 |
| Wave Power at Seal Rocks |
I walked down to Ocean Beach just as the 6.7-foot high tide was beginning to recede, and I was awed by the huge swells breaking in front of Noriega and Ortega streets. A lone photographer was stationed on the dunes waiting for the two or three surfers brave and/or crazy enough to be out there to catch a wave. I watched one of the surfers paddle like mad and just barely catch one of the larger waves, only to fall off his board and drop like a stone off a cliff. Even that wasn't the end, though, as I next saw him getting sucked over the falls.
Imagine grabbing a breath as you fall off your board, and instead of the wave just going over you, it sucks you up into its vortex and pounds you back down into the ocean. You come up for air but the foam is briefly so thick you can't take another breath. People die out there, and I was glad when I spotted the guy paddling back out once the churning whitewater cleared enough to give me a view.
After I got home I went back down on my bike. No one was surfing near the Cliff House, and I don't think there were more than one or two guys out as far south as Lincoln Way. Nevertheless, the waves were making a spectacle of themselves, and I enjoyed it for a good while before finally tearing myself away to go home for lunch.
Video clip from the old Cliff House.
 |
| Note the breaking wave way off the coast in the upper left, in a spot called the Potato Patch. Assuming a water depth there of 23-36 feet, wave heights have to be 17-27 feet to break there. |
 |
| Long view from Cliff House to Point Bonita Lighthouse. |
 |
| More large swells breaking way, way outside. |
 |
| Closer to shore.... |
 |
| Fishing from the Cliff House. |
* * *
