Coastalsurvey

Story and photos by Keith Johnson

Cowells Cove is a pretty mellow longboard spot, a rolling break known for long rides. A classic learning spot. You don’t think of hollowness, barrels, or extreme when you mention Cowells. But in the winter, there can be a mean shorebreak at the beach.

The swell surges half way up the pylons at the pier, then hits hard sand scraped off the beach by the winter storms and wave-pounded into cement. It barrels, and I mean round. It pitches out into a nice hollow shape. All you have to do is pull in. Dare ya.

This day the break was chest high and incredibly powerful. Coming into the beach in the safe zone a ways down was hairy enough. Bodyboarding seemed natural, though brutal. Pulling in on shortboards, however . . . yeowch. These groms seemed to have it figured out.

Beachbreak near the pier at Cowells

The swell was pretty big this day, but the shape wasn’t enough to lure the group of local experts off the parking lot. That speck right in the middle is a surfer by the way. You can see a streak on the face, that’s another. The current is a real strong longshore. Not hard to see why. You can almost see it push in the white in front. I saw one guy paddle out starting just near the rock in the foreground as I took this. Two minutes later he was swept completely out of sight to the left.

Steamer Lane, view from the cliff

I paddled out with a

waterproof camera on this day. The tide was extremely low and the whole lane was choked with kelp. It was a struggle to take off, like crawling over a rope carpet, and the rides were pretty jerky. A pair of otters anchored themselves with kelp to hold to one spot in the heavy current. Surfers were doing exactly the same thing.

Have your picture taken with an otter, five bucks

The sun was positioned to silhouette these surfers walking out on the cliffs, getting ready to jump off the point. Does this remind anyone of Endless Summer?

Up the Coast
Waddell Creek

A classic windsurfing spot. Sideshore and onshore winds are preferred by windsurfers, and Waddell Creek usually provides force five or six winds. That’s howling in regular wind talk.

The waves are perfect for jumping and riding alike. This guy was outrunning some mast-high faces, cutting back and forth, and of course getting big air. You can see the creek flowing through the beach in the foreground. Other creeks on the coast stop dead at the beach and “percolate through.” The current in the break will be different, probably lessened.

Windsurfer at Waddel Creek

This is a classic situation seen along Highway 1 along the coast; cliffs running down to the road. The cliffs used to erode into the sea. Now they erode onto the highway. Every year tons of rock must be transferred across the road. The California Transit Authority has taken over some of mother nature’s duties.

Check out the full parking lot. Some are the campers and pickups preferred by windsurfers, who have to carry a lot of gear. At least two sails are necessary, and some carry two fully rigged boom and sail combos. The other cars are spectators like me, or folks driving along the coast who pulled in for a rest.

Half Moon Bay

Half Moon Bay, known for nearby Mavericks, has some good surf for regular surf joes. The radar dish is just visible in the background. You can imagine behind the console some big wave surfer in uniform, whose surf nickname is of course “Radar”, tracking storms when the general isn’t looking.

On this rough day I bodysurfed some thick blown out waves, peaky overhead faces, looking for shoulders and finding a few. It was easy to get out bodysurfing, using the currents and extra large Duck Feet, but tough for those with any sort of board. The water had warmed up to a tolerable 52 degrees.

There is a fair current, a swift longshore that can carry you down the beach a ways. It also sucks out real hard after a set, although it’s not technically a rip. If you’re bodysurfing, it’s just another free ride. Unsuspecting waders, however, beware.

Half Moon Bay jetty on a calm day

Read more of Keith Johnson’s stories at Surfacemotion