Watching, Waiting, Hoping

Gripping a pair of binoculars, Tin Nguyen relentlessly scanned the shoreline Thursday, bracing himself against his worst fear: finding the body of his 17-year-old son, who may have fallen victim to unusually severe rip currents caused by El Nino-powered storms.

The teen, Nelson Nguyen, and two friends were swimming near the Huntington Beach Pier on Wednesday afternoon when a strong current pulled him out into the ocean, said Lt. Mike Beuerlein of the Huntington Beach Marine Safety Division.

There has already been one Orange County death this year involving dangerous rip currents. Southern California lifeguards have issued warnings to the public about treacherous conditions blamed on El Nino storms that have churned the ocean bottom, producing pockets where rip currents abound.

The search lasted three hours, with U.S. Coast Guard and dive teams scouring the waters before it was called off due to darkness. The search resumed early Thursday, without luck.

But nearly 24 hours after Nelson’s disappearance, Tin Nguyen of Corona was still waiting for answers, and holding out hope.

“Perhaps disbelief has overwhelmed me,” said the 41-year-old father. “But I don’t want to think that he’s dead. I’m going to keep looking.”

Early Thursday morning, Tin Nguyen went to the Corona Municipal Airport intending to rent an airplane to help with the search, but found the plane rental office still closed. The father then joined the teen’s two siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents, who began gathering as early as 5 a.m. on the beach where the youth disappeared.

They watched the ocean, waited and wept.

Born and raised in Orange County, Nelson Nguyen moved to Riverside County four years ago. A slender teen, weighing only 110 pounds at 5-feet-6, he loved the outdoors but rarely went to the beach, his relatives said.

With time off during spring break, Nelson Nguyen and five friends grabbed a few bodyboards and headed to the beach. Although he learned to swim when he was 5 years old, Nelson Nguyen was not a strong swimmer, his family said.

“He hadn’t been swimming in about a year,” his father said.

About 5 p.m. Wednesday, senior lifeguard Steve Vollmer said he was monitoring the beach from his watchtower when he saw the three teens trapped. When up to 20 lifeguards hit the water, the two friends were rescued, but Nguyen could not be found.

“A wave passed over [Nguyen] and he disappeared,” said Beuerlein.

His two friends were on bodyboards, but Nelson Nguyen was swimming without a flotation device.

The surf was rough and the water temperature Wednesday was 58 degrees, conditions that could quickly cause hypothermia, incapacitate a swimmer and result in drowning, said Beuerlein. Even experienced swimmers would have trouble in such conditions, he said.

Rip currents have been stronger in recent months due to storm conditions, explained Beuerlein, “but [Wednesday] was not any more treacherous than all winter long.”

Beuerlein issued this warning: “When swimmers enter the water, they do so at their own risk.”

In February, Christopher Fankhouser, a 27-year-old college student visiting from Utah, died after being trapped in an offshore hole while swimming at Calafia Beach County Park in San Clemente.

Authorities recommend that less-experienced swimmers stay near the lifeguard tower and never enter waters deeper than their shoulders.

If caught in a rip current, swimmers should not swim straight to shore, but instead swim parallel to the beach to get out of harm’s way, experts said.