Surge wreaks havoc over July Fourth weekend

Three days of relentless surge over the Fourth of July weekend kept boaters bobbing and wreaked havoc on a number of watercraft and marine fixtures around the Island.  The swells and surge were the legacy of hurricane Cristina that passed off the coast of Mexico late last month.

“At one point it could just look like normal and then 10 minutes later there could be a huge swell come through,” said Avalon Harbor Master Brian Bray.

Three days of relentless surge over the Fourth of July weekend kept boaters bobbing and wreaked havoc on a number of watercraft and marine fixtures around the Island.  The swells and surge were the legacy of hurricane Cristina that passed off the coast of Mexico late last month.

“At one point it could just look like normal and then 10 minutes later there could be a huge swell come through,” said Avalon Harbor Master Brian Bray.

As a result of the restless sea, Bray said his Harbor Department had to take in the float at the end of the Green Pier as well as pull the dingy dock at the Casino.  

Additionally, Bray said the ramp had to be raised at the fuel dock and a stanchion containing electrical wiring had to be repaired.   

Because of the surge, harbor patrolmen had to babysit the fuel dock itself.

Some boats and small skiffs had a rough time as well.  

At least two vessels sank, several dinghies capsized and at least one skiff broke free of its moorings and made a bee-line for Hawaii.  

“Somebody called (Tuesday) morning and said they were four miles out and said they had found a Boston Whaler,” said Bray.  The good sea-maritans brought the errant skiff back to Avalon Harbor.

Bray reported there were no injuries or other emergency situations.  Just reports of a lot of boats “banging into each other,” he said.

The backside, or windward side, of the Island took much of the brunt.  “It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” said life-long Islander J.J. Guion of Avalon Boat Stand.  J.J. went around to Seal Rocks during the weather event and watched as colossal waves crashed into the rocks.  “The waves were going 50 feet up the hillsides,” he said.  “There was no place for the seals to haul out.”

J.J. said that when they turned the corner at Church Rock they watched “full-on waves breaking along the beach towards Salta Verde.”

At Campus By the Sea a mile north of Avalon, a center console skiff was destroyed in the maritime maelstrom.  “The (mooring) cleat was torn off, the outboard motor was ripped off and then it sank,” said Eric Geerdes, Marine Facilities Operations Manager at the camp.

Some of the worst damage to human-made structures, however, occurred at White’s Landing.  Shoreboat William reported that the surge went up and over the White’s Landing pier.  

The chain securing the float to the end of the pier was severed and part of the pier’s railing was destroyed.

At Moonstone Beach, the surge took out some of the bricks and cast rocks and debris all the way up the stairs.  “They lost about three or four skiffs,” said William.  “Just flipped them over.”

At the Balboa Yacht Club, the white-washed rocks that spell out the word “Balboa” were scattered into something unintelligible.

As a testament to the power of the waves, William said a three-ton boulder was picked up by the sea at Pebbly Beach south of Avalon and carried nearly up to the Catalina Laundry facilities.

By mid-week the waters around Catalina had largely calmed and harbor life on the briny deep was returning to normal.