Waves

In the last three weeks of the West Coast Athletic Conference basketball race, Pepperdine is jockeying for better position. But the Waves may be riding the wrong horse this week. The Waves, 3-6 in conference play and 8-14 overall, are on the road, where they are 0-9 this season. They are at Portland (5-4, 13-9) tonight and go against Gonzaga (6-3, 15-7) on Saturday night.

In all probability, UCLA and Pepperdine will be battling for the nation's top ranking when they meet Friday night at 7 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball match at the John Wooden Center. But Bruin Coach Al Scates and Wave Coach Marv Dunphy have already been waging their own battle over who should be favored. "The Bruins have an experienced team this season," Dunphy said. "Everyone's picked them No. 1. I certainly would." Said Scates: "Pepperdine should be the No. 1 team.

The Pepperdine women's basketball team, paced by All-American forward Maureen Formico and five top freshman recruits, may be on the brink of a renaissance this season. After 13-18 and 10-19 records in his first two seasons, Coach Ron Fortner will begin this year with a healthy Formico, who got off to a slow start last year, recovering from a broken collar bone.

Dave Prunce rode his bike to the Newport Pier Thursday hoping to catch a view of the high surf trouncing the Orange County coast, but he soon learned his trip had been in vain. The surf Thursday had calmed down considerably since Wednesday, when a South Pacific storm near the Equator sent south-to-southeast swells as high as 10 feet crashing down on the Southern California coast.

Two Americans--a woman and her grandmother--were swept away by a wave while walking on a Mexican beach and drowned before fishermen could reach them, authorities said Sunday. Sara Means, 22, and Ethel Buteh Wogner, 73, both of St. George, Utah, were walking along the beach of the Solmar hotel in the popular southern Baja resort city of Cabo San Lucas on Saturday when they were swept away, according to police.

El Nino has thrown quite a tantrum this winter, causing some gnarly waves to crash against Orange County's coast. Still, surfers are awaiting their day. Sean Collins, Kurt Augsburger and Mitch DeJannet are watching for the right time to complete their mission. When, if, the surf, wind and tide all come together just right, the three men will depart on their quest.

A wall of water up to 18 feet high rose out of a calm sea and crashed onto Daytona Beach, Fla., smashing hundreds of vehicles and causing 75 minor injuries, officials and witnesses said. An undersea landslide apparently caused the 27-mile-long rogue wave, a federal seismologist said. Witnesses said people were bleeding and car windows were smashed after the water receded. Sailboats were piled on top of vehicles on the drive-on beach. Tow trucks pulled out cars shoved under the boardwalk.

A huge wave swept over the bow of a Navy destroyer Wednesday, knocking six crewmen around on the deck and leaving one of them with two broken legs and the others with minor injuries. The sailors were airlifted from the USS David R. Ray to Stanford Medical Center, said Petty Officer Jeff Alger. The other injuries included a concussion, dislocated hip, a hurt shoulder and a slight head injury, Alger said.

When he began tracking storms in the Pacific Ocean in the late 1970s, Seal Beach surfer Sean Collins was just trying to figure out how he could catch the best waves on the beaches of Baja. He hardly imagined that a decade later he would be a key player in Orange County's burgeoning surf industry and a veritable guru who--for better or worse--has revolutionized the quest for the perfect wave.

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