Sudden peril of big waves

Nathan Jacobson experienced absolute helplessness on Sunday.

All it took was turning his back on the Pacific Ocean for a few seconds. An abnormally large wave rolled up on Portuguese Beach north of Bodega Bay and knocked him down into the foaming white water.

He groped his hands along the ocean's bottom and tried to dig his heels into the sand. But his struggling made no difference. When the wave began charging back into the ocean it dragged him along.

"I had no choice," Jacobson said a few minutes later. "I was powerless."

Jacobson, an athletic 13-year-old from the Sacramento area, was among tens of thousands of people expected to visit beaches in Sonoma County over the holiday weekend. And like many people, Jacobson ignored safety guidelines stressed by park rangers, lifeguards and Coast Guard officials.

Never turn your back to the ocean when standing near the water, they say,and always keep your pet on a leash or away from the churning water.

Five weeks before Jacobson visited Portuguese Beach -- considered one of the deadliest beaches in California -- a 19-year-old woman drowned there after trying to rescue her dogs that were swept out into the frigid water.

Just south of Gualala on Saturday, another woman drowned when she tried to save her dog after it was dragged out by an abnormally large wave -- often referred to as a sleeper wave or rogue wave. Also on Saturday, a 27-year-old man drowned in Monterey. He was another apparent victim of a rogue wave.

Jacobson was lucky. The wave dragged him about 15 feet down the steeply sloped sand at Portuguese Beach and then released its grip. Jacobson half stumbled and half ran back to dry ground.

He spent less than 20 seconds in the ocean, but that was enough to sap his body of heat.

"The water is freezing," he said, more than five minutes after the ordeal. "My feet are still burning."

The surf on Sunday was running at about 6 feet, according to the Coast Guard. On Saturday, the surf was as high as 10 feet, .

A person dragged into the ocean can quickly be overcome by hypothermia, compounding the difficulty of struggling against strong currents.

A young mother stood on Portuguese Beach with her back to the water no more than 30 minutes after Jacobson experienced the rawness of the ocean. She held an infant in her arms, and her 2-year-old son stood next to her. Only a few feet behind them the regular waves were coming to a frothing end at the surf line -- a rogue wave could easily have swallowed them, possibly ending in tragedy.

"We tell everyone to stay away from the waterline," said Catherine Fabiano, a park aide at Sonoma Coast State Park. "Especially people with pets and small children."

Despite the clear danger and strong warnings, many people still enter the water to try to save their pets.

"I would drown trying to save my dog," said Annette Swars, who walked with her dog along Portuguese Beach. "This dog means as much to me as life itself."

You can reach Staff Writer Nathan Halverson at 521-5494

or nathan.halverson

@pressdemocrat.com.