Surfers’ Delight : Weather: The fallout from Hurricane Darby brings winter-type swells to county beaches. Eager wave riders respond.

Hurricane-stirred surf pounded area beaches Tuesday, luring thousands of surf-starved wave riders to paddle out through the breakers and ride a few unseasonably large waves.

The rare summer swell--the product of Hurricane Darby, which was moving away from the Baja California coast late Tuesday afternoon--sloshed against seawalls protecting oceanfront homes at Faria Beach, a few miles north of Ventura.

Tumbling white water sent spray onto the decks of homes, but authorities had no reports of damage and expected none.

What worried homeowners delighted surfers who were itching to get wet on a hot, muggy day. Famous surf spots were jumping Tuesday, from the Rincon to Surfer’s Point in Ventura and down to the Ventura-Los Angeles county line.

The Ventura Fairgrounds parking lot at Surfer’s Point was jammed with every make of boogie board, long-board and wave shredder imaginable. Surfers’ cars spilled onto side streets, and everyone was headed toward the beach.

“We’ve been looking forward to a swell like this for a long time,” said Rex Thomas, president of the Ventura County chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, as he prepared to take his bodyboard into the waves near the point.

Thomas said his chapter of the statewide environmental group was supposed to have a meeting Tuesday evening but admitted that many members would be drawn to the surf rather than to a meeting about protecting it. “I guess there’ll just be some directors late in getting there,” he said.

The Seaside Park promenade was packed with bicyclists, skateboarders and pale tourists watching the surf roll in. One little boy, sitting on his father’s lap, peered at the waves and asked, “Where’s Mom?”

“She’s gone surfing,” replied the boy’s father, who was still wearing a dripping wet suit after just climbing out of the ocean himself.

David Davis, 47, of Camarillo said there were few if any places he would rather be than hitting the surf at his favorite beach. “Look out there,” he said, gesturing at the surf lineup that stretched from the Ventura Pier to the point itself. “There’s over 125 guys out there, and no one even gets in anybody’s way.”

Suddenly, Davis’ 17-year-old son Blake paddled through a large set and readied himself to ride a wave of his own. “I started taking him out when he was about 10 and he got hooked on it,” Davis said, wincing as Blake fell from his board.

“After taking him for a while, he got me hooked on it all over again,” he said, adding that he’d been surfing for more than 35 years.

Lately, the self-employed building contractor has been surfing a lot, he said, noting that Tuesday’s session lasted 2 1/2 hours. “I’ve been recessionized, and business has been real slow for me, so I’ve been out here a lot lately.”

Not all of the surfers were regulars, however. Bob Baker, 28, was visiting from his hometown of Chico to see a doctor about a knee injury. Then he saw the six-foot waves breaking at the beach. “When I saw the size of the waves, I couldn’t resist,” Baker said, dripping water as he carried his surfboard to his truck in a beachside parking lot.

“I probably shouldn’t even be out here,” he said.

Fumiko Nakamura, a Japanese exchange student studying architecture at Santa Barbara City College, said she wasn’t about to get anywhere near the ocean. Sitting on a friend’s neon-yellow bodyboard cover, she said the sport seemed a bit strange to her. “I’ve never seen such big waves,” she said. “I think it could be dangerous.”

Steve Ramirez, a lifeguard at San Buenaventura State Beach, said that by midafternoon the high waves were responsible for five rescues, more than usual for a weekday.

In Oxnard, sets of four-to-six-foot waves drew more surfers to the beaches, and also led to a greater number of rescues than usual, one lifeguard said.

Coast Guard officials reported no problems caused by the high surf, although many members of the Ventura County fishing fleet cut their days short as ongoing weather reports about the hurricane indicated higher swells and winds. Weather conditions generated by Hurricane Darby, which was downgraded later Tuesday to Tropical Storm Darby, are expected to continue through Thursday.

Fallout from the storm also is expected to cause more humid weather and a chance of showers throughout the county on Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures should be cooler, said Walt Bartlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Along the coast Wednesday the mercury is expected to reach the mid-70s, with temperatures in the low to mid-80s inland.

The hurricane originated off the coast of Mexico near Acapulco. As of Tuesday afternoon, Darby was reported 625 miles southwest of Los Angeles, weakening and edging away from the coast.