January 2005

Looking back - 2004

Windansea takes all comers. Most take a piece of Windansea with them and leave a little of themselves when they go. The beach has a lot of friends scattered around and many of them came together last Memorial Day to celebrate the re-erection of the Shack.

Carl Eckstrom was there with a story or two to tell about how the Shack came to be and what went down when the Shack went down the first time.

 

With eucalyptus poles and hardware provided by Cary Sharp at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and gleaned from the original shack George Taylor, Mark Scales and a host of helpers reconstructed the Shack to its original glory using scale drawings made by David Coy in 1985.

Many of you were there on the last Monday in May 2004 to remember our past and celebrate the future with a fish taco feed, courtesy of the Friends of Windansea and Rimel’s Rotisserie. There were t-shirts to commemorate the event and historical memorabilia assembled by Hans Newman and Melinda Merryweather to tell the continuing tale of the Shack.

 

“The Lot” is the social center of WindanSea and is the next phase of the “Design Guidelines, Erosion Control and Maintenance Plan for WindanSea Beach”. A concept plan for the parking lot received community approvals, first from the Parks and Beaches Subcommittee of the La Jolla Town Council in October and then from the Windansea Surf Club, the Traffic and Transportation subcommittee, the La Jolla Town Council and the Community Planning Association in December.

The plan for the parking lot seeks to move the parking back from the bluff to allow for a safe, natural surface pedestrian path in front of the cars, replace the metal guardrail with wood bollards and benches and direct drainage away from the bluff top. Parking for bicycles, motorcycles emergency vehicles, and the disabled is proposed as well as a drop-off area for beachgoers who cannot find parking within the lot.

The most controversial aspect of the plan is the idea of a 3-hour parking limit.

Jim Neri, the landscape architect for the plan stated that “the proposed parking limit was first suggested by the San Diego lifeguard department as a way to make the beach accessible to more people. It was included on the plan to see what the community reaction would be”. So far, the reaction has been mixed with many persons citing problems of enforcement as the main reason why the parking limit will not work. The Windansea Surf Club endorsed the plan conditionally, with the issue of restricted time parking excluded from their endorsement. Friends of Windansea are strongly leaning toward the new community input. FOW will continue to assess all new information and any updated recommendation will be made to the LJ Town Council subcommittees; Traffic and Transportation at their February 24th meeting and the Parks & Beaches at their February 28th meeting, 4PM at the La Jolla Recreation Center. The approved Concept Plan will require City review and approvals prior to its implementation, optimistically during the winter of ’05-’06.

 

Breeze the flying Dog

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Breezy!

  April 1, 1997 - July 14, 2004

More than just the lot locals and the sea birds have called Windansea home; pets of all stripes have also frequented its shifting sands. One such animal was the dog Breeze who owned Charlie Barringer until “Breezy” made her last Frisbee grab in 2004.

 

“Then sing, ye Birds, sing, sing a joyous song! And let the young Lambs bound As to the tabor’s sound! We in thought will join your throng, Ye that Pipe and ye that play, Ye that through your hearts today Feel the gladness of the May! What though the radiance which was once so bright Be now forever taken from my sight,

Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find Strength in what remains behind;

In the primal sympathy Which having been must ever be; In the soothing thoughts that spring Out of human suffering; In the faith that looks through death, In years that bring the philosophic mind.”

From “Ode: Intimations of Immortality From Recollections of Early Childhood” By William Wordsworth (1770-1850)