What Happened to Cortes Bank

May 12, 2002
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Vista, Ca
Why do we not see footage of Cortes Bank anymore? Is it the Greg Long incident? I fly for a living, and operate over the water there quite a bit, and I see waves breaking there all the time. But it seems like the surf world just forgot about it.
 
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_____

Phil Edwards status
Sep 17, 2012
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Logistics and expense of getting out there like they did in the past is pretty gnarly but it seems it could have been a stellar year with those clean conditions. These days, who's going to pay for a trip like that? Quik? Billabong? Surfline?
 

stringcheese

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Jun 21, 2017
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The people chasing numbers, waves so many feet "tall"regardless of shape, have moved over to Nazare?
That and maybe we've seen bigger, better waves paddled and towed into at Jaws recently than we ever saw from cortes?
 

r32

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Apr 1, 2005
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It's 118 miles from San Diego. That's a long ways to go for 'maybe' conditions. Doesn't seem worth it with the cost and logistics. Basically need a whole crew to go out there with you. That means coordinating between at least 6 people, jet skis, boat captain, schedules, gear, etc. and in a short amount of time once the swell is forecast. It's a lot of effort.

And I'm sure after the Greg Long incident, many probably think twice before heading out there. Help is too far away.

And if the conditions suck, you've wasted the entire peak of the swell. At least if you're on land, you can drive to another spot that might be better.

But oh to score this spot just once, in the middle of the open ocean. It would be a zen moment and perhaps the pinnacle in a lifetime of chasing waves.

 

Clayster

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Oct 26, 2005
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It's super rich in sea life and the middle of the ocean. Have to assume it has plenty of sharks. A lot of people dive and fish out there.

Dang. Put a cast net on some of that bait and I have to suppose the fishing would be really good.
 

r32

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The shallowest spot is called Bishop Rock, which is only about 3-6' below the surface depending on the tide.

In the summer of 1961, surfer Harrison Ealy of Oceanside, California became one of the first people to surf a wave at the Bishop Rock. In around 1973, surfer Ilima Kalama, father of big wave surfer Dave Kalama, nearly died when the abalone fishing boat he was aboard sank on the Bishop Rock in the middle of the night.
 

manbearpig

Duke status
May 11, 2009
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I recall seeing dive videos where it seemed quite shallow. Maybe the clip was from one of those and they showed some rideable smaller waves.
 

Clayster

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Oct 26, 2005
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The shallowest spot is called Bishop Rock, which is only about 3-6' below the surface depending on the tide.

In the summer of 1961, surfer Harrison Ealy of Oceanside, California became one of the first people to surf a wave at the Bishop Rock. In around 1973, surfer Ilima Kalama, father of big wave surfer Dave Kalama, nearly died when the abalone fishing boat he was aboard sank on the Bishop Rock in the middle of the night.

As a guy who crewed on sailboats decades ago on long passages, a place like Cortes bank scares the fook out of me. When i was crewing we had loran-if you were on a good boat,- but mostly relied on compass. And Loran only went so far. Of course, I am in Florida, so Cortes was never my problem, but I have to imagine that many a mariner ran afoul of that reef. Can you imagine being a naive sailor on a 40' sailboat sailing into the bank on a big swell.? OOF.
 
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oneworlded

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Jun 4, 2004
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Just read my dang book It breaks when it’s about 15 feet. I was there on that small day in the pic when Greg L went back out. Conditions were just unreal. I think Covid has to do with no missions this year too. close quarters and big logistics and dollars. And I don’t think Rob Brown has his badass boat. It must have been all time on the Mel swell.
 

manbearpig

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May 11, 2009
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Just read my dang book It breaks when it’s about 15 feet. I was there on that small day in the pic when Greg L went back out. Conditions were just unreal. I think Covid has to do with no missions this year too. close quarters and big logistics and dollars. And I don’t think Rob Brown has his badass boat. It must have been all time on the Mel swell.
Does it pretty much have to be no wind to be good or will an offshore wind still keep it clean? Thinking how fetch from an offshore wind could create an opposing swell.