La Jolla Beach Sand from WindanSea Famous Surfing Beach

WindanSea Beach Sand Sample!

Listed here is a sample of fine grained Beach Sand from La Jolla, California's World Famous, WindanSea Beach!  Update your beach sand collection or use it for a simple seascape display or however you like!

I'm not sure how much will fit in a USPS Flat Rate Small Box, but probably a few pounds, more or less.  If you want more, just let me know & we can adjust the S&H charges accordingly. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GOBLET & SHELLS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS AUCTION - It's just an example of about how much sand you'll get!

This famous beach is made up of smaller pocket beaches and sandstone coves.  Every fall, winter, and spring, seasonal storms and swells move the plentiful amounts of this excellent beach sand from one end of the beach to the other.  During this "sand in, sand out" process, the sand is continuously refined by nature.  This results in some of the finest beach sand found anywhere! 

I took the photo displayed in this listing back in September of 2007, and for for more photos of this absolutely beautiful beach, just do a "Google" search using key words like "WindanSea" and "photos," etc.

I've been hanging out at this beach for 35 summers now, and have seen only modest changes in the summer-to-summer sand levels.  Each year, I check the sand levels at several different spots along the approximately quarter mile length of the beach, and any year-to-year variations are at worst, nominal.  That's mainly because WindanSea is a "pocket" type of beach which is way less prone to more severe sand erosion that is a problem along many other longer and less rocky Southern California beaches. 

The only thing that changes along WindanSea Beach is that the sand levels do change pretty radically from summer to winter due to the two main seasonal north (winter) swell and south (summer) swell directions.  During the summer, the swell comes from the southern hemisphere's winter storms and pushes the sand from the south end of the beach to the north end of the beach and vice versa during the winter months storms that sweep down from the Gulf of Alaska.  At either end of the beach, this can raise and/or lower the sand levels roughly 6 to 10 feet or more!

The photo shows the results of the summer south swell sand movement, but if you were to come back and look at the same part of the beach in mid-winter, you'd see very little sand and a lot of rocky outcroppings that lay just below the summer sand level.  But, the sand is not gone for good and lost.  It's simply been washed out and pushed to the southern half of the beach where it gets re-deposited and refills in several hundred yards of that part of the WindanSea shoreline.  Every year, people come during the winter months to show their friends the beautiful beach area, as seen in the photo, only to wonder what happened to the nice, big sandy beach that had been there just a few months before!  We simply refer to it as "sand in, sand out" and sometimes let them suffer for a few minutes before we explain the seasonal shift in the sand locations and levels.

"Windansea Beach encompasses a historic stretch of scenic coastline located in La Jolla, a community in San Diego, California. It is named after an oceanfront hotel that burned down in the late 1940s. Geographically, it is defined by the beachfront extending north of Palomar Avenue (Big Rock) and south of Westbourne Street (Simmons). Historically, it is defined by some of the most progressive and colorful characters in California surf history.

The main peak at Windansea is a classic reef break and has long been famous among the region's most skilled surfers for its reliable waves and consistently good form. The geographic location of Windansea's reefs is ideally situated to host a broad variety of swell directions, especially the fickle south swells that often seem to elude other San Diego County, California beaches. During the summer months, when most locations are experiencing two-to-three feet surf, it isn't unusual for Windansea to pick up six-to-eight foot surf. Other breaks in the vicinity of Windansea include Middles, Turtles, and Simmons, named after Bob Simmons (who died at that break in 1954), and Big Rock.

The focal point and cultural icon at Windansea is a simple palm-covered shack, located beneath the narrow parking lot, just in front of the main peak. It was originally constructed in 1946 by original locals Woody Ekstrom, Fred Kenyon and Don Okey. The site gained notoriety for its annual summer luaus before police cracked down on the out-of-control event in the early 1950s. The social hub is a narrow parking lot, located on the bluffs overlooking the Windansea shack. The facilities are not very accommodating for visitors. The parking lot offers just a few spaces and there are no drinking fountains, showers or public restrooms. "The Surf Shack at Windansea Beach" was designated as an historical landmark by the San Diego Historical Resources Board on May 27, 1998.[1]

Windansea has served as home break at one time or another to many notable surfers, including Pat Curren, Mike Diffenderfer, Joey Cabell, Mickey Munoz and Butch Van Artsdalen. As far as its impact on surf culture and the development of the sport, it ranks at the top of the list along with Malibu, San Onofre and Huntington Beach. 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."

