Gaviota Pier collapsed 3-1-14 (OT)

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Messages 1 - 19 of total 19 in this topic

Slater

Trad climber

Central Coast

Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 1, 2014 - 10:13pm PT

For any of you surfer/climbers, the pier collapsed this morning at 8am. Maybe someone posted already, I dunno. I'm sure someone will let me know. Anyway, the hoist is still there, but the pier about 20' past it is gone.
Gaviota on a good day.

Avila Beach on a BIG day (today).

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

extraordinaire

Mar 1, 2014 - 10:48pm PT

Trust me, they can fix it -- -

... approximately 30 feet of the pier is gone.

Slater

Trad climber

Central Coast

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 1, 2014 - 11:01pm PT

Because the state park system is loaded with funding right? ha ha.
Maybe the locals just chainsawed the pilings last night!

Mcload... Avila is north of Shell Beach.

http://www.noozhawk.com/article/big_waves_destroy_part_of_gaviota_pier_20140301

Sounds more like 50' of the pier.

"Waves were breaking over top of the pier," Hjelstrom said. "They took out some pilings, and once one goes, they all go down like dominos."

About one third of the pier was lost — just seaward of the boat hoist, Hjelstrom said, adding that park officials were concerned that continued heavy surf could do more damage to the structure.

"The strongest portion of the pier is the section that has the big crane," Hjelstrom noted. "But when the tide goes out, those waves will hit right at that part that's left. We could lose the hoist."

BLUEBLOCR

Social climber

joshua tree

Mar 1, 2014 - 11:11pm PT

WOW! TFPU!!

I ust'a live at Gaviota State beach. Along with Refugio, and El Capitan State beach. Surfed'em
MANY times in the 80's. along with Holister and Jaylama. We would jump off Gaviota pier to get in the lineup. I always wondered when that thing was come'in down. My favorite days were surfing with Shauwn Thompson at ElCap Point when it was 9 ft. cept I almost died. Twice!

I can't believe my mom didn't call me. She lives in Pismo. Sounds like road trip time!

Wade Icey

Trad climber

www.alohashirtrescue.com

Mar 1, 2014 - 11:49pm PT

turn. turn. turn.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Mar 2, 2014 - 12:07am PT

Wood in salt water, or any water, has always been problematic.
Ask the British Admiralty or read Tai Chi about some loonies who had a replica Chinese
junk built in in Hong Kong and tried to sail it to Central America. The teredos totally consumed
it in about six months.

Darwin

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Mar 2, 2014 - 12:31am PT

thanks for the 411 Slater, and for that first photo. Is that yours?

this just in

climber

north fork

Mar 2, 2014 - 12:44am PT

What the sh#t Slater! Posting surfing pics without bikinis.

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

extraordinaire

Mar 2, 2014 - 01:01am PT

BLUEBLOCR

Social climber

joshua tree

Mar 2, 2014 - 01:34am PT

^^^^ I've seen that crane take out a boat AND a 250lb Halibut. It's Burly!

The waters not even chopped. I don't see anyone out. It'll be good tomorrow at low tide.

stiller

Trad climber

Mount Shasta

Mar 2, 2014 - 11:42am PT

maybe a few pilings in the line up!

east side underground

climber

Hilton crk,ca

Mar 2, 2014 - 01:29pm PT

slater, nice shot of the beach break, pretty rare to see surf like that at gaviota. was planning a trip to surf this week ,oh well, wonder if there are even funds to repair the pier? edit guess it 's time to buy a ski, anyone want to buy a sweet whaler?

Alpamayo

Trad climber

Sacramento, CA

Mar 2, 2014 - 01:46pm PT

"^^^^ I've seen that crane take out a boat AND a 250lb Halibut. It's Burly!

The waters not even chopped. I don't see anyone out. It'll be good tomorrow at low tide."

That would be amazing. The record CA halibut is ~70 lbs and Pacific halibut that far south are pretty rare, especially of that size. I would think a 250 lb Pacific Halibut would almost certainly be a CA record since largest I've heard of caught in the lower 48 was ~290 lbs, and that was in WA.

NutAgain!

Trad climber

South Pasadena, CA

Mar 2, 2014 - 02:59pm PT

I grew up in Cayucos (a small beach town in the most sheltered part of Estero Bay, north of of San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay, the next big wooden pier north of Avila). The winter of 1982/83 was pretty epic there, ripping out the pilings under the end of the pier, and ripping out an entire section of the pier two thirds of the way out in the normal wave break zone.

On a typical huge wave day, waves might come within a few feet of the bottom of the pier at the midpoint or two thirds out. During that winter, waves routinely scraped the walking level of the pier, and I remember watching waves pitch out and break over the top of the end of the pier.

It was dangerous to walk on the beach that year- reports of people dying when rogue waves loaded with pier pilings and trees from the gorged rivers etc, breaking up on the shore and just smashing people or sucking them out. My mom had a bakery right across the street from the beach, which we had to sandbag because the street was washed to sea, tides coming a block up into the town past our shop. The river was so gorged it eroded the cliffs along the side, where 100 years before an Abalone processing plant had been located, and I harvested many huge abalone shells, cleaned them up, and sold them to tourists.

During milder times that winter, my brother and I would be the only ones on the beach at 6am, playing on these other-worldly carved sand cliffs, like a 6 foot tall version of Death Valley, along the line where the tide changed and sucked out the sand. The swing set where we played on the sand was washed to sea that year, and merry-go-round was 6 feet in the air with a block of cement foundation unclimbable for us kids to reach up to the actual metal disk. Cool stuff. Mother nature is powerful.

And so castles made of sand, wash to the sea, eventually.

A big day at the pier, but not like a truly epic winter:

speelyei

Trad climber

Mohave County Arizona

Mar 2, 2014 - 05:31pm PT

I moved my little family out a town of 2000 people on the Oregon Coast for 8 years. It was awesome. Elk on the beach, gigantic towering trees, and the occasional 40' fishng trawler washed up on the beach when we'd take the dogs down to catch the ball in the dawn hours.
For anybody with an inkling to live near the beach, I'd say do it! We had so many adventures and experiences just because of our proximity to the Ocean. We found bottles from Russia, Japan, and Korea, a beer can from Buenos Aires, ate seaweed, crab, mussels, and all kinds of fish. Campfires on the beach, sunsets and driftwood and sea lions, it was fantastic.
Really happy to see the beach and surf threads on here.