Cortes Bank: San Diego, California
The Spot: Cortes Bank, a barely submerged island approximately 100 miles offshore from San Diego, California
Why It Matters: “Cortes takes the idea of surfing in the middle of the ocean to a whole new level,” says Rusty Long. While the waves can be perfect, the distance from shore makes Cortes, which is also a popular diving site, extremely dangerous. Part of the Channel Island chain, it sits in mile-deep seas southwest of San Clemente Island. The wave at Cortes Bank breaks on the shallow Bishop Rock, which is between three and six feet from the surface, depending on the tides. Cortes Bank can break across an area up to a mile wide, and the wave can run as far as a half-mile. Because it is located so far from mainland California, it is difficult to get good conditions at Cortes Bank. It requires the combination of a big, long period swell out of the North Pacific and a high pressure parked over Southern California. In January 2001, a confluence of swell and weather created near-perfect conditions, and Mike Parsons towed into a 66-foot monster to claim the biggest wave surfed at Cortes Bank to that date. (Footage appears in Dana Brown’s film Step into the Liquid.)
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