| On August 29, 1996 the Army
Corps of Engineers continued in their
trend of coastal abuse and put the last
nail on the coffin for the break formerly
known as Killer Dana. With their closure
of the area to all “marine activities” they
ruined a very unique surf spot. Killer
Dana was a large rock point that focused
south swells and produced about a half
dozen reef sections; Mepees, Indicators,
Boneyards and Garbage Hole were a few.
On the biggest of swells when other breaks
would close out Killer Dana would hold
its shape. Killer Dana could handle 20
foot waves and broke like a mainland
Makaha. Thus Killer Dana was said to
be the closest to a Hawaiian style wave
in California due to its power
and shape. The geography of the spot
focalized more wave energy than other
spots on the coast within a seventy five
mile radius.
Killer Dana also had a unique
group of locals that used to make their
livings fishing and diving at the same
beach that they surfed and slept. It
was a classic spot where surfers would
leave their boards at the beach because
they knew their boards would be safe
there. In the 1930’s there was
a group of twenty-four surfers that frequented
the break forming a tight knit group.
The point at Killer Dana was muted by
the addition of tons of granite that
was quarried from the offshore island,
Catalina, and placed in a necklace around
the cove and soon to be harbor. The public
was very excited and uneducated about
the harbor development plans. Congress
even took part in the plans by allotting
one million dollars to the harbor an
action that was followed by a three day
celebration in Dana Point.
The harbor
construction made it so that Killer
Dana would never be able to break again.
On the southern side of the harbor there
is only a small, slow gutless and
polluted wave called Doheny. The historically
polluted lines of Doheny pale in
comparison to the epic right hander that
was buried by granite boulders. Today
Doheny is one of the most regularly polluted
beaches in California.
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