On Sunday in Santa Cruz, 12 children in sailboats were returning to the Santa Cruz Harbor when a massive set caught them off guard and sent their boats tumbling. Luckily, nearby surfers jumped into action, helping the kids to shore. All of them escaped without injury. Fifteen-year-old photographer Connor Garde was on hand to capture the incredible action and the skilled rescue. The massive waves were caused by the pumping swell currently hitting the California coast, as well as extremely high king tides that are still present in the region.
Elsewhere in the Bay Area, people weren’t so lucky. Also on Sunday, at Pescadero State Beach, a man and a woman were gathering mussels when a sneaker wave washed them into the ocean. A bystander was able to save the man, but the woman was swept further out to sea and went under before firefighters could reach her. And in Marin County at the Point Bonita Lighthouse, a 30-year-old man from San Jose was scrambling on the bluffs when a similar sneaker wave washed him out to sea. The search for the two in Marin and Pescadero is still ongoing. The ocean is powerful, and she certainly likes to remind us of that.