Surfrider Beach was the concern of a group of surfers from Malibu Surfing Association representing the Malibu Lagoon Action Committee who spoke during the public comments at the June 26th City Council meeting. Lagoon Restoration opponents Steve Dunn, Josh Farberow, Drew Lewis, and Allen Sarlo were several well-known local surfers asking the Council to address the concerns over the existing erosion problems affecting the Adamson House and the wave quality at the world-famous Surfrider Beach. The group is requesting that Council take action in order to restore sand replenishment to protect the Adamson House from erosion, enable lifeguard trucks adequate access to beach wide emergencies, bring back and restore the tide pools, manage a breach opening at the top of the point, and lower the water temperature in the Malibu Lagoon. They also want to bring the iconic Surfrider Beach back to its former glory, which includes restoring “Kiddy Bowl,” a short-lived hollow wave section inside of 2nd point that slowly eroded away nearly 20 years ago. One request to the council was to restore sand back to “Old Joes “ which is on the eastern end of the private Colony Beach. One speaker named Ross alluded that the problems at Surfrider were the result of the Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project and said the solution would be solved by maintaining an outflow of the lagoon at an “existing channel “ just west of the 3rd point, 63 yards east of the Malibu Colony fence.(there is no existing channel)
Mayor Peak, who is also a world-class surfer, took a little wind out of this groups request by responding,” Coastal erosion in this city is a major issue right now, whether it is Surfrider, Zuma or elsewhere, or where PCH is closed, or whether it is homes: our sand is disappearing.” Peak goes on to claim that “The Surfrider wave is the worst it has been in 30 years. That is very sad.” Peak questioned if the Lagoon Restoration Project was responsible for the beach erosion problems at Surfrider, even though every beach in Malibu has been impacted by a lack of sand from our water- sheds that produce the needed sediment to replenish our beaches. Years of drought have also reduced beach sand replenishment . Specifically speaking of Zuma beach, Mayor Peak went on to request “help from the County because right now during high tides the ocean is in the parking lot.”
It has now become more and more apparent throughout Malibu that a lack of down coast beach sand replenishment is affecting beaches other than Broad Beach, where emergency permits have been issued to build a protective rock barrier to protect homes.
The Broad Beach Geological Hazardous Abatement District (GHAD) was formed by the homeowners to finance the estimated $30 million project to replenish the once broad beach. After an eight-year-long quest to bring in hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of quality sand to replenish Malibu’s now non-existent Broad Beach,there is yet another bureaucratic snag in delaying and irritating stakeholders and homeowners who dream of a sandy beach paradise. Ironically the very rip rap boulder wall that is protecting their homes is also preventing beach replenishment. During high tides the wave energy bounces off or refracts off the boulder barrier, sending its wave energy and sand back out into the down shore current to the east to Zuma and around Big Dume to Paradise Cove .Even though most surfers laugh at the plan to replenish Broad Beach knowing that just one El Nino winter of large west swells could scour the millions of dollars of imported sand down the coast , they say ,”bring it on”.
Historically, Malibu beaches have received the bulk of its beach sand replenishments from the Ventura River, Santa Clara River and Calleguas Creek watersheds to our west and though droughts have always impacted reduced sediment loads onto our beaches, recent over development in these watersheds has had even more impact in reducing sediment sand loads. Each of these sand producing watersheds has been dammed, flood controlled, developed with concrete culverts, asphalt roadways, parking lots, subdivided housing tracts, urbanized landscaped, and diverted to farming irrigation ditches to the point that very little sediment is ever allowed to end up in our ocean and onto our beaches. Because of environ- mental laws and the Coastal Commission not even Cal Trans can dump the sediment that falls onto PCH over the side and into the ocean below.
“Mayor Peak, who is also a world-class surfer, took a little wind out of this groups request by responding, “Coastal erosion in this city is a major issue right now, whether it is Surfrider, Zuma or elsewhere, or where PCH is closed, or whether it is homes: our sand is disappearing.”
