Surfing generates nearly $200 million a year for Santa Cruz — and coastal changes could put it at risk

In the summer of 1885, three teenage Hawaiian princes visiting Santa Cruz dragged hand-hewn, 17-foot redwood boards — each weighing more than 200 pounds — across the sand at Main Beach. Riding waves at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River, they introduced surfing to the mainland United States, an event that would help shape Santa Cruz’s coastal identity for generations.

The cultural phenomenon they helped launch now generates nearly $200 million a year in Santa Cruz, according to a landmark...