Beach Safety Reexamined in Aftermath of Tragedy : Laguna Officials Review Policies on Access as Friends Mourn Man Who Drowned in Rocky Inlet

As friends mourned the death of a young man who drowned at Laguna Beach on Sunday, city officials Monday began reviewing policies covering public access to potentially dangerous stretches of oceanfront, despite their own doubts that they have legal authority to effect much change.

The review follows the death on Mother’s Day of Zackery Noah Kunzler, 24, of Seal Beach and the rescue of two companions from Huntington Beach--including a 6-year-old girl--after a wave unexpectedly washed over the rock on which they were standing.

The girl lost her footing and fell into a treacherous inlet known locally as Giggle Crack. Kunzler and the girl’s mother jumped in after the child, and all three were pounded by waves before lifeguards posted in other areas of Laguna Beach pulled them from the water.

Kunzler was pronounced dead at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills. Autopsy results were pending.

The girl, Brooke Poling, 6, was reported in good condition Monday at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Her mother, Angelica Cuevas, 26, was reported in guarded and critical condition at South Coast Medical Center. Attempts to reach their relatives were unsuccessful.

Shani Patterson and Jeff Gott, friends of Kunzler, went to the rocky stretch of coast, just north of Heisler Park, mid-afternoon Monday, 24 hours after Kunzler died. They went to the edge of Giggle Crack and, after a few minutes of reflection, tossed in a single yellow rose before moving on to the beach.

Kunzler “was the kind of person you want your children to grow up like,” said Gott, 30, a Fountain Valley resident.

Patterson, also of Fountain Valley, said Kunzler enjoyed spending time with her 6-year-old daughter.

“He would get down on his knees and play with her. We went to a pizza parlor once after work, and he helped her play video games,” Patterson said.

Patterson, who worked with Kunzler at a car finance company in Huntington Beach, remembered him as a positive person who “always had a smile on his face” and enjoyed playing softball. She said he was serious about his career and recently was promoted to senior auditor.

“He had the ambition, the attitude of ‘Someday I’m going to go out there and take the world.’ He was the kind of guy who would have done it,” said Patterson, 29.

Friends said Kunzler recently had bought a new black Ford Mustang.

Co-workers were shocked Monday to learn of Kunzler’s death, friend Michelle King said.

“I don’t think he realized it, but he had a lot of friends,” said King, 25, of Cypress.

Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said officials were reviewing whether city actions--from installing warning signs to blocking access to the area--would make much difference in the future.

“I’m not sure we can totally, forever prevent some of these tragedies from happening,” Frank said. “There are some inherent risks associated with the beach, and we all have to be careful. But we need to look at it and see if there are some things we should be doing to make it as safe as possible.”

Frank said city officials will review the possibility of sealing off Giggle Crack to keep others from slipping into the steep-sided gash into the rocks.

“I don’t know if it’s legal to do that, or if it’s physically possible,” Frank said. The city would need Coastal Commission approval before limiting public access, he said. “Realistically, I don’t know whether any of those are possible, and what the ramifications are.”

Last October, a Huntington Beach woman died after slipping from rocks and into the surf at Santa Ana Cove, just north of where Sunday’s tragedy occurred. And in 1991, another Huntington Beach woman died after being swept from a rocky ledge and becoming trapped by treacherous underwater currents.

“I’m not sure it’s something that happens all that frequently,” Mayor Steve Dicterow said. “People, when they go to the ocean, have got to understand no matter where you are, you have to respect it. It’s inherently dangerous. It’s not a playground.”

In the summertime, when the number of visitors to the beaches soars and as many as 35 lifeguards are on duty, lifeguards post signs closing access to dangerous stretches of rocks when the surf kicks up, said Mark Klosterman, the city’s chief of marine safety.

But in the off-season, when there often are only two lifeguards patrolling the beaches, signs are not posted.

“This time of year, we just do it as best we can with the patrol units and make contact as we see fit,” Klosterman said. “It’s an ongoing concern for us, and something that’s monitored and that we strictly enforce as best we can to keep the people off the rocks.”

A difficulty, he said, is that the rugged nature of the coastline, which draws visitors, also makes it impossible to predict trouble spots. Shifting sandbars change the motion of waves, and a shift in the direction of swells can react with hidden reefs to create unexpectedly large waves.

“Generally, the people that don’t understand the specific nuances and the dangers associated with varying degrees of conditions, they’re the ones that run into problems,” Klosterman said. “They don’t have any assessment skills of what’s taking place. It changes daily, even hourly.”

Frank defended the city’s record of ocean safety.

“For the number of people who come to the beaches, we really have an excellent safety record,” Frank said. “Most people are pretty careful. Unfortunately, some people will go down there at night and get swept off the rocks. Some people will bring a little kid out there and we’ll have a tragedy like this.”

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Dangerous Rocks

Officials are reviewing policies covering public access to some hazardous sections of the shore. A look at the inlet, the Giggle Crack, where an unexpected wave washed a 6-year-old into the ocean and led to the death of a man trying to save her:

1. Waves crash into narrow inlet, smashing into steep walls

2. Smooth walls and churning surf prevent climbing to safety

3. After only a few minutes, constant pounding of waves exhausts victims until they can no longer tread water.

Source: Times reports