Santa Cruz Recognized as a World Surfing Reserve Site

There has and always will be a battle for where the real Surf City should be in the state of California.

Just because a group of people secured a trademark far and away does not a Surf City become. Quite possibly, there may be two surf cities, the one that has the glitz and glamour of surfing through monetization, and the one that has quality surf. Santa Cruz is the latter of the two. The argument can go in a dozen different directions, but when it comes right down to it, the waves in Santa Cruz are world class, and the surfing community recognizes that.

On a beautiful winter day with head-high waves breaking off the slot at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, a group of surf club members, surf historians, politicians and media gathered in front of the Surf Museum to show their commitment to ocean stewardship. The famed seven miles of surf breaks stretching from just east of Pleasure Point to Natural Bridges got the nod from a nomination that had been submitted based on the following criteria:

1. Quality and consistency of the wave or surf zone.
2. Unique environmental characteristics of the area.
3. Surf culture and history.
4. Community support.

Santa Cruz-based nonprofit Save the Waves, in partnership with the National Surfing Reserves and the International Surfing Association, launched the World Surfing Reserves in 2010, an organization founded to identify and preserve outstanding waves, surf zones and their surrounding environments around the world. 

Save the Waves Executive Director Dean Latourrette was on site to announce the approval of Santa Cruz as a World Surfing Reserve site (see video).

“It’s a chance to build community around conservation and focus them on surf break protection,” said Latourrette.

Mark Stone, Santa Cruz County supervisor and chairman of the California Coastal Commission, brought in some ancient history.

“When we make land use decisions now that we are a World Surfing Reserve, we need to think about how that affects the surf breaks in our area,” said Stone. “When the three Hawaiian Princes came to Santa Cruz, their surfboards were harvested in the San Lorenzo Valley, milled in the city of Santa Cruz and surfed at the River mouth. Santa Cruz is truly the birthplace of surfing in California”

Mayor Ryan Coonerty got a big applause from the wave riders in the crowd.

“Welcome to Surf City USA and now World Surfing Reserve USA,” he said. “It’s a great honor, and I want to thank everyone that made this possible. It couldn’t be a more perfect day, sets coming in, and you look at where you are, it’s a perfect example of how this community has coalesced around surfing as the key to our identity”

With endorsements from the first family of surf and Santa Cruz-based O’Neill wetsuits, president Pat O’Neill smiled as he looked on and watched the proclamation.

The mission for the World Surfing Reserve is to create and manage an ongoing, global network of surfing reserves that are recognized by the international surfing community, environmental communities and the general public.

Santa Cruz and Ericeira, Portugal, join Malibu and Manly Beach, Australia, as the first four inductees to the World Surfing Reserve.

Visit savethewaves.org or worldsurfingreserves.org to get involved.