So as a long time Surfrider surfer and proponent of the Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project, I will argue that the erosion problems at Surfrider are not a result of the Restoration Project. In fact, the erosion problems from the creek outlet impacting the Adamson house are not new. Ever since Rhoda Rindge Adamson and her husband Merritt Adamson built their dream house in 1929, there has been a history of battling the elements of the ocean and the flow of the lagoon outlet that has always and historically migrated towards the east threatening many times to undermine the house and pool. Since the 30’s many wooden erosion barriers have been constructed, failed and rebuilt again. Most of the lawn area between the erosion barriers on the beach and the house has been replaced many times by importing off-site dirt fill. Not until the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s when large boul- ders were put in place did the erosion slow down. The house was built on an ancient sand dune that the Chumash lived on but below the house and underneath the sand dune are acres of creek cobblestones, which is evidence that the creek once had a history of flowing right under where the house is today. On the west end of the Lagoon, there is evidence that the lagoon outlet or creek flow has been to the west of Old Joes Rock. Af- ter a strong winter storm erodes the sand from Colony beach, and during a minus low tide, you can observe large, rounded creek cobblestones for about 6 houses to the west of the Colony fence. I hope those surfers who are upset with the natural changes occurring at Surfrider Beach under- stand that the lower Malibu watershed has always been in constant evolution and change, that nothing stays the same.
Most surfers today have no understanding of how much more perfect the wave was at Surfrider after the killer floods of 1938 when surfers trimmed out on redwood paddle boards on flawless section-less waves from the top of the point near today’s 3rd point to the pier. Those cobble- stone contours lasted through the mid 40’s but the cobblestones were rearranged by other floods and large swells which made the outer point unrideable through the 50’s and 60’s. First Point was the only real wave to ride until the magic floods of 1969. I was fortunate to witness the fury of both of the heaviest rains in Malibu history happening weeks apart and coinciding during minus low tides as massive flooding ripped through Mal- ibu Canyon that was bare of vegetation from the previous seasons brush fire. Just before the storm the creek’s outlet was flowing out to the top
of First point but as the flow of the raging creek hit flood stage with a ferocious force, the creek carved the outlet up the point and what sounded like a deafening bowling alley, thousands of cobblestone boulders were pushed out to sea to form a reef that gave birth to a world-class wave we called 2nd point. Two weeks later an even bigger storm hit during a minus low tide forcing the outlet even further west pushing out another giant boulder pile of cobblestones that gave birth to an even better cobble reef we deemed 3rd point. For the surfers who were blessed enough to surf
in that era and the 10 years that followed will never be able to convince today’s young surfers of how dreamy the shape of the waves were then. Though two new world-class waves were born, one was lost for several seasons. First Point became a closed out beach break as the sand sedi- ment from the storms filled up Kellers Cove nearly out to the end of the pier. On a minus low tide you could almost walk out to the end of the pier on sand .It took a few seasons of strong south swells to scour out the sand but the cobblestones of First point were eventually groomed clean and first point once again retained its perfect long point break shape but paled in comparison to the absolute perfection up the point at the new 2nd and 3rd point cobblestone reefs .Over time these two cobblestone reefs were impacted by large swells and other floods that swept the high points down and filled in the low channel between the two reefs and by the late 80’s the outer point reefs were reduced to the funky close-out quality of the 50’s and 60’s.In the spring of 1978, a spring flood swept giant sycamore trees into the surf zone along with a gravel rock reef inside of 2nd point creating a hollow section that we called “ Kiddy Bowl .” In 1986 winter flooding exited the lagoon berm inside first point creating a gravel rock island that cut the wave at first point in half with an unmakeable section for several years until large south swells groomed the rocks back into perfect order These changes that negatively impacted the wave quality at Surfrider preceded the Lagoon Restoration project.
Even though most surfers laugh at the plan to replenish Broad Beach knowing that just one El Nino winter of large west swells could scour the millions of dollars of imported sand down the coast, they say ,”bring it on”.
