Ocean Beach surfers fear plan could ruin waves at world-class spot

San Francisco surfers are not stoked about a city plan to transform part of the Outer Sunset’s Great Highway, fearing it may ruin some of Ocean Beach’s world-famous waves.

The Outer Sunset neighborhood bordering Ocean Beach is a hub for surfers who dare to paddle out to the city’s ever-tempestuous, frigid and shark-filled waters, which can produce waves that tower over 20 feet in the winter. Several surf shops and a newly renovated Pitt’s Pub, a surfer-owned dive bar, call the “Outerlands” home.

But tucked into an approved plan to bring bike lanes, an art exhibit and a beach access ramp to the beach’s southern end is a proposal to construct a 3,200-foot underground wall.

The wall, designed to protect the nearby wastewater plant from coastal erosion, could ruin some of the beach’s waves by displacing sand, according to experts and surfers. The plan will also permanently close the Great Highway to cars between Sloat and Skyline Boulevards.

This area of the beach near Sloat is where some of San Francisco’s first surfers ventured into the dangerous waters, according to Matt Lopez, co-owner of Pitt’s Pub and lifelong Ocean Beach surfer. He said the Sloat surf break has already gotten worse in recent years as the city routinely dumps sand to slow erosion; he fears more drastic changes could ruin the spot forever.

“Sloat was the birthplace of surfing at Ocean Beach,” Lopez said. “If you ruin the waves, in a way, you’re kind of ruining the neighborhood. I’m not living on the Great Highway for the weather.”