http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...n05waves2.html
Good thing this guy didn't like his board anyway.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1196941478
ENCINITAS – Waves of up to 10 feet high attracted huge crowds Wednesday to Swami's Beach in North County, challenging the skills of surfers and providing a show for throngs of onlookers.
The parking lot at the popular surf spot in Encinitas was full before the sun came up and a steady stream of wet-suited surfers toting boards were making their way down the stairs to the sand and into the water while it was still dark.
“It's amazing, beautiful,” said Encinitas lifeguard Jarett Jensen as he looked out on the pounding surf from his viewpoint at the Swami's lifeguard tower. The sun was barely up and a crescent moon hung in the sky as he started his shift at 6 a.m.
Jensen said he expected to be spending much of the day in the water making rescues. “This is what you train for,” he said.
Lifeguards will be watching people coming down the stairs and will caution anyone who looks unsure and hesitant that it would be best to say out, Jensen said. He said as many as 50 surfers had hit the water by 6:15 a.m.
People were lined up four-deep at the top of the bluff, watching dozens of surfers in the water.
As of 3:30 p.m., lifeguards had made 18 rescues at Swamis, although none of the surfers were seriously injured.
“Some minor scrapes and cuts and a few broken surfboards – but probably more crushed egos,” said Encinitas lifeguard supervisor Robert Veria.
Matt Kent, a 33-year-old Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, was in the water by 5:35 a.m. “It was phenomenal,” he said.
Kent, who has been surfing 21 years, said he managed to catch five or six good waves before he got caught by a monster wall of water that cracked his surfboard in half.
“A big wave came in and dropped on me like a ton of bricks,” he said.
That ended his surfing for the morning, but Kent said he has nine other boards at home and would be back.
“For most folks really this is opening day,” said Dave Swinington, 60, a teacher from Solana Beach.
He got into the water just after 5 a.m. but the strong current kept him from making it past the lines of sloshing whitewater to where the waves were breaking. He said he tried three times to paddle out but tired and came in to shore to rest.
The water is about 60 degrees.
“Cold enough to get your attention,” he said.
Tom Conner, 57, from Cardiff who works for a security company, said he surfs at Swami's every day. He caught two waves he estimated to be 12 feet high before he got out. After he saw a friend lose a board and have to swim to shore, he decided it was time to get out of the water.
“If I had to do that I'd probably die,” he said, smiling and shaking his head.
By the time the sun came up, traffic on South Coast Highway 101 was bumper to bumper and cars were parked in every available spot along the road.
Around 4 a.m., waves crashed over the highway along the low-lying area known as Restaurant Row, strewing rocks, seaweed and mud across the road. About 6 a.m., water also came over the highway but the road never had to be closed, the Sheriff's Department said.
Elsewhere along the coast, San Diego city lifeguards reported an undetermined amount of structural damage to the Ocean Beach Pier. Waves crashed over a protective berm near the beach and into the parking lot beyond it.
Some slight water damage also was reported along the La Jolla Shores boardwalk.
Jensen said the waves, generated by a Pacific storm coming out of Alaska, were expected to be the biggest during the morning and through the midday but would taper off in the afternoon.
He suggested that anyone with doubts about their ability should stay out of the water today.
“The best view is from the beach,” he said.
