The Surfrider Foundation won an important victory today when Judge Joan M. Lewis ruled in favor of open beach access at the Dana Point Strands Beach.  Specifically, she ruled that the City of Dana Point’s severe beach access restrictions are unlawful because the record put forth by the City was “entirely lacking in evidentiary support for declaring a nuisance and that the City acted arbitrarily and capriciously in making such a declaration.”

“We are very pleased to see Judge Lewis rule in favor of the public interest at Strands Beach, instead of allowing the private development to lock out beachgoers from the main accessway at this beautiful beach,” says Surfrider Managing Attorney Angela Howe. “Surfrider Foundation brought this lawsuit to defend public beach access – a right that is sacred in California.”

From the beginning, Strands Developer Headlands Reserve LLC intended to provide a private beach for residents who purchase the multi-million dollar homes.  In October 2008, the developer attempted to get out of building a central stairway to the beach, telling the California Coastal Commission that the Mid-Strand access stairway was “geo-technically infeasible.”  The Commission saw through the excuse and required that the stairway be built.  The case at hand was a result of the locked gates and restrictive hours installed at that central Mid-Vista stairway.

Machado, Frye, Dale, “Gidget”, Beacham, Fury and Hole in Wall Gang honored in 18th annual ceremony

The votes have been tallied and seven legendary wave riders will once again be forever enshrined in surfing’s history books. Through a selection ballot, a host of respected surf industry veterans, former professionals and surf journalists narrowed down a field of hundreds of candidates to name the seven 2011 Surfing Walk of Fame’s honorees in their respective categories – Rob Machado (Surf Champion), Skip Frye (Surf Pioneer), Dick Dale (Surf Culture), Debbie Beacham and Kathy “Gidget” Kohner (tied for Women of the Year), Bill Fury (Local Hero) and The Hole in the Wall Gang (Honor Roll).

The Surfing Walk of Fame is the only tribunal in surfing to award specific categories as well as require a 10-year margin since the commemorating achievement. This year’s recipients will be cemented alongside past inductees, earning their immortal place in the pavement on the corner of PCH and Main Street, directly across from the famous pier in Surf City USA — Huntington Beach, California.

“The Surfing Walk of Fame board of directors is very excited with this year’s voter-selected honorees for the 2011 induction,” said Don MacAllister, SWoF Chairman of the Board. “For the past 18 years, we mail ballots throughout the world and gather votes to make our selection.”

Rob Machado, a former Pipeline Master and World Number Two surfer, has a definitive history surfing in Huntington Beach. A well worthy Surf Champion, he won the U.S. Open of Surfing three times and finished runner-up three times. Even the lefthander south of the pier will forever be dubbed “Machado’s Peak” after seemingly magical waves appeared out of nowhere, propelling the stylish goofyfoot to victory.

“It is a true honor to be inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame and very humbling to be included alongside that group of people who have all made incredible contributions to surfing,” Machado explained. “Surfing has given me so much and I feel like my career is nowhere close to over.”

Earning the Surf Pioneer nod is San Diego’s Skip Frye — a legendary surfer, competitor and shaper during the 1960s. After a trip to Australia, Frye came back with knowledge of the vee-bottom design, which soon helped fuel the shortboard revolution.

Musician Dick Dale, largely regarded as the founder of surf music, is undoubtedly worthy of the Surf Culture recognition. He was once quoted as saying he was trying to “match the feeling I had while surfing” to his music.

The Woman of the Year goes to two honorees this time around — Debbie Beacham, a former world champion turned women’s contest promoter, and Kathy Kohner (also known as “Gidget”), who’s Malibu upbringing spring-boarder her into a pop icon.

Also in this year’s ceremony, surfer/shaper Bill Fury is recognized as the Local Hero. And HB’s legendary surf team “The Hole in the Wall Gang” earns the Honor Roll spot.

MALIBU, Calif. — It was a cool weekday afternoon, but dozens of surfers were bobbing in the water, waiting for a wave. This was Malibu: the national symbol of surfing, adored by California wave riders for 50 years, near the famous stretch of coast where Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon partied on the beach.

Some environmentalists say the state parks project is critical to save a lagoon that is choking on sand and silt, and threatening plants and animals.

An injunction has blocked the bulldozers until September.

These days, Malibu is renowned for something else: a court and civic battle that has pitted surfer against surfer, environmentalist against environmentalist and City Council member against City Council member. A $7 million plan to clean up the Malibu Lagoon — its brackish waters clogged with silt and mud — has stirred up a community that is more commonly identified with exclusivity and natural beauty than street protesters and smack-downs at City Council meetings.

“I don’t care if I am not recognized,” Andy Lyons, a surfer, shouted at a City Council meeting recently as officials threatened to eject him if he did not sit down. “I surf there every day, and you don’t.”

Environmentalists say the California State Parks cleanup project is critical to saving a lagoon that is choking on sand and silt, depleting oxygen levels and threatening native birds, fish and plant life.

But the project has alarmed some surfers, who assert that the dredging could affect the sand flow to the beach and destroy what many surfers celebrate as the best wave in the world (though that designation might not be as true as it was 20 years ago, before the last reclamation project, which many surfers think also damaged the wave).