August 6, 2009 Thursday

Half Moon Bay	Kelly Ave.
9:30 am to 10:30 am	3', sets to 4'
Low upcoming tide	Slight west breeze to no wind
Sunny with high clouds	Fun session

“Dad, we’re surfing south of here,” said my son Kevin at 8:30 am this morning as we crossed the intersection of Fassler Ave. and Highway 1 in Pacifica. “That was the commit point. We’re not turning around and going through all that traffic to go back to Ocean Beach. I did that once and learned the hard way.” Kevin was referring to the northbound commute traffic that backs up behind the light at this intersection.

We had agreed to meet this morning at Sloat Ave for an early morning session. With a small south swell running we considered going to Ocean Beach, a beach that receives swells from all directions and is usually bigger than all the other breaks in the area. Not today. No one was out this morning: no locals, no beginners, no one. We could see the lines of the three-foot south swell across the impact zone, but they did not break until five feet from shore. Both of us had seen surfers out at Kelly Cove, the north end of Ocean Beach, rideable waves, but not exciting and the wind was beginning to pick up.

We decided to head south. Kevin felt our best bet was Kelly Ave. in Half Moon Bay, which is his favorite spot, but we would check out all the breaks along the way. Linda Mar was flat; only one two-foot peak at the very north end was breaking. We stopped and looked at Montara. Again, small waves that were breaking close to shore. One guy was out who didn’t catch a thing in the five minutes we were there. We were tempted to go out here, but decided to push on. The wind was dropping the further south that we went. The best-shaped waves we saw were at the Jetty, the beach south of the breakwater of the harbor, but they were small, one to two feet. At Kelly Ave. the waves were bigger and breaking close to shore. Set waves were definitely rideable. No body was out. I’m always skeptical when none of the locals are at a break. We decided to go out here because: we didn’t want to waste any more time looking for waves, the facilities were good, clean bathrooms and showers that worked, there was no wind and the waves were clean.

Kelly Ave. has a steep beach that slopes into deep water causing the waves, no matter what size, to slam into the shore. It breaks best at low tide. Often at high tide the waves just mush up to the beach. The waves break like those at Ocean Beach, big powerful peaks, that deliver short thrilling rides as one powers towards the steep beach at great speed. Kevin and I took off together on our first wave. I quickly dropped down to the bottom of the wave, and Kevin managed to get some curl before the wave dumped both of us into a foot of water. We moved around searching for the best take-off point and settled on lining up just south of the caretaker’s house. There appeared to be an edge here where the waves held up a second allowing us to get up and position ourselves in the wave. At the end of our hour both of us managed to catch a couple of nice fast curls, staying ahead of four-foot exploding walls. At 10:30 am we called it quits. Besides, Kevin had to go to work.

“So, what are they going to do if they have to close this park?” I asked Kevin. Kelly Avenue’s official name is Half Moon Bay State Beach. The budget compromise agreed upon by the Governor and the legislature last week cut the funding for state parks. The Park Service claims they will have to close 100 parks and they have yet to decide which ones. Revenue generation and usage would be their primary criteria. Kelly Ave has a campground that is full all summer and most of the fall. On warm days the beach is packed. We concluded that this park should survive the cuts. The only way the State can save money is to cut jobs. Thus they would close parks to eliminate salaries. But closing the park would not stop the surfers from riding the waves or stop the fishermen; they will still fish. We guessed they would close the smaller state beaches along this stretch of the coast, such as: Montara, Dunes Beach, San Gregorio, Pomponio, Pescadero and Bean Hollow. These beaches consist of a parking lot, bathrooms or port-a-potties. So closing them would be a minor inconvenience to the Public but would not prevent people from using the beach. So how many jobs would be eliminated by closing these smaller beaches? Three? Four? It can’t be many. We hope the state doesn’t close any of the parks, especially the numerous state beaches.

Driving home Kevin and I convinced ourselves that we had picked the best surf spot on this morning. Regardless, it was a beautiful morning; just check out the above photo.