History of Friends of Windansea

Friends of Windansea was formed 50 years after the Shack was built in 1947 by surfer soldiers returning from World War II. The Shack was built by Don Okey, and freinds  to create Aloha and Shade that is the inspiration for who we are. Along came the original Windansea Surfing Club also headed up by Don Okey who took care of the Shack and also the beach. They hosted amazing luau’s, 600 people at one in 1949 with 2 “picnic fires”, 300 pounds of beef short ribs and a 206 pound pig cooked in the sand Hawaiian style. Surfers came from all over California to feel the spirit.

Okey and friends. moved on in their pursuits but the beach culture they founded lived on.

In the 60’s the surf club came back and was called the “WindanSea Surf Club” started by my ex-husband Mike Hynson, Chuck Halsey and Thor Swenson and they became the new caretakers of the beach, bringing the surfing lifestyle up to date with the times. The Club has since grown to over 200 members with many surf honors taken along the way.

In the beginning of 1998, a few of us from the beach and the Surf Club got together in my yard and formed Friends of Windansea to address the need for maintenance and the erosion at the parking lot with a plan to move the cars back and that was the beginning. Our propose was to protect and preserve the beach we loved and most of all keep it historic as perhaps one of the few beaches in California that is still original, we had a few battles one famous one was “ Ban The Can” when the city tried to put bathrooms at the beach. We won that one and no bathrooms were built.

In May of 1998 Hans Newman, Tony Ciani and myself had the shack and the site dedicated historic since it is considered one of the most important examples of Surf Culture in California. After holding community workshops a plan was developed and recognized by the City of San Diego as the guiding document for improvements at WindanSea Beach. Since that time we have implemented the plan in full, only in time to realize that more needs to be done to protect the beach.

Friends of Windansea is grateful for” The Windansea Historical Surfriding Association, The WindanSea Surf Club and ” for our amazing members and friends locally. and at the City and the State who have given of themselves and funds over all these many years. We have raised and spent over a million dollars on Windansea and will likely spend another $200,000.00 on our current project to protect Windansea’s coastal bluff vegetation from foot traffic before it is gone.

This is a historic beach and we are committed to keeping it that way.

Melinda Merryweather