Greg Smith, from San Mateo, and his wife Arche Tse and their daughter Eurlie Xuan Smith, 4-months-old, head to the beach at Martins Beach in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. Smith has been surfing for over 30 years.
Chad Nelsen, Surfrider Foundation: The small cove in San Mateo County known as Martins Beach, just south of Half Moon Bay, was used regularly by the public for at least a century -- until 2010, when the Silicon Valley billionaire and co-founder of Sun Microsystems Vinod Khosla locked a gate on the only road that provides public access to it. ... Public access to Martins Beach, and to all land seaward of the mean high tide line in California, is guaranteed in the state's constitution and mandated within the Coastal Act of 1976.