Status Report for week of June 30.

Copyright © June 30, 2000 Greg Utrecht

This week I went to Laguna Beach on Wednesday and Friday. There is a lot to be said for our local beaches, some being cleaner, greener or bluer, others being broader more sheltered or secluded, or slinking below a cliff. Some have more surfers and some are better for kids, but all of them have the one essential thing for a hot California day, which is cold water and cooler air. I picked Laguna because it is closest, only about 8 miles away and I can get there in about half an hour.

On Wednesday I found out that the first warm water of the year had arrived, streaming up from Mexico somehow in some underwater river, going against the current and holding onto 70 degrees of heat the whole way. When I was younger I didn't mind the cold water, and once got completely wet in water that was 62 degrees, but I don't see the point in that now. If the water is 68 or less I only use it to cool my feet after a few hours of watching sailboats go by sitting on the beach. Walking ankle deep in 68 degree water will cool off your whole body in about 5 minutes; something to do with cooling the blood circulation is my theory.

So today, knowing that the warm water was here, and knowing that warm water stays around for 4 or 5 days typically, I went out and bought a new swim suit and determined to get my self in the surf. I found just the thing at Target - baggy enough but with no other consideration of style - which this year is a panel of Hawaiian flowers down the side - for only 9 bucks. I got to the beach and put down my little beach chair and backpack and Birkenstocks and took off for the water. The surf was 2 to 3, sets coming 4 to 5, there was no chop, but the beach was cupped and that meant rip currents. (Translation - most waves 2 or 3 feet high. Some waves as high as 4 or 5 feet high. The water was not choppy but not glassy either. Rip currents are when the waves pile up the water on the beach and when it flows out it creates dangerous "rivers" of current that drag people out 50 to 60 yards.) It was a normal day at Laguna - always a little dangerous - so they were flying the yellow flags like they normally do.

I got in just fine and got over my head and they say that ocean water is good for a lot of things. I think it is. There were lots of kids playing around on boogie boards - you knew they were all tourists because the break at Main Beach is no good, but they were having fun. After a few minutes the next set came in - looking like 4 to 5 foot waves and I dove under a few and swam out past some of them and when the set was over (usually 4 to 6 big waves come in a set) and the water was more calm I made my way ashore and sat down and read my book.

An hour later I went out again and I think to the lifeguards I look like a middle aged guy who hasnt been out in the water because I swam in my t-shirt, and they probably thought I didn't know anything about the surf. By now I had noticed them out in the water frequently, asking people to move away from places where rips looked like they might develop. You can tell a rip from all the brown sand in the water out past the surf line. They had to deal with a lot of people who didn't speak English, and even with parents who didn't know the surf was dangerous who didn't speak English. I saw one guy trying to get this 5 year old Japanese girl to move and her parents were no where to be seen. I went out there thinking I had done this plenty of times and no worries.

And that is when the big set of the day came in, easily 6 feet, it will be bigger if I tell this story again. If you are in 6 feet of water and a 6 foot wave comes by you will suddenly be in 12 feet of water when the wave comes crashing down. You have to either ride it - which I don't do - or get under it. Getting under it means diving down about half as deep as the wave is high and I didn't make it. The wave threw me around some and I was thinking "just don't start me tumbling and I will be ok" Then I came up and got some air and the next wave in the set was about 4 seconds away with no place to go. That one thrashed me a little too - it's fun exercise if you are used to it, but you have to know that the ocean is in charge - and after that one I started backing toward the shore fast and waded through the next two big ones.

The lifeguards were all in the water checking on people and this very cute blonde sixteen year old guard comes by and asks some kids if they are having fun, then she smiles at me and says, "Ssup?" She only weighed about 100 pounds and I wasn't sure if she was old enough to drive, but she was trained and ready to save me if she had to.

An American General - http://geocities.com/gregu10