SoCal South Swell!!!!!!!!

[YaMon]

So last week those of us living in Southern California were blessed with some of the biggest surf that hit our beaches in YEARS!!!!

Here are some great shots from Surfline:

Newport Beach:


Newport Beach looking up to Huntington Beach (river jetties at Brookhurst):







These are the rips that suck tourists, 909ers and little beaners out to sea:




Long Beach breakwater holding back the deep swell energy:


This is THE WEDGE in Newport Beach where it got 20 - 25 foot and some 50 year old dude died last Friday:







Here's the story on the dead guy:

BODYSURFER DIES AT WEDGE

Today's building solid southwest swell claimed the life of a bodysurfer at the Wedge in Newport Beach. The Orange County Coroner's office has identified the man as 50-year-old Monte Kevin Valantin of Lawndale.

Longtime Newport Beach surfer Bill Sharp spent the morning surfing the building SW swell that was hitting the West Coast. "It was solid this morning before blackball, like 18- to 20-foot faces," explains Sharp. "But after 10:30 some 10-wave 25-foot-plus sets started coming in."

According to Sharp, the bigger sets had no shape; few waves were actually ridden, as bodysurfers were forced to dive under giant walls of water. Around 12:30, Sharp saw a bodysurfer drifting in towards where the beach meets the jetty -- a dangerous zone.
"Where he was, you avoid at all costs," says Sharp. "It's lethal."

A giant, 10-wave set started pouring in as the bodysurfer started to get pushed towards the rocks. "Everyone was trying to get to him," says Sharp. "There were lifeguards on the jetty and guards and other bodysurfers in the water, but you just can't go in there when a set like that is coming in or you'll die, too."

Sharp saw the bodysurfer go under a giant foamball basically on the rocks and not surface. A few waves washed through after he went under, and it took one or two minutes to get to him. Lifeguards and fellow bodysurfers eventually made their way to his body, and took him out to a waiting boat, where paramedics promptly performed CPR.

He was rushed to Hoag Memorial Hospital, where he died.

"It's a really strong swell," explains Surfline's Sean Collins. "Mainly because it happened close to shore, over a big area, with 50-knot winds."

And while today's surf was the biggest SoCal swell of the summer by far, it was more than just wave size. "The longer periods -- up to 20 seconds -- makes for a lot of water moving around, no matter how big the actual waves are," Collins continues. "It's like swimming in a river."

SoCal FTW:




This is video I shot on my iPhone of Kelly Slater at the US Open:

[Juan.Camaney]

These are the rips that suck tourists, 909ers and little beaners out to sea:

Bill Sharp...that sounds pretty beanerish to me.

[Ryan]

That was a good smart ass comment, but unfortunately Bill Sharp was the guy that they interviewed, not the one who died.

The guy who died was "Monte Kevin Valantin". Not to back up YaMon's claim or anything considering my phone # starts with 909, but "Valantin" COULD be the last name of a mexican

[Boru37]

Thanks Yamon! Love these pics! Have a co worker of mine that's origionally from Myrtle Beach. He's been in the Air Force and talks all the time about surfing in some of the places he's been. He'd love to see these.

[Juan.Camaney]

Valantin is not mex

[licupssy]

Monte Kevin Valentin - could be English, Scotish, U.K slave name or Puerto Rican

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Juan.Camaney

Valantin is not mex

meh

hence me saying it "COULD" be (fuck if I know)

anyhow...

[YaMon]

Originally Posted by licupssy

Monte Kevin Valentin - could be English, Scotish, U.K slave name or Puerto Rican

Or a jarhead that felt invincible.

Summer hemi > him