A strange but good summer

It was quite the mixed bag this summer in Surf City.

Hotels posted record numbers, including a July jump of 17% to $6.7

million. But that was in spite of an otherwise strange and even

dreary summer.

First off was the red tide. Rather than appearing and leaving

within a few days, the red tide -- which is caused by phytoplankton

blooms -- persisted nearly all summer long. A brownish, uninviting

churn of sea was the result.

And then there were the jellyfish, in an unprecedented number and

of an unprecedented kind. Lifeguard reports reveal their effects:

5,712 cases of stings, a huge jump from the previous year. But

rescues fell a bit to under 1,100, no surprise given the red tide and

the floating threat posed by the jellyfish.

Then there was the unusually cold water and even cold

temperatures, both of which kept people from coming to town in the

usual droves. There just weren’t that many classic Southern

California beach days this year. (And inland temperatures didn’t soar

into the 100s all that often, so people weren’t escaping to the

beaches as much.)

Finally, the surf was just plain bad. Up until last weekend, there

had not been a memorable swell -- including during the U.S. Open of

Surfing.

Still, despite all the reasons not to enjoy the beach, 7.6 million

people have already visited Huntington’s sands, a slight drop from a

year ago when 8 million people had spread out towels and set up

umbrellas.

What does it all add up to? How about proof that Huntington Beach

is the real Surf City? Or can we put that debate to bed?