Officials urging caution as beach hazards in place

Dangerous conditions for beach goers here on the Central Coast over the next few days. A beach hazard statement is in effect through Wednesday evening

Over the next few days south facing beaches will continue to see some big swells. Waves are expected to break as high as seven to nine feet… maybe even higher at certain spots. And as the swell has started to push in, it’s already giving some a hard time.

Two boogie boarders had quite a fright Monday morning with one trapped near the rocks. This happened near Sixteenth Avenue in Santa Cruz.

Fire Marshal, Mike DeMars says, “I guess they didn’t anticipate the south swell, got a little overwhelmed, a little scared, got caught in it and it kind of carried them down up the coast a
little bit. And so one of them was on the board yelling for help and the other one was yelling for someone to call 911.”

A water rescue team from Central Fire showed up to the scene… but not before a local surfer stepped in. “I was like oh my gosh! Like this is not a good idea. And he was like… I basically told him you need to get out of there. And so he actually had a boogie board with a leash. And so the leash was around his wrist and it looked pretty secure. So i grabbed the leash and he kind climbed and I kind of pulled him up the cliff,” says Ronan Shaw.

Shaw used to be a junior lifeguard and says this isn’t the first time he’s had to save someone on this beach. He says he sees it all the time when the waves get big. “I’m feeling pretty psyched. This is, my adrenaline kind of spiked. It’s been like an hour since i got out of the water surfing so my heart rate is lowered, and this made it go back up.”

And the waves are already getting bigger as we have a building south swell over these next couple days. Because of this the National Weather Service has issued a Beach Hazard Statement. So this means you want to look out for increased chance of rip currents, sneaker waves, and even larger shore break.

The beach hazard statement has been extended through Wednesday evening. And as the swell continues to build, DeMars has some advice to stay safe. “You can go online and you can check the tides, you can check the surf conditions. I would highly recommend you do that before you come out. And don’t try and do anything that is beyond your capabilities, or beyond your abilities. Some people think it’s real easy to just hop on a boogie board or surf board and go jump in the water, and there is a lot more to it.”

The harbor office in Santa Cruz has been gearing up for this event and say they are ready. They also say this might be a good week for the swimming pool. “If you can avoid going out in a boat, do it. Uhh, we are going to have some wind as well, along with this swell event. So the ocean is not going to be a nice place to be these next two days,” says Blake Anderson.

If you do want to escape that inland heat and find a beach to cool off at. North facing beaches will be the safest bet. Like San Carlos beach in Monterey.