The famous Windansea Surf Club[2] featured a veritable who's who of hot young surfers during the sport's Golden Age. Founded by Chuck Hasley in 1962, the Club attracted high profile members such as The Endless Summer star and first Vice President Mike Hynson, Skip Frye, Joey Cabell, Del Cannon, Mike Purpose and Rusty Miller. Other notable surfers who cut their teeth at Windansea include Andy Tyler, Tom Ortner, Brew Briggs, Chris O'Rourke, Richard Kenvin, Miko Fleming, Debbie Beacham, Peter King, Saxon Boucher, Ian Rotkins, George Felactu, Longboard Larry and Keith Humes.

In 1963, Mike Dormer and Lee Teacher built the six foot, 400 pound concrete statue out of cement, iron, a mop, a light bulb, and a beer can. The statue mysteriously appeared on the rocks over Windnsea beach in La Jolla, holding a beer in one hand while gazing out over the ocean in search of the perfect wave. This concrete surf god got attention in newspapers across the country. In 1964 Hot Curl became a star. Hot Curl was the inspiration Hollywood was looking for when it filled the screens at movie houses with a string of "Beach Party" movies. In the summer of 1964, the Hot Curl image appeared in several scenes of "Muscle Beach Party" starring Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Buddy Hackett, and Don Rickles. Dozens of young surfers got signed as well. Hot Curl was a comic relief to the problems of society. Hot Curl was a free soul. He loved the ocean. He was designed to de-intensify things a little. Hot Curl is a reminder of simpler times." (Reprinted per the GNU Free Documentation License)

I also have a number of other beach related items including a variety of plastic beach toys, towels, folding chairs, swimming goggles, etc., all of which have been left behind by numerous visitors who fled or were otherwise enticed to leave WindanSea quickly and/or carelessly.  So, if you don't see anything beach oriented or you have some specific item(s) you'd like, let me know as I may have just what you're looking for but just haven't listed whatever it may be!

Now, for anyone who might be put off by my taking some very modest amounts of this particular beach sand, my actions have not had any real or measurable impact on the year-to-year, sand in and sand out fluctuations at this site!  Besides, as of now (and it's now October of 2009), I've had a total of four sales since I first put this listing up.  Not exactly the sort of sales record or loss of sand that should bother anyone!  Of course, there still may be some people who will be offended no matter how little sand I may sell.  To those who feel this way, well..., you have my sympathy.

There are other Southern California beaches, let alone East Coast and likely many other beaches around the world, that are experiencing declining levels of sand.  The loss of sand from these beaches is a significant and serious problem.  This ongoing loss is due to a variety of reasons, mostly all the result of things human beings have done like building dams and ocean jetties.  Millions of dollars has (and will be) spent in studying and dealing with this problem.  This includes the purchase and use of "surplus" sand, dredged from other sites, to replenish some of these beaches.  However, I've seen news reports that in many cases, this is not exactly working very well. 

I say all of this because I received an email from someone awhile back that criticized my "illegal" sand removal and that I should stop destroying our beaches and put this sand back where it came.  This person also condemned my actions as being greedy and ignorant and advised me to "...stop encouraging others to take a bit of our valued community away from it's natural spot."

Well, give me a break!  Hey, I'm quite sure that this person is sincere and caring and IF I was illegally removing sand and actively promoting that others do the same, then their email would be valid and appropriate AND I'd even add my name to it! 

So, why have I kept the listing going, and why am I re-listing it if it's such a losing item?  Well, there are a couple of reasons.  One is that I am trying to make some extra money - duh - and if I can generate a few bucks by providing sand to a few others who happen to collect samples of beach sand from different places on our planet, then what's so wrong with doing it!  There are, in fact, some people who do just that - collect beach sand samples.  And, there are others, even right here on eBay, that market & sell samples of beach sand from other places, including Hawaii and Florida! 

Please Also Note the Following (this is the "Boilerplate"!) :))