Glad Tidings

Susan Kelly-Ledig called her brother at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday to see if he wanted to catch the south swells. The waves were going to be the best the two had seen all summer--bigger, cleaner and crisper. They had a perfect warm summer day to enjoy them.

“I’m a stockbroker, and everyone knows that if the surf is good, that’s where I’ll be,” said 40-year-old Matt Kelly. He took the whole day off, surfing for three hours at Surfers Point in Ventura with his sister, then gardening in the afternoon.

“This was great for summertime--it was glassy, not too textured or choppy,” said Kelly-Ledig as they packed up afterward. “And better than the Rincon,” she added, referring to another popular Ventura County surf spot.

Ventura County was home to some of the best surfing conditions in the region Tuesday. Because of a combination of the moon’s location and a storm in the southern Pacific Ocean, the high tide came to 6.6 feet, according to Curt Kaplan, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Oxnard. He said normal conditions would yield a high tide of about 5 feet.

The moon is currently between the Earth and sun, so its gravitational influence combines with the sun’s to effect a particularly high tide, or spring tide.

Wave conditions, Kaplan said, although great for surfers, could endanger coastal homes like those in Mussel Shoals. Midday Tuesday, the waves didn’t make it anywhere near the shoreline, although he warned residents to keep an eye on the surf for the next couple days. Tuesday’s highest tide hit just before 11 p.m.

Farther south, in the Malibu area, homes and beaches took a pounding from the high surf. It also sent beachfront property owners scurrying to build sand berms to protect structures such as cabanas at the Bel Air Bay Club near Pacific Palisades.

Today’s weather should be hazy at the coast with inland areas partly cloudy, Kaplan said. Thunderstorms may also come in from the east, bringing what Kaplan called “monsoonal moisture.” That should make the inland valleys cloudier and cooler than the coast, a surprise for this area in the summer.

Seth Gibson, an employee at Ventura Surf Shop, said placid waters made Tuesday’s waves all the more delicious.

“There is a hurricane down south . . . and that means the beaches facing south get good waves because of the ripples from it,” he said. “There haven’t been many storms this summer and that is why everyone is excited now.”

Excited, but sometimes at risk. At Zuma Beach in Malibu, Los Angeles County lifeguards were so busy rescuing beachgoers that they were no longer keeping count by late afternoon.

“We’ve had some very close calls. We had two 8-year-old boys pulled out near Tower 4 that spooked us in the headquarters bad,” said lifeguard Jon Van Duinwyk. “We were lucky one of the giant waves didn’t get them before we did.”

The high surf threatened some county lifeguard towers in place for the summer season.

Sunbathers at Puerco Beach spread their towels among debris left by the high tide. The mess included logs, railroad ties and pieces of stairways ripped from nearby homes that are built on supports over the sand.

The ocean off famed Surfrider Beach west of the Malibu Pier was filled throughout the day with surfers grabbing one spectacular wave after another.

“These are the best swells we’ve had in a while. Some are over your head,” said veteran Topanga Canyon surfer Doug Ryan.

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Catherine Blake is a Times Community News reporter and Bob Pool is a Times staff writer.