The biggest oceanic swell in nearly two years pummeled Southern California's shoreline Wednesday, causing minor flooding in low-lying coastal areas and creating epic conditions for surfers trying to match their skills against powerful waves with faces 12 feet and taller.
The enormous swell, which peaked early Wednesday and will drop significantly by midday today, was unusual in its power and focus. Its westerly direction allowed it to slip around Point Conception and in between the Channel Islands that so often protect many Southern California beaches from the Pacific's most ferocious waves.
The result, combined with a warm, sunny day and light offshore winds, brought out hordes of thrill-seekers to take advantage of waves steam-rolling their way into every nook and cranny along the coast -- most of which rarely see surf of any decent size.
"This only happens a couple of times a year," said Sean Collins, chief forecaster for www. "And when it happens, surfers try to get on it and come up with all kinds of different excuses to get out of work."
Some arrived before dawn at Rincon, a famous surf spot that straddles the Ventura and Santa Barbara county line. They tugged on wetsuits and paddled out into the inky water. Others took a more leisurely pace, showing up a bit later after calling in "sick."
Lawyers told their secretaries they would be arriving late because of a "board meeting." Construction and maintenance workers planned to show up late to the job-site, if at all. Students skipped classes, of course, but so did some teachers.
"I wouldn't want my principal to read my name in the paper," said one high school history teacher with thinning hair from San Diego County. "I called in a substitute today."
James Mueller, a 30-year-old genetics research technician at UC San Diego, said he didn't need to make excuses. "My boss is a surfer, and so he understood," he said.
Mueller was joined by other wave-riders from Malibu, Topanga, Venice and Pacific Palisades. All made the predawn pilgrimage to the famous "point break," a configuration of land and ocean bottom that prompts waves to bend around the curving coast and unfurl in a more orderly way.
Rincon and other rocky point breaks usually can handle a large swell, offering peeling waves that can be ridden despite their size. That's often not possible at beach breaks because waves tend to crash all at once.
