeks.
“Our surf breaks provide tremendous value to our coastal communities as an economic and recreational resource,” Irwin wrote on her website last year.
The state’s goal is to conserve 30% of California coastal waters and lands by 2030, referred to as “30 by 30,” which is halfway accomplished, as 16.2% of coastal waters are already under long-term conservation.
Windansea Beach in La Jolla and the neighborhood surrounding it are named after the 1909 oceanfront Strand Hotel, which was renamed “Windansea” Hotel in 1919 after the owner Arthur Snell ran a naming contest. Much of Windansea experiences moderate-to-severe shore break created by underwater reefs, a condition resulting in hard-breaking surf right at the shoreline, making it a prime surfing spot.
Melinda Merryweather and Hans Newman are longtime La Jolla caretakers of the iconic Windansea Surf Shack. In 1997, they formed a group of concerned citizens called Friends of Windansea “to preserve, restore, and enhance the natural character and beauty of the area” — which includes the shack.
Merryweather and Newman were instrumental in having the Surf Shack at Windansea Beach designated as an historical landmark by the San Diego Historical Resources Board in 1998. Both weighed in on the prospect of Windansea’s being protected as a surfing reserve.
Merryweather favors the area being protected as a reserve if it “never changes” Windansea, and as long as “nobody puts in a Ferris wheel or a hot dog stand.”
She added she would also support including Black’s Beach as a surf reserve because that would help protect the ocean access forever.
“We’ve got the No. 1 beach in the world where you can surf right in front of your house,” said Newman, a lifelong surfer and longtime member of the Windansea Surf Club, a nonprofit promoting “goodwill and good waves” in the area.
Noting there are already two Marine Protected Areas in coastal La Jolla preserving habitat, Newman pointed out that adding reserve status to Windansea would be an additional layer of protection, which could be used to keep what’s left intact.
Added Newman, “It might also allow us to get some grant money to maintain things like mitigating bluff erosion, maintaining (foot) paths, and putting a belvedere back in there. I don’t see any downside to the concept (of surf reserves) as long as they maintain the integrity of Neptune Park.”
“Windansea Beach is a historic public beach and should be designated as a reserve,” concurred surfer and longtime La Jollan Patrick Ahern. “It is considered one of the best surfing waves on the coast of California and beyond, and is also a very popular beach for visitors and locals gathering, relaxing, and swimming.
The location also enjoys the historic designation of the Windansea Surf Shack, built in 1946 on the bluff next to the ocean, and has a public parking lot along the street above, added Ahern.
Eric “Bird” Huffman, longtime owner of Bird’s Surf Shed at 1091 W. Morena Blvd, is also a surf historian and the chief librarian of his 1,000-plus surfboard archive, a repository open-sourced for all surfers to ride and shapers to reference.
An old school surfer, Bird characterized AB 1938 as a “vote getter.” He, however, offered this caveat: “You shouldn’t try to put a ‘blanket’ over various surf areas that are so significantly different.”
Bird concluded that, if AB 1938 isn’t handled correctly, “I can see it potentially causing problems if you try to wrap it up with unrealistic government regulation. We’re talking about a bill that wants to homogenize the coastline, which is something people here have worked to prevent.”
Bird warned that overexposure by social media is threatening overcrowding with the potential of despoiling the character of high-profile surf spots like Windansea, which locals want to see preserved as it is in perpetuity.
“We’re happy to see them try to protect Windansea as long as there aren’t any loopholes or pitfalls, and [the government] doesn’t let it get out of local control,” Bird said. “It’s not being negative, just very realistic.”
“Some people see surfing as a sport,” he concluded. “But for surfers like me, it’s not a sport; it’s incorporated into your life, a part of daily existence. There’s a different attitude there.”
