Cortes Bank

Cortes Bank

Cortes Bank is a dangerously shallow chain of underwater mountains in the Pacific Ocean. It is located about 188 kilometers west of Point Loma San Diego, USA, and about 82 kilometers south-west of San Clemente Island. It is in the middle of the ocean. Cortes Bank was originally a California channel island 10,000 years ago but when the Ice Age came, it lowered the sea level by 400 feet. The end result was Cortes Bank.

There is a model of the underground mountain at Cortes Bank:

Here is a bird's eye view of Cortes Bank:

This spot is capable of producing some amazing waves due to its location. Cortes Bank reaches a peak of about 30 kilometers long and rises from the ocean floor from about 1kilometer down. Some of the peaks come to just 1-2 meters below the surface at Bishop Rock, depending on the tides. The peaks are a hazard to large ships. Because it is located so far off the coast, there is really no limit to the amount of swell that can pass by this spot.The waves at Cortes Bank signal danger on the underwater rocks and are so big they show up on radar.
The location of Cortes Bank is shown below:

Bishop Rock, which is one of the jagged peaks in the underwater chain, rises to within 1 to 2 meters of the surface. This place has been known to ocean-going ship captains and fishermen for years.

Here is an example of how big the waves at Cortes Bank get:

To get the biggest waves at Cortes Bank, you need perfect conditions. Cortes Bank requires light winds, low tides and big storm swells from the northwest in order to reach its full potential. This surf spot is also a place where rough sea storms take place.

These need to happen all at the same time. This happened on 19th January 2001, where California's surfers went to test their skills against the biggest wave every ridden. These waves were traveling so fast that the surfers couldn't catch up to the wave paddling, instead they had to get there by a jet skier who towed them with a rope until they were moving fast enough to engage the wave. Surfers measure the waves from the back and the biggest wave of the day was 30 feet according to their measurements. A watcher on the other side, said he saw waves up to sixty feet tall.


This link to a video explains Cortes Bank in more detail:
http://www.surfline.com/surflinetv/how-it-works/how-it-works-cortes-bank_22567