SANTA CRUZ — Forget a white Christmas, some of the region’s most established surfers essentially received a whitewater Christmas from Mother Nature on Monday, when a massive swell bombarded the Central Coast.
With that came clean sets, epic rides, massive spills and lots of white water. The swell brought both joy and chaos. The massive water flow not only wreaked havoc on the historic Santa Cruz Wharf, but it also sent dozens of windsurfing thrill-seekers into the abyss.
“I got one (wave) in the head,” said Adam Bartlett of Santa Cruz, a member of the U.S. U18 junior national team. “I don’t know how big it was, but it felt like a 10-story building was landing on me.”
Swells produced waves of 20 to 25 feet at more than half of the notable surf spots, from Steamer Lane to the equally iconic Maverick’s, off Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay.
Bartlett surfed at Swift Street with nearly 10 other daredevils, including local legend and former Championship Tour (CT) surfer Nat Young, fellow US Junior National Team Rex Hennings from San Clemente, and as former CT surfer Kolohe Andino and Hayden Rodgers, also of San Clemente.
“The biggest hit I got, people were saying the back of the wave was about 20 feet, so a 40-foot wave face,” Bartlett said.
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It was big everywhere, a day after the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational took place in Hawaii for just the 11th time in the last 40 years.
Surfline posted a video on Instagram of Alessandro “Alo” Slebir from Santa Cruz taming a massive bomb at Maverick.
Ghost Tree in Monterey was also exploding.
Throughout the day on Santa Cruz’s westside, thousands of pedestrians watched the carnage in awe from dozens of cliffs along West Cliff Drive.
Bartlett said he spoke with Swift Street legend Richard Schmidt before leaving and was told a swell of that magnitude was “very, very rare”.
Another Santa Cruz icon, renowned longboarder and surf photographer Howard “Boots” McGhee, was also among the spectators. The conditions were so great that McGhee took to Facebook and said, “I’m calling this the biggest swell since 1969 in Santa Cruz.” »
Steamer Lane was producing double and triple shifts before noon, but it was a whitewater wash machine in the afternoon, creeping toward high tide.
“I think the swell was too big for all these other spots,” Bartlett said.
A surfer was towed into solid waves at Third Reef, which rarely emerge.
Weasel Reef and Stockton Avenue were also exploding.
Some onlookers on Stockton Avenue went crazy when they witnessed a break they had never seen before emerge about a half-mile offshore.
“It’s another break. I have to name it,” one of them exclaimed, after telling the others that he had four decades of knowledge about the breaks in this place.
Dozens of recreational surfers left their boards inside or on top of their cars and watched the action unfold.
Only a privileged few braved these epic conditions.
Andino didn’t want to miss this. He said he had church festivities, dinner and Christmas Eve on Tuesday, so he and Rodgers drove from San Clemente so they could experience the gift of nature.
“It was special,” Andino said. “It was quite rare to have so much swell, conditions like this, and not too many people. I was just excited about the conditions as no wind was forecast.
Rodgers, who scored his first World Surf League qualifying series victory at the Pacifico Surf Open in Puerto Escondido last week, paddled out to Swift Street at 11 a.m. and stayed in the water until nearly from 4 p.m.
“It was pretty giant,” he said. “Very big waves. It was fun. Super long rights. And there was hardly anyone else.
Rodgers said there were a few waves with 25-foot faces. “The biggest wave probably fell on my head,” he said. “It broke my leash. …I surfed some nice waves, not that big. Fun times, super fun. It was worth the detour. We scored, that’s for sure. It will be memorable, that’s for sure. I think they were some of the biggest waves I’ve ever surfed. And there was like no one outside, it was a dream.
Bartlett said he watched the break all morning, before finally being forced to surf by Young.
“I didn’t want to get destroyed and sent to Cowell’s,” he said of the powerful water flow.
Bartlett said he waited, board in hand, between 30 minutes and an hour on the rocks before jumping in the water to paddle. Glorious, yet fierce, sets came every 19 seconds.
“If you time it wrong, you’re going to get thrown straight into the rocks, or get sucked under the rocks,” he said. “There were big consequences.”
Edward Thorp of Santa Cruz, who lives at The Lane in his van, came out of the stairs near Steamer Lane on his boogie board and quickly realized it was going to be tough. He managed a race.
“I paddled down the stairs here and immediately got stuck in the river, and I kind of got a wave in Cowell’s,” Thorp said. “I got a wave of surf on the stairs here at the memorial and it pushed me back. …I didn’t want to do The Point because it was too terrifying. The waves there are too unreasonable to try to escape. But I wanted to get wet and I need the exercise. I can’t sleep without surfing.
“I was hoping to ride the biggest wave I’ve ever ridden today, but it didn’t work out. What I should have done was gone to Swift Street.
Some spectators along West Cliff were also victims of the swell. Bonnie Keeshan of Santa Cruz and her young friends, Betsy and Mary Hayes, ages 7 and 5, respectively, were drenched by the current of water after it crashed against the rocks at It’s Beach and it was raining on them in the splash zone. Another spectator lent them a towel to dry off.
“We got a little wet,” Keeshan said, noting that she didn’t expect that much water movement. “I was thinking maybe a little spray. …I’m a long time resident of Santa Cruz – I’ve been here almost 50 years – and winter is my favorite time to be here – for that reason alone. It’s just great.
It wasn’t until 4:20 p.m. that the Santa Cruz County Response, Recovery and Resilience Offensive sent out a public safety alert, warning people to stay away from beaches and coastal areas .
Surfline’s forecast called for waves of 8 to 12 feet at Steamer Lane for much of Tuesday and waves of 8 to 10 feet over Christmas.
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