The Shack will be back. Only it likely won’t be until spring and the departure of the winter storms. In the wake of a Christmas eve monster wave that quite literally took the legs out from under it, Windansea Beach’s iconic, thatch-covered landmark is on track to a comeback, thanks to the efforts of volunteers. According to at least one account, “a mother of a wave” during an early-morning high tide Dec. 24, with 4- to 6-foot surf, crashed down on the historically designated beach icon, hobbling one of the four upright pillars supporting it. Melinda Merryweather, spokesperson for Friends of Windansea, a local nonprofit group of volunteers who maintain the Shack, said the next big project ahead is “to get the shack back up at the beach. That looks to be the end of March or the beginning of April. We want to wait until after the (winter) storms.” “I was there, watched it go; three of the legs were broken,” said Merryweather, adding that others who were there tied a rope to tether the landmark to an agave cactus so it wouldn’t fall. “It was a high tide, a full moon and big surf all at once,” said Merryweather. Merryweather added that another group cut the fronds off the Shack’s roof before trimming its legs and dropping it to the ground. “Guys held the back of it, and the group moved it up the hill,” Merryweather said, adding the Shack is now ready for repairs. Merryweather said the Friends group was started by her, Hans Newman and landscape architect Jim Neri. “Seventeen years ago,” she explained, “Friends asked the city permission to take care of and maintain the Shack\/” She noted the Shack was created in the 1940s by fishermen who put a hammock in there. “One of those guys is Don Okey,” she said, “who is still alive.” Merryweather said new legs for the Shack are being fashioned from eucalyptus trees which “need to be cured. We’re going to put them in a kiln to dry them out.” Merryweather said the Shack “is super-sturdy. But this time, unfortunately, water got in where the legs were.” She added that that process has gradually undermined the structure’s support over the years.
\nWindansea Beach was named after the 1909 oceanfront Strand Hotel, renamed Windansea Hotel in 1919 after owner Arthur Snell ran a “naming contest.” The distinguishing landmark at the beach is the palm-covered shack originally constructed in 1946 by Woody Ekstrom, Fred Kenyon and Okey. The Surf Shack at Windansea Beach was designated a historical landmark by the San Diego Historical Resources Board on May 27, 1998.
\nWindansea also enjoys a storied reputation as a surfbreak and has served as home break to many notable surfers. Steve Pezman, former publisher of Surfer magazine and current publisher of The Surfer’s Journal, called Windansea locals in the early 1960s “the heaviest surf crew ever.”
\nThe Windansea Surf Club, founded by Chuck Hasley in 1962, has included members such as “The Endless Summer” star Mike Hynson, Skip Frye, Joey Cabell, Del Cannon, Mike Purpus and Rusty Miller, Andy Tyler, Tom Ortner, Brew Briggs, Chris O’Rourke, Richard Kenvin, Miko Fleming, Debbie Beacham, Peter King, Saxon Boucher, Randy Lind, Ian Rotgans, “Big George” Felactu, Joe McLaughlin & Longboard Larry.
\nMike Okey, Don Okey’s son, elaborated on why the Shack was created.
\n“It was built to create shade for women and children of the surfers at their request,” he said, “because they didn’t want to sit out in the sun all day,” He added that the Shack has come to symbolize not only the Windansea neighborhood but La Jolla itself as well as the surfing lifestyle.
\n“Surfing,” he said, “has become more athletic and has led to a more creative lifestyle.” Although surfing has changed over the years, he added, those who indulge in the sport largely haven’t.
\n“Windansea and surfing have been a nursery to nurture a more creative spirit,” Okey said.
\nWindansea is also literarily noteworthy. The title article in “The Pump House Gang,” Tom Wolfe’s book of essays, is about a group of surfers from Windansea Beach.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Shack will be back. Only it likely won’t be until spring and the departure of the winter storms. In the wake of a Christmas eve monster wave that quite literally took the legs out from under it, Windansea Beach’s iconic, thatch-covered landmark is on track to a comeback, thanks to the efforts of volunteers. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":257085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Windansea's Shack: down but not out","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}