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At the south end of Linda Mar, Pedro Point is a cool little beach community built into the side of a hill, overlooking all of Linda Mar and off toward San Francisco. This is the Palos Verdes of Pacifica, where an ostrich and llama ranch stands next to million-dollar Silicon Valley homes overlooking $50 fishing shacks. Pedro Point is a former fishing community that is slowly being yuppified, but the soul of the place is still there.
Doc Ball's first edition of Surfing in California listed four surf spots: Windansea, San Onofre, Malibu and Pedro Point. The Keating brothers and some other Ocean Beach guys started surfing Pedro Point in the late '30s and early '40s after Dick Keating got turned on to surfing by the Kahanamoku brothers while in the Islands for a swimming contest. Talking about Ocean Beach back in the '40s, Fred Van Dyke said that most of the real board surfing was done at Pedro Point and Santa Cruz because those places were less exposed than Ocean Beach and easier to handle on clunky equipment.
Standing on the cliffs at Pedro Point during the winter and spring, looking north, you'd swear you were in Cornwall, England or Ireland. The rugged hills and cliffs look exactly like southwest England, and the fishing shacks on docks on the water are closer to Ireland or Scotland.
There are fun waves breaking along the Boatdock and onto the beach. Outside, there is a big left that breaks off Little Pedro Point, mostly in the winter. This is one of the bigger ridable waves on the North Central California coast. Approach with caution.
There is a thriving surf community here, and they protect their spot. When a surfing web site installed one of its surf reporting cameras overlooking Linda Mar (perish the thought!), the locals took it to City Hall and convinced the city council to have the cameras taken down. The cameras came down. There is a bit of a local hillbilly vibe up in Pedro Point. This place is in danger of being overrun by outsiders, and the locals don't like their parking spots taken up by strangers, or people cutting through their property. Check it from up here, but park down below if you're going surfing.
-- Ben Marcus
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incoming
W, NW, N
Double overhead plus
E or SE
5
rock reef
advanced
Rhino chaser and hood
Winter
Limited parking up in Pedro Point. Be polite
Occasionally, when it's on.
On the big left, plenty.
5 to 10
5
Drowning on the big left. Waxed windows if you park in the wrong place.
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The fast food place just south of the parking lot at Linda Mar used to be an A and W and it was probably a few other things before its current incarnation as a Taco Bell. If you're hungry after a few hours in the water along here, this is a scenic place to get a bite. Kerry's Coffee Shop and the coffee bar and deli next to the NorCal Shop are local food hangouts. La Playa Mexican food (650-738-2247) next to NorCal is also good.
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See Rockaway or Pacifica. If you're in this area and looking for a place to stay, you might want to keep going over Devil's Slide and stay at the youth hostel in Montara.
Or try
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Go bowling at the Sea Bowl up Rockaway. Go fishing for leopard shark and striper and salmon off the Sharp Park Pier. Hang in the Linda Mar parking lot and try to chat up females.
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NorCal Surf Shop is in the little mall just past the parking lot. Co-owner Shawn Rhodes is a Maverick's guy and a longtime Pacifica surfer. Be nice to him and maybe he'll fill you in. NorCal Surf Shop: 5460 Cabrillo Hwy, Pacifica, 650-738-9283.
Sonlight Surf Shop is at 575 Crespi Dr., Pacifica, 650-359-0353.
The Log Shop is located in the Linda Mar district at 640 Crespi Drive, Pacifica, 650.738.5664. Located close to the beach and the new Pacifica public skate park.
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