Fisherman Reported Missing in Heavy Surf

The unseasonably cold, high surf that battered Orange County beaches over the weekend may have claimed a second victim, police said, after a fisherman was reported missing Monday at a south Laguna beach.

The family of Ta-Chen Wu, 40, of Rowland Heights told authorities that the man had planned to spend Sunday night fishing from the rocks near Aliso Beach.

“At this point we are treating it as a missing person,” police spokeswoman Danell Adams said, “but there is some belief that he was washed off the rocks.”

Adams said police and lifeguards began searching for Wu on Monday morning after the man’s family reported finding his van parked at the beach near where he often fished. Searchers found the man’s jacket and driver’s license nearby, she said.

“The water is too churned up for divers to go down,” Adams said. An underwater search will be organized when conditions improve, she said, probably today.

On Sunday, a 40-year-old snorkeler drowned at Crystal Cove State Park after ignoring warnings about the dangerous surf, authorities said.

Neil J. Olsen of Anaheim was pulled unconscious from the water about 4 p.m. after attempting to snorkel near Rocky Bight, about a mile north of El Moro Elementary School. He died at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. Lifeguards said Olsen may have struck his head on a rock.

“You’ve got to be careful,” said Kevin Stenson, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “It’s been dangerous. If you’re standing out on a pier not paying attention, a wave could knock you into the water.”

In recent weeks, three other beach-goers have drowned at South County beaches. On Mother’s Day, a wave swept a 6-year-old girl into the water at Laguna Beach. The child survived, but her mother and her mother’s friend died attempting to rescue her. Earlier last month, an off-duty firefighter drowned in strong surf off Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach.

The weekend’s heavy surf resulted from a strong Southern Hemisphere storm system that generated 5- to 8-foot waves along Southern California’s south-facing beaches, said Fred Leavitt, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.

By today, the waves are expected to return to the 2- to 5-foot swells typical for this time of year.

“The surf has dropped considerably since yesterday,” Greg Crow, a lifeguard at Huntington Beach, said Monday. Seven people were rescued Sunday and Monday at Huntington Beach, he said, among them two swimmers pulled out to sea by a riptide.

“We still have numerous rip currents,” Crow said.

At Crystal Cove State Park, where Olsen drowned, the surf and currents were dangerous enough Monday to dampen a school outing. Lifeguard T. Rodd Bancroft said 70 Tustin elementary school students on a field trip were not allowed near the water.