Article

By Majken Talbot

November 11, 2024 [Revised Nov. 22: This article was slightly edited to clarify the positions of some of the artificial reef’s proponents. The headline was also reworded.]

Prologue: How Surfers Saved Imperial Beach
In 1985, a group of California surfers took the Army Corp of Engineers to court in a battle to save Imperial Beach. To everyone’s surprise—the surfers won. “We will never lose another good surfing beach without a fight,” Surfrider President Rob “Bird Legs” Caughlan told the Army Corp brass. The lawsuit forced the Corp to cancel plans for the construction of a 1,000 foot breakwater along the beach.

“This wasn’t the first time,” Caughlan says, recalling that a fellow surfer took up the cause after another beloved surf spot was lost. “Grubby Clark was angry about losing Dana Point and he kicked in the money to get a lawyer.”

Affectionately nicknamed “Killer Dana” for its mammoth swells, Dana Point had been a popular Southern Californian surf spot for decades. But that ended in 1966 when the Army Corp of Engineers dumped a million tons of rock to build a huge breakwater. No more swells—no more surfing. The surfers got mad and then they got organized.

Today, silver-haired Caughlan is still at it. And now, he’s set his sights on saving Pacifica’s Sharp Park Beach.

A Tale of Two Beaches
The City of Pacifica is moving ahead with plans to rebuild its crumbling seawall at Sharp Park Beach as part of its $125 million-dollar Beach Boulevard Infrastructure Resiliency Project. But it's a highly problematic solution. Like breakwaters, seawalls block the natural replenishment of sand. Over time, the sand washes away and the beach erodes.

The evidence is right before our eyes, Caughlan points out. Park on Paloma Avenue and take a stroll along Beach Boulevard. North of the Pacifica Municipal pier, the waves beat against a cement sea wall buffered with quarried rock: no sand, no beach, just a rigid barrier. However, south of the pier, a luxurious, black-sand beach opens up, stretching a full mile down to Mori Point.

The choice is clear, Caughlan says. Choose a beach or choose a seawall. The two don't coexist. If the city rebuilds the crumbling seawall north of the pier, nothing much will change. But south of the pier, Pacifica could lose the narrow beach fronting the seawall. More importantly, the ripple effect could steal sand from Sharp Park Beach beyond the seawall's boundaries. An artificial reef could provide a solution.

Surfers Propose an Artificial Reef to Combat Erosion
Reefs are offshore underwater natural structures that provide protection for the coastline by dissipating wave energy. Where reefs exist, they cause waves to break further offshore instead of walloping coastal bluffs with their full force. Pacifica doesn't have a natural reef offshore, but Caughlan and his allies believe an artificial reef would be the next best thing.

Caughlan argues, with charm and infectious enthusiasm, for an ambitious win-win: “We think we can create a kelp-friendly, fish-habitat, erosion-dissipating reef. And our not-so-hidden agenda is to shape a contest-quality wave that will be an economic asset to a blue-collar beach town.”

That is the view of all of the authors of this innovative proposal: Rob Caughlan, Brian Gerrity, Tom Kendall, Bob Battalio, and George Domurat. Their impressive scientific and engineering credentials are long enough to warrant their own dedicated Wikipedia page. Like Caughlan, their lives and careers have centered around beaches. Three of them are veteran surfers and one is an ocean swimmer.

Bob Battalio, a civil engineer who specializes in coastal hydraulics, loves the reef idea, and the wave idea, but says he believes that their proposal is not in any competition with the seawall.

"In fact, our proposal is purposely configured to be consistent with any other coastal adaptation actions (seawalls, beach nourishment to widen beaches, retreat, etc.) that the City has previously contemplated," Battalio emphasizes.

Move Over Mavericks—Surf's Up at Pacifica!
The Y-shaped, artificial reef would be placed just beyond the end of the pier. It would cause the waves to break about one-quarter to one-half mile from the shore, dissipating the wave energy before it can slam against the bluffs. And, yes—it could also create a great surfing opportunity.

Battalio estimates an artificial reef in Pacifica “could produce a rideable wave of about six to twelve feet.” This wave height is a sweet spot for most surfers, big enough for competitive surfing but small enough to be accessible for most amateurs. By comparison, Linda Mar’s popular surf competition, The Big Chill Out, boasts a modest three-foot wave.

Just south of Pacifica lies the town of Half Moon Bay—site of the world-famous big wave Mavericks, and its annual surf contest. A natural rocky reef causes that wave to break about a half-mile offshore. Only an elite group of world-class surfers can safely navigate the massive thirty-to-eighty-foot waves.

The Mavericks' surfing competition is live-streamed because there is no place for the public to safely view the contest. The Air Force occupies Pillar Point prohibiting public access. However, in Pacifica, the wide expanse of Sharp Park Beach coupled with Mori Point bluff offers plenty of open space for the public to view a surf contest in thrilling close-up.

Beach Tourism is Huge
There are approximately 2.8 million surfers in California. Beach tourism outweighs all other national parks, amusement parks and cruises combined. It generates $240 billion in revenue and is predicted to keep growing. The artificial reef proponents say a small, coastal town like Pacifica could get a bite of this golden apple. It would be a windfall for the local economy, prompting a big demand for hotels, restaurants, cafes, surfing, fishing and tourist shops to cater to the new boom in beach tourism. The revenue generated from fishing, snorkeling, and surfing, they say, could pay for the construction cost of the artificial reef.

Building an artificial wave could cost the city $50 million and require at least ten years to complete.

Sandbags, Quarried Rock, or HDPE?
Caughlan and his team have put forward a detailed proposal. The structure would need to be pre-filled with dredged sand—sediment dredged from San Francisco's main shipping channel could easily provide that. The reef could be constructed from one of three different materials: geotextile sandbags, quarried rock, or HDPE (high-density polyethylene pipe).

A structure made of HDPE piping would be light, so it would have to be sunk and fixed to the sea floor. Geotextile sandbags are typically made of synthetic materials like polyester or polypropylene. Over time, there’s a risk these materials could degrade into microplastic particles, so this option may prove controversial.

Given the powerful coastal waves hammering Sharp Park Beach, Bob Battalio says, “quarried rock may be our best bet.” The quarried rock may be more expensive, but he adds that it could provide an unexpected ecological benefit.

Help for Kelp?
An artificial reef constructed of quarried stone could provide the right footing for bull kelp. Kelp forests house a rich biodiverse ecosystem. They also store carbon and combat the devastating effects of ocean acidification. According to the Nature Conservancy, these kelp forests store "20 times more [carbon] per acre than forests on land."

Sadly, Northern California has lost 95% of its native kelp forests. Thoughtfully constructed artificial reefs could potentially restore these critical marine habitats and the diverse populations of otters, harbor seals, abalone, bass, and perch that depend on them.

Kelp forests also provide habitat for zooplankton, including the tiny Mysid shrimp, a key food source for gray whales. Recent studies along the Oregon coast found a strong correlation between vanishing kelp forests and an overall decline in the health of the gray whale population. Nourishing a kelp forest in the waters off Pacifica could wind up benefiting these gentle marine giants who frequent our coastline.

Sharp Park Beach Needs a Champion Now
Bob Battalio makes no bones about it, “This proposal is only the beginning.” The city of Pacifica needs to solicit state and federal funding to conduct more studies on the impact and design of this bold proposal. Indeed, more research is needed to determine the ecological impact of such a reef.

As with every project, the devil's in the details, but the possibilities are mind-boggling. A better beach. A better wave. A healthier ocean. A resilient local economy. Who wouldn't want that?