Thousands Crowd Beaches in Heat; Navy Man Drowns

A Navy man who appeared to be fighting a rip tide drowned Sunday in Torrey Pines City Beach Park on a day when thousands crowded beaches to escape the heat.

Mark Anthony Seals, 19, a hospital corpsman at the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton, was swimming back to shore in an unguarded area near Black Gold Road in La Jolla when he drowned, coroner’s deputies reported.

A friend summoned lifeguards to the site when he saw Seals struggling about 2 p.m. An ASTREA helicopter located Seals floating in the water about 3 p.m. Life Flight was called, but despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts, Seals died at the scene about 3:30 p.m., deputies said.

According to city lifeguard Alex Sodi, 59 people were pulled from the ocean by city lifeguards.

Although the surf was flat, water activity was high, he said, and most rescues involved helping tired swimmers escape rip currents.

“We know where rip currents are, watch for people swimming in them who try to swim to shore. We spot them and try to get there before they get in trouble,” Sodi said.

The area near Black’s Beach where Seals was swimming, he said, was not guarded.

Rip currents had weakened about 20 swimmers who were rescued at Silver Strand State Park in Coronado. Lifeguard Ernest Arnold said two people would be rescued on a typical April Sunday.

“We had more rescues over Easter week than today,” Arnold said Sunday, but said he had not seen such large crowds since August. “All the parking lots were full.”

It was the third day of a Santa Ana condition Sunday, and temperatures had shot to more than 15 degrees above normal, drawing people to the ocean in throngs lifeguards said are rare this time of year.

An estimated 100,000 people hit city beaches from Mission Beach to La Jolla. They arrived early and stayed late.

“It has been the busiest day as far as crowds since last summer,” Sodi said. “The boardwalk was packed and a lot of people were in the water.” By 5 p.m., a third of the visitors were still there, he said.

At county beaches in Solana Beach and Encinitas, lifeguards blamed an uneven ocean bottom still “torn up” by winter weather for 25 rescues Sunday.

“People would fall in holes and get in over their heads,” county lifeguard Tim O’Leary said.

About 20,000 beachgoers packed the shore--the air temperature was 77 degrees--but the water temperature didn’t top 63, O’Leary said..

“Despite the cold water, they were out there. It was just like summer,” O’Leary said.

Crowds were up 30% Sunday over Saturday, O’Leary said, and five extra guards were called in to help patrol.

Along the beach in Del Mar, where the daytime high reached 80, about 78,000 sunbathers, swimmers and surfers shared the seashore, but only three required rescue, lifeguard John Schooler said.

Those who braved the heat away from the ocean faced high temperatures in the 80s and 90s.

It reached 91 degrees at the San Diego Wild Animal Park; 90 in Lemon Grove and El Cajon; 89 in Chula Vista, Poway, Escondido and Vista; 88 at San Diego State University and in Ramona, and 86 degrees at Lindbergh Field and Alpine.

It was also unseasonably warm in the mountains. The temperature reached 76 degrees in Julian and 72 in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.

According to the National Weather Service, the Santa Ana condition should weaken today.

“Santa Ana conditions usually peak on the third day, and this one doesn’t look any different,” forecaster Wally Cegiel said.

Sunny skies will continue and sea breezes are expected to replace warmer northeasterly winds. Temperatures should cool slightly today and Tuesday.