Dramatic Rescue Attempt : Lobster Diver Drowns in Heavy Laguna Surf

A nighttime dive for lobsters in roaring surf off Laguna Beach ended in death for a Downey man despite a dramatic rescue attempt by lifeguards who battled eight-foot waves crashing onto rocks.

Beginning late Thursday night, lifeguards, police and paramedics searched in vain for Donald Gordon Mackay, 19, as the waves pounded rocky Moss Street Beach.

Early Friday morning, Mackay’s body, still in his black wet suit but stripped of his scuba tank, mask, fins and weight belt, was found washed ashore at Pearl Street Beach, about a quarter of a mile north of where he and four diving companions entered the water shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday, Laguna Beach police said.

Huge waves measuring up to 15 feet continued to pound the Orange County coast Friday. At Dana Point Harbor, white spray rose 30 feet in the air over the outer breakwater. The waves are from a storm system thousands of miles away off the Antarctic coast.

10-Foot Breakers

Lifeguards at Newport Beach said that breakers were running 10 feet high at the Wedge, and six to eight feet on southerly facing portions of the beach. The dory fishing fleet was unaffected, however, because its launching site is farther up the coast, where the beach faces more to the west. But lobster divers operating out of Dana Point on the third day of the new season said that they were losing “a considerable amount of gear” to the rough seas.

In Laguna Beach, lifeguards hoisted a yellow flag warning of risky rip current conditions and reported four- to six-foot waves, with an occasional eight-footer. Surfers, they said, “were having a ball.” Lifeguards in San Clemente said that surf there was three to six feet, but they had no problems.

But at Moss Street Beach in Laguna Thursday night, two dozen onlookers watched the waves tower over and crash down on rescuers searching for MacKay.

Mackay and his friends had driven in from Downey, hoping to take home some big lobsters, said diver Eric Sandberg, 19, also of Downey. “We got down on the beach and watched the swells, and they looked OK,” he said. “So we just took off, and all of a sudden the surf came up real big--it was pounding us really bad.”

‘Couldn’t Make It’

Rob Morck, who was swimming near Sandberg, ahead of Mackay and the other two divers, said he began screaming for help after a huge wave stripped him of his mask and knocked the regulator from his mouth. “When we made it out past the surf line, we were exhausted, and couldn’t make it back in,” Morck said.

Mackay, who had been a certified scuba diver for two years, was carrying a 22-pound tank but was not wearing a buoyancy vest, according to his friends.

Kurt Walker, who was swimming beside Mackay, said that Mackay never made it beyond the surf line. “I got hung up, and I told Donny to put his regulator in his mouth, but then a wave came up and hit us and I lost sight of him,” Walker said.

Lifeguard Mark Klosterman later said that Mackay probably wasn’t more than 20 yards offshore.

One of the divers had made it back to shore by the time help arrived at the beach, lifeguard Jeff Treselt said. He and Klosterman then helped the other three to safety and, with a sheriff’s helicopter hovering overhead and a Harbor Patrol boat circling offshore, the two lifeguards swam out to search for Mackay.

Light Played Tricks

Lobster buoys reflecting light played tricks on residents of cliff-side houses anxiously scanning the greenish sea for Mackay, but the search beyond the surf line was fruitless.

“We’re giving it our best effort, but I’m almost sure that he’s not out there waiting for a rescue,” Klosterman, back on the beach, told the other divers. He said that calling in a dive team would be useless with virtually no visibility underwater. “I’m going to give it one more swim in the cracks,” he said, and swam off into the rocks at the north end of the beach.

“He risked his life--he’s a hero,” said Morck after the search was called off half an hour later.

Klosterman, wrapped in a towel after an exhausting night of work, said that the conditions were “very, very poor” for diving and an advisory had been in effect from San Diego to Los Angeles. “We’ve had the yellow flag up since yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon,” the lifeguard said. “It’s unfortunate that the lobster season started yesterday--the guys get all fired up, and they don’t check with us before they go out. Something like this happens every couple of years.”

Times staff writer Gordon Grant contributed to this story.