Offshore Storm Hurls Big Waves to Challenge Surfers

Thundering, sandy-brown waves--some up to eight feet high and among the biggest of summer--crashed onto the strand here Friday, an offshoot of a distant storm at sea.

Swimmers, surfers and lifeguards said the slashing, powerful waves were better to watch than to be immersed in. Treacherous rip currents and unusually cold water made the ocean tricky for either swimming or surfing throughout most of the Orange Coast.

“It’s pretty dangerous,” said Jim Slominski, 37, a surfer from San Diego. “Man, it’s rough. These are the biggest waves I’ve seen in months, and the water’s cold. It’s from that storm down off Baja.”

Meteorologists said Tropical Storm Roslyn, which on Friday was about 900 miles off the coast of Baja California and moving westerly out to sea, caused the big waves and churned up the cold water from deep in the ocean. The waves will continue in the six-to-eight-foot range along south-facing beaches in Orange County through today, according to the National Weather Service.

Newport Beach Marine Safety Officer Gordon Reed said waves there got as high as 10 feet on Friday. Seal Beach reported waves three- to five-feet high; Laguna Beach had two- to five-foot waves, and San Clemente had waves ranging between two and four feet.

Although San Clemente lifeguards reported warm ocean water--up to 71 degrees by midafternoon Friday--lifeguards from Laguna Beach northward said the ocean water dipped to the low 60s. At Huntington Beach, surfers said that the water felt very cold and that the waves, though satisfyingly high, were “poorly shaped” for good surfing.

Slominski described the waves as having “a real rough face--hard to ride.” He added, “The rip is real bad right here off the (Huntington Beach) pier. There’s a bad rip current, and it’s hard to get out there. You got to paddle north constantly or else you’re washed way down the beach.”

Another surfer, John Peddersen, 34, of Huntington Beach, summed up the situation this way: “Big and cold. Big waves and very cold water. Outside, rogue sets at eight feet. I’ve been waiting for this for two days because I heard there were storms down south.”

Peddersen said the rip current posed problems for the small, hardy number of swimmers and surfers who sought to enjoy Friday’s big waves at Huntington Beach. “It’s extremely dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing,” Peddersen said.

Lifeguards said they would have been in real trouble had the big waves struck two weeks ago, before the summer crowds thinned out.

“Since this is the end of summer and school is back in session most of the day, we haven’t been too busy with rescues today, but typically, with this kind of surf earlier in the summer, we’d have been making a lot of rescues,” said Lt. Steve Davidson, a Huntington Beach marine safety officer. “We had one situation this morning where a swimmer was swept under the pier and had to be rescued.”

Davidson said water temperatures, which had been a balmy 70 degrees only about a week ago, dipped to 60 degrees at Huntington Beach on Friday morning.

“It’s like ice water out there, man; it’s really cold,” Slominski said.

In contrast to the chilly ocean, a warm sun comforted those who chose to play volleyball, make sandcastles or laze on the beach. Outside temperatures were in the high 60s along the beaches, and fishermen and sunbathers said the pleasantly warm air felt great.

“It’s a beautiful day,” said Chris Crisan, 39, of Anaheim, as he stood on the shore, casting a fishing line. “The water’s not too great for swimmers, and really it’s not very good for fishing because it’s too rough. But I’m just here to kill the day.” Despite the conditions, Crisan caught a perch.

Immediately behind him and higher up on the beach, two young women sunbathed.

“The water’s really cold,” said Andrea Garyson, 19, a Chaffey College student from West Covina. “I just went in and came back out. The lifeguards have been telling everyone not to go out too far because it (the rip current) will pull you through the pier.”

Garyson’s friend, Kristina Rodusky, 19, a Mt. San Antonio College student from West Covina, said she decided not to go into the ocean. “It’s too cold,” she said.

“But the weather here on the beach is beautiful,” interjected Garyson. “And my mother said it was going to rain! Whenever my mother says it’s going to rain or be cloudy, I know the weather is going to be beautiful . . . .”