High surf takes toll on Newport shore

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT BEACH -- A Costa Mesa man was injured in the building surf of

the first southwest swell of the season Thursday morning at 36th street

in Newport Beach.

Jaime Tyson, 38, was taken to Hoag Hospital by Newport Beach

paramedics just after 11 a.m. Lifeguards said they received a 911 call

minutes before 11 a.m. about a man yelling for help in the surf line.

Tyson was treated for cervical spine injuries as a precaution because

he was complaining of lower back pain, said Capt. Eric Bauer of the

Newport Beach Lifeguards.

“Best we can tell he tumbled in the surf,” said Lt. John Blauer, of

the Newport Beach Fire and Marine Department. “He told lifeguards that

his pain, on a scale of one to 10, was a 10.”

Tyson was still at Hoag Thursday night, but his condition was not

released.

Lifeguards were unsure as to whether Tyson was surfing, body surfing

or body boarding, but the waves he was in were about 4 to 6 feet out of

the south and 2 to 3 feet out of the west, Bauer said.

Unless a possible high-pressure front moves in, making conditions

windy, beachgoers can expect waves of the same size or larger today and

into the weekend, officials said.

Surfline at o7 https://www.swell.comf7 reported that the surf at the

Newport River Jetties on Thursday was 4 to 6 feet, shoulder high to 1

foot overhead with occasional 7-foot sets. It is possible that one of the

larger sets came through, hitting Tyson, lifeguards said.

For today, Surfline forecasts that the same southwest swell will give

most areas in Orange County shoulder high to overhead waves, with the

biggest waves being several feet overhead.

Although that swell will fade out today, another is right on its

heels, according to Surfline. Surfers can expect the same size, or

slightly bigger waves from this next southwest swell.