Rogue Wave Hits Half Moon Bay

Rogue Wave Hits Half Moon Bay

www.foxnews.com

Two huge waves swept away spectators watching a Northern California surfing contest Saturday morning, causing broken bones and other injuries to people standing on a seawall.

Fifteen people had significant injuries, including broken legs and hands, authorities said. At least three of them were transported to area hospitals. Others were treated at the beach for injuries such as scrapes and bruises.

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Related News Links:
www.theaustralian.com.au
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There wasn't any warnings for bad surf or anything posted, It was just and actual "rogue wave." It's a good thing that nobody died just banged up a little bit. I don't see alot of reports of rogue waves so I thought it was post worthy. If you watch the youtube video it had to be pretty scary just watching a surf contest then all of a sudden a huge wave comes and smacks you in the face.

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

www.youtube.com...

[edit on 15-2-2010 by Bcs8484]

The people were spectators at a surf contest with 30 foot waves. The waves that washed over the seawall were 5-6 feet. Calling them "rouge waves" is a bit on the sensationalist side.

This occurred at high tide. This is what happens at high tide with large surf. No one should have been allowed on the seawall under those conditions. All I see is a bunch of people who were completely ignorant of how dangerous a situation this was. If the sand is wet, it's wet for a reason.

Here is a series of photographs of what happened, it can be seen that waves had been coming over the seawall for a while, everything is wet. These waves did not "come out of nowhere".
www.sra-art.com...

reply to post by Phage


Agreed. The surf was exceptional - raw video available here - and people really need to use their heads. The ocean is a pretty mighty thing on an average day, and even veteran surfers were made humble by those waves. Rogue waves are by definition unexpected, and nobody should have been surprised by what hit the shore that day; these people were just being dense, and it's fortunate nobody was more seriously injured.

/fix link

[edit on 2/15/10 by articulus]