Air Search for Missing Swimmer Is Called Off

Rescuers called off an aerial search Sunday for a Utah college student who disappeared Saturday afternoon while swimming in storm-churned waters off San Clemente.

The swimmer, identified as Christopher Fankhouser, 27, a native of New Zealand enrolled at Utah Valley State College, was with fellow students at Calafia Beach County Park when he disappeared beneath crashing waves about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

“They were swimming in real horrendous conditions,” said Scott Stuart, spokesman for the state Department of Parks and Recreation. “It was 20-mph winds and 6- to 8-foot surf. You couldn’t see three feet in front of you, it was raining and blowing so hard.”

The group of vacationing theater students included some who said they had never seen the Pacific Ocean before, and they decided to brave the waters despite the rain and high surf, said Mike Broussard, the first lifeguard on scene.

“It was raining like hell,” Broussard said. “It was a real ugly swim.”

Fankhouser and one of his companions were overwhelmed by the waves, and others in the group alerted Broussard, who was the only lifeguard on duty at the park during the stormy day. Fankhouser’s friend was pulled out and told Broussard he saw the missing man’s head slip beneath the waves, the lifeguard said.

The three-hour search Saturday--which included helicopters, Orange County Fire Authority crews and the Coast Guard--was hampered by pelting rain and low visibility and was called off at nightfall, officials said.

The Coast Guard, which had resumed its helicopter search at dawn Sunday, called it off about 9 a.m., but state lifeguards continued to search 10 miles in both directions throughout the day, Stuart said.

“The conditions are so different from the summer,” he said. “It’s just plain dangerous out there.”

Indeed, conditions at the beach beneath southwest-facing bluffs have been treacherous for more than three weeks, as a series of Pacific storms has been churning the surf, Broussard said. Even with blue skies overhead on Sunday, the waves and a deep trench beyond a natural underwater sand berm off the shore kept conditions hazardous, he said.

“I can’t remember it being this consistently big and dangerous since I’ve been here,” the 28-year veteran of the beach’s lifeguard crew said. “It’s been like this just about every day for a month and a half.”

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Meteorologists expect the surf to decrease today, when patchy morning fog will give way to sunny skies.

But Kevin Stenson, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said sunny skies won’t remain for long.

Another storm system will bring heavy rains that could begin as early as tonight, Stenson said. Thunderstorms and breezy conditions are predicted for Tuesday and could linger into Wednesday.