November 22, 2002.
buoys about 10 feet at 20 seconds, 11 feets at 17 seconds, down at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
wave faces, over 20 feet.
i went out swimming at Torrey Pines first. the first thing that happened was, i got knocked down
by a 6-inch tall wave. the waves were washing up and down the beach about 100 yards. all you
could do when the wash from a wave came was stand there. except it would eat the sand from
around your feet, making it impossible to stand up.
then i got caught in a rip. i started swimming parallel to the shore, north, BUT the waves were coming
from the Northwest, striking a west facing beach. so the current was running south, so by swimming
north i was achieving zero north velocity but rapidly moving away from the shore.
while all this is happening, 20 foot bomb waves were rolling through.
after about a half hour, i realized i need to swim Southwest, pronto, or i was going to be pulling into
La Jolla Cove by sundown if i was lucky. this was at about 9 AM in the morning. so i started swimming
southeast, with the current and towards the shore. it took me about a half hour to make it to the
shore.
at that point i still had some energy left, so i went up to Del Mar and went out there. all i did was,
swam outside the waves, got carried a mile south by the current but not caught in a rip, and then
spent the next hour swimming north against the current, to almost return to my starting place.
i got out of the water while i still had some energy, since i knew the conditions were bordering on
extreme.
then the lifeguard comes running up to me and says, "oh man, you got major sack", that's a surf term.
turns out he had to go into the water when he lost sight of me.
that Saturday there was an article in the San Diego tribune about a great white attack at La Jolla
Cove, which is about 4 miles from Torrey Pines, about a week before that peak swell on Thanksgiving
Day.
it's a good way to develop an appetite for Thanksgiving dinner.
buoys about 10 feet at 20 seconds, 11 feets at 17 seconds, down at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
wave faces, over 20 feet.
i went out swimming at Torrey Pines first. the first thing that happened was, i got knocked down
by a 6-inch tall wave. the waves were washing up and down the beach about 100 yards. all you
could do when the wash from a wave came was stand there. except it would eat the sand from
around your feet, making it impossible to stand up.
then i got caught in a rip. i started swimming parallel to the shore, north, BUT the waves were coming
from the Northwest, striking a west facing beach. so the current was running south, so by swimming
north i was achieving zero north velocity but rapidly moving away from the shore.
while all this is happening, 20 foot bomb waves were rolling through.
after about a half hour, i realized i need to swim Southwest, pronto, or i was going to be pulling into
La Jolla Cove by sundown if i was lucky. this was at about 9 AM in the morning. so i started swimming
southeast, with the current and towards the shore. it took me about a half hour to make it to the
shore.
at that point i still had some energy left, so i went up to Del Mar and went out there. all i did was,
swam outside the waves, got carried a mile south by the current but not caught in a rip, and then
spent the next hour swimming north against the current, to almost return to my starting place.
i got out of the water while i still had some energy, since i knew the conditions were bordering on
extreme.
then the lifeguard comes running up to me and says, "oh man, you got major sack", that's a surf term.
turns out he had to go into the water when he lost sight of me.
that Saturday there was an article in the San Diego tribune about a great white attack at La Jolla
Cove, which is about 4 miles from Torrey Pines, about a week before that peak swell on Thanksgiving
Day.
it's a good way to develop an appetite for Thanksgiving dinner.
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