Storm Makes Waves, Rain, Muggy Air : Weather: Darby brings heavy surf to Orange County and points north and south. The system is expected to continue weakening as it moves toward Hawaii.

Tropical Storm Darby fired long-range fusillades from well off the coast Tuesday, pounding Southern California with heavy surf and occasional thunderstorms and hampering the rescue of 10 crewmen who had fled their disabled fishing boat on a life raft.

Darby, which was downgraded from a hurricane as its winds diminished late Tuesday, is expected to continue weakening as it moves north and west toward Hawaii. But the big storm was still generating gusts of up to 70 m.p.h. at its center--650 miles southwest of Orange County--and spinning out a vast arc of moist, warm air that will envelop much of the Southwest for the next few days.

Forecasters said that means a lot of hot, muggy weather in the Orange County area for the rest of the week, with scattered showers throughout Southern California and some isolated heavy thunderstorms, especially near the mountains and in the deserts.

Unusually high waves are expected today along the Orange County coast.

Huntington Beach lifeguard Tim Moilanen said the best surfing waves in six years are a real possibility. Moilanen predicted many surfers will ignore their jobs and head for the beaches.

“All of the good surfers are going to be missing from work or getting out early to take advantage of this surf,” he said.

In Newport Beach, lifeguards said swimmers should stay out of the water unless they plan to use swimming fins.

Lifeguard Derrick Chapman said there would be “a tremendous” number of riptides. “Even lifeguards wouldn’t go out there without fins.” Chapman said he expects Newport Beach lifeguards to be busy pulling swimmers from the heavy surf through the weekend.

“If they’re not excellent swimmers, we don’t want them out there,” he said.

High waves generated by Darby had earlier endangered a 60-foot-fishing boat, the Tootur, off Baja California.

Its crew members were rescued by a passing freighter Tuesday morning, about 40 hours after they had been forced to abandon their craft 180 miles west of Cabo San Lucas, the southernmost point of Baja California.

The Coast Guard said that one man had a broken arm, another a severely bruised knee, but that all 10 were in surprisingly good condition considering their ordeal.

Officials said the crew’s decision to take to the life raft had been made after 100-m.p.h. winds and 25-foot seas shattered the Tootur’s pilot house windows and broke the rudder Sunday night.

Radio contact could not be made with the life raft, so two Coast Guard C-130 patrol planes kept the raft under constant watch until the arrival of the merchant ship, Raku Yoh, about 11 a.m. Tuesday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Liz Brannon said.

Seas in the area were still running at 10 to 15 feet and winds were gusting at up to 45 m.p.h. Tuesday morning, but the rescue was accomplished without further injury, the Coast Guard said. Officials said the rescued fishermen would stay aboard the merchant ship until it reaches its next port of call, Panama City, later this week.

Because of the weather, the disabled fishing boat was left to drift.

“As long as there’s nobody on board, we won’t go after it,” Coast Guard Petty Officer Brenda Toledo said.

On Monday, the Coast Guard had helped rescue the crew of another disabled boat, the yacht Oasis, which was caught in the same storm as it was headed to Newport Beach from Florida. Seven people were plucked from the 70-foot yacht by the merchant vessel Chiquita Roma, which was due in Port Hueneme today.

Although the weather onshore was considerably milder, Darby still took a few shots at the Southland on Tuesday as it gradually weakened and headed farther out to sea.

Heavy surf, with waves up to 6 feet, began hammering some south-facing beaches along the Southern California coast late Tuesday, creating strong riptides and hazardous swimming conditions in general.

There were no early reports of damage, but forecasters said the heaviest surf was not expected until this afternoon. Beachfront residents were advised to protect exposed structures with sandbags.

Scattered light rain spattered communities as far north as Malibu and as far east as the Arizona border Tuesday afternoon, but the amounts were generally less than 0.10 of an inch.

However, a few isolated thundershowers were reported in San Diego County late Tuesday, and forecasters said there could be more showers and some stronger thunderstorms this evening, especially in the southern deserts and mountain ranges.

“It looks like there’ll just be more of the same for awhile,” said Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

“There’ll be more clouds, more humidity, more showers, more thundershowers, more warm temperatures,” he said. “If you think this is yucky, then it will probably be yucky for the rest of the week.”

Actually, any rainfall here at all at this time of year is remarkable. The rainfall season begins July 1, and the normal seasonal total for July 8 is less than 0.01 of an inch.

The high temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Tuesday was 88 degrees, after an overnight low of 74. That 74-degree reading was a record of sorts, being the highest minimum reading ever recorded in Los Angeles for July 7. The previous high minimum for the date was 69, recorded in 1984.

Officials at Edwards Air Force Base said the weather was not expected to interfere with the planned landing of the space shuttle Columbia at 6:08 a.m. today.

Don Nolan, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokesman, said that if late forecasts indicate the probability of rain at the Mojave Desert landing strip, planes will be sent aloft to check the moisture content of the cloud cover above the base.

“We’re more concerned with visibility, winds and moisture content (than rain), and right now, the clouds (above the base) are high and pretty dry,” Nolan said Tuesday.

Staff writer David Avila in Orange County and correspondents Paul Chavez and Kathy McDonald in San Diego and Jane Hulse and Larry Speer in Ventura contributed to this story.