During the 80’s and 90’s I was part of a group of local surfers deemed the Midnight Shovel Brigade. During the summer when the lagoon was in a closed berm condition and Tapia was dumping semi treated waste into the Malibu Creek watershed the water table became unnaturally very high in the lower watershed.So high in fact that some of the Colony septics and leach fields were submerged causing a few toilets to back up into their houses. One irate home owner who was fed up with his plumbing problems would complain to the county and order them to breach the lagoon in order to lower the water table. Well, a county crew would arrive with a bulldozer and was told by the home owner to dig an opening over by first point because his wife did not want her swimming hole at 3rd point ruined by the dirty water. The unnatural mechanical breach created such a fast flow of water that it pushed rock out and negatively impacted the shape of the wave in the surf zone. Not only were surfers pissed off , they got sick from the bacteria / virus-rich content. From then on County lifeguards who surfed tipped off the surfers of the Midnight Shovel Brigade that the following morning the county tractors would be out to cut an opening at 1st point. For hours into the night, a small team of surfers would dig a channel from the lagoon out into the swimming hole of our least favorite Colony resident. The next morning we watched with joy the angry faces of the county tractor driver and the homeowner’s wife but at least they could flush their toilets now. It was these unnatural tractor breaches that surfers protested and that were making surfers sick that inspired surfers like Glenn Hening to establish what was to become known as the Surfrider Foundation. It wasn’t until the excavation of the Lagoon Restoration Project that it was discovered that some of the adjacent Colony houses to the lagoon had covert illegal discharge pipes that led into the back of the lagoon. Several eye witnesses claim that at least one partic- ular home owner would sump pump untreated human waste of his submerged flooded septic through his illegal discharge pipe directly into the lagoon. No wonder the EPA deemed that area of the lagoon a ‘Dysfunctional Death Zone’ and surfers referred to it as the ‘Polio Pond.” Not only did we in the Midnight Shovel Brigade believe we outsmarted the County and the Colony home owners but we really believed that by breaching the lagoon at the top of the point would make the waves better.In the 20 years that we did this , it NEVER made the waves better but we did kill thousands of tide pool creatures and lagoon fish in the process when the fresh water of the lagoon killed tide pool anemones , urchins and clams and hundreds of fresh water conditioned lagoon fish would die when they were swept out to a saline ocean .This is why the federal agency, Fish and Wildlife, will never allow a the Malibu Lagoon Action Committee to manage out of season breaches of the lagoon.The survival of aquatic life in Southern California Lagoons depends on seasonal open and closed berm conditions.
“In the spring of 1978, a spring flood swept giant sycamore trees into the surf zone along with a gravel rock reef inside of 2nd point creating a hollow section that we called “ Kiddy Bowl .”
I know that many Malibu surfers have been led to believe that by breaching the wave at the top of the point that the waves will magically become perfect again.Not so. Summer time tidal flows do not have the power of a 50 year flood to create or improve a cobblestone reef . It does not matter if a breach in the berm is natural or man made, it will not remain in the same place at the top of the point . Because of the down coast current all breaches migrate east towards the pier. Since the Restoration project was completed 80% of the natural breaches that have occurred have exited between 2nd point and 4th point, which is optimum, but every one of those breaches ends up repeating the historical migration to the Adamson House. Some have suggested putting a jetty at 3rd point to keep the opening at the top but the Army Corps Engineers, the Coastal Commission and the Fish and Wildlife Service would never sanction that. Some suggested having Beaches and Harbors continue its stupid, wasteful practice of bringing in more sand from sand deficient Zuma beach to protect the Adamson house but that has been a proven failure so many times that it is laughable.Sand does not stop erosion. More Rip Rap Boulders would do a better job of protecting the Adamson House. During a phone conver- sation I had with Allen Sarlo, we agreed that the efforts of the Malibu Lagoon Action Committee may have its most likely success if all the stake holders united on coming up with a plan to breach the berm at the top of the point but only if it is eminent that the lagoon was about to naturally breach near the Adamson House due to rising water levels in the watershed.
Not only did we in the Midnight Shovel Brigade believe we outsmarted the County and the Colony home owners but we really believed that by breaching the lagoon at the top of the point would make the waves better.
As far as the wave quality at Surfrider goes, rest assured that history will keep repeating itself but perhaps not on the time scale that satisfies the brief life span of a human surfer.If the 50 -100 year miracle storms of 1938 and 1969 give you any hope for the future of another chance for an improved surf spot, next year could be that year!… or will it be 100 years from now?
Editors Note Update: It was the forces of nature that threatened the Adamsom House and now the forces of nature have come to the rescue to save the house. With the Lagoon is in its seasonal closed berm condition, several south swells and high tides have deposited large amounts of sand that is now acting as a protective buffer between the Adamson Property,the creek and the erosion forces of the ocean.
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