Surf ‘s Up and Dangerous, Keeping Lifeguards Wet

Heavy surf generated by a Pacific storm pounded county shores Monday, keeping lifeguards busy making rescues and prompting San Clemente marine safety officials to issue a red-flag warning to keep average swimmers out of the water.

“At first,” San Clemente lifeguard supervisor Richard Chew said, “we had the yellow flags out, cautioning people with average swimming ability to use care. But we changed that to a red flag about 12:30 p.m. (Monday), when the surf increased. A red flag for the average swimmer means that if they go out, they’re going to get rescued.”

It was the second time this summer that the county has had larger-than-average surf. On June 23, beaches were lashed by swells three to six feet high, with occasional sets of almost 10 feet at Newport Beach.

Monday’s unusual southwest swell was generated by a storm in the Southern Hemisphere, possibly off New Zealand or Australia, said Rick Dittmann, a spokesman for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times Orange County Edition.

Lifeguards at the county’s south-facing beaches spent most of the day warning swimmers of lateral rip currents and the large waves, which are expected to subside to three to five feet by today. Water temperatures averaged 64 degrees at Seal Beach to a warm 71 degrees at Newport Beach.

Despite the high waves, Dittmann said no damage is expected because no unusually high tides are predicted along the coast.

“The reason high-surf advisories were issued,” he said, “is for people who walk along jetties or go fishing and fail to pay attention. If you don’t know about surf conditions, you’re vulnerable to being swept away.”

About 35 people were rescued Monday in San Clemente, Chew said, after an “extremely exhausting” weekend, when lifeguards made 114 rescues, with large beach crowds drawn by the weekend San Clemente Festival.

In Huntington Beach, just nine rescues were reported, despite surf that averaged five feet, with occasional sets to eight feet.

Huntington Beach Marine Safety Officer Marc Panis said rescues were light because many people who entered the ocean on such floating devices as belly boards were unable to get past the heavy breakers.

“They would get past smaller waves, and then the big waves would push them back towards the shore,” Panis said.

Seal Beach lifeguards said they made about 20 rescues Monday. And in Newport Beach, where waves to 10 feet were expected but failed to materialize, about 40 to 50 rescues were reported, down considerably from Sunday’s tally.

“We had three-to-five-foot waves (Sunday) and almost 150 rescues,” Newport Beach lifeguard Robert Wyatt said. “The crowd was the big difference. On Monday, we had under 50,000 people, compared to about 90,000 on Sunday.”

A combination of large waves and shorter intervals between the breakers, meaning consistent repetitive sets of waves, contributed to the dangerous conditions Monday.

San Clemente’s Chew said: “A lot of people will look out to sea during a lull and see that nothing is happening, so they go in. Then, as soon as they get out over their head, here comes a series of eight waves. You hold your breath and go underneath them, but average swimmers lose their breath going down so often.”

Throughout the day, lifeguards at Huntington Beach used loudspeakers on emergency vehicles and at the city pier to announce the heavy wave activity.

“We always try to tell normal swimmers to swim near a lifeguard,” Panis said, “and if a lifeguard station is open, they should ask about the prevailing conditions. If it’s dangerous they should try to avoid swimming.”