Surfers ride high on big breakers

Greg Risling

NEWPORT BEACH -- The skies may have appeared gloomy and gray for most

people Tuesday, but surfers found the weather conditions no less than

perfect as recent storms pushed 5- to 7-foot swells onto Newport’s

west-facing beaches.

Although the water temperature was a crisp 56 degrees, hundreds of

surfers took advantage of the optimal conditions and flocked to the

beaches.

“These are the days you live for,” said 19-year-old Adam Samuels of

Huntington Beach, who was changing into some dry clothes near 32nd Street

on Tuesday evening. “I haven’t been out for a while, but it looks like I

picked a good day. There were a lot of people out in the water.”

Most of the good surf could be found between Newport Pier and 32nd

Street. Scores of surfers littered the shoreline, jockeying for the next

prime wave.

“I would say there are between 200 to 300 people at any given time in the

water today,” said Mike Halphide, lifeguard supervisor for the Newport

Beach Fire and Marine Department. “It appears people are skipping school

and work to come down here.”

Surfers can thank the recent series of storms that have rolled through

Southern California. Most of the west-facing beaches in the Southland

received large swells that were favorable to surfers. Some sets in

Ventura and Santa Barbara counties reportedly peaked between 12 and 14

feet.

Newport surfers were unable to boast about waves that big, but no one was

really complaining about the conditions, which before Tuesday had been

fairly average.

“There is no doubt there were excellent conditions today,” Halphide

added. “Some waves were four to five feet overhead. This has been the

best day to surf here this year.”