Surfers Rally Round Dana Strands : Conservation: A fledgling group will gather Saturday at popular Dana Point beach it fears development could ruin.

They lost Killer Dana and they vow not to let it happen again.

A new breed of surfers, inspired by the distant memory of the hallowed surfing spot that was dredged and transformed into Dana Point Harbor in late 1960s, has organized a fledgling group to fight to save another spot: Dana Strands.

The Dana Point Conservation Group, based at Saddleback College, will stage an informal gathering Saturday at Dana Strands beach, a popular spot they think may be threatened by development.

A proposed hotel-residential development for the Dana Point promontory known as The Headlands, which overlooks Dana Strands, may not bode well for its surfing reefs, they claim.

“We want to raise the public’s awareness of what the city and developers have planned for The Headlands,” said Gary Wright, 31, who named his Dana Point surfing store the Killer Dana Surf Shop after the long-lost spot. “No one took action in the 1960s when the county ruined one of the best surfing spots in California. We think that before the new development gets set in stone, we need to let our feelings be known.”

Wright and Mario (Maji) Melendez, 22, have planned an “expression session” for 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Dana Strands beach, which sits on the other side of The Headlands from what was formerly Killer Dana. Contributions of $15 are requested.

“This is not for the money or meant to be a protest or a contest, but a fun day at the beach,” Melendez said. “It’s just a gathering of surfers not sanctioned by anyone. Our group is meant to watch over developers and make sure this area is developed conscientiously.”

A spokesman for the owner of the 122-acre Headlands project said he welcomes such scrutiny and plans to attend Saturday’s session. William R. Phillips, president of PBR, the planning firm that has created the project, claims the surfers and beach-goers will be beneficiaries of the development.

Rumors that the beach will be transformed into a marina or channeled by a jetty are totally unfounded, Phillips said.

“We have been accused of planning to close the beach and not providing access and that is not true. The (Dana Strands) beach is not public now and really has never been so,” Phillips said. “Part of our proposal is to open the beach to the public and provide a more accessible walkway to the beach.”

Phillips acknowledges that a 400-room hotel, about 19 acres of specialty shopping commercial development and about 550 homes are planned for The Headlands. But the project also includes a trail system that meanders around the promontory dotted with gazebos and parkland, he said.

“We have made a major commitment to open space in the area,” Phillips said. Joining him at the beach Saturday will be Dan Daniels, president of the M.H. Sherman Co., which has owned the property along with the Chandis Securities Co. since the 1940s, Phillips said.

Melendez and Wright are hoping Saturday brings an outpouring of surfers and anyone else who wants to enlist in their cause to save county beaches and open space.

“We want to let young people know they can make a difference,” Melendez said.

All that is left of Killer Dana, a surfing spot that was best when thunderous south swells wrapped around the Headlands point, are a scattering of treasured photographs and memories, Wright said. But the 1990s are a new era for activism, he said.

“That was 1967 and there is nothing we can do to bring it back,” Wright said. “But this is 1992. Surfers now have the power to make themselves felt.”