The Cunha Voice, the newspaper of Cunha Middle School, just carried a story about Coastsider in its final issue for the year. I had no idea this was happening until my daughter brought it home from school.

So, the Chronicle has written about Coastsider, and the Cunha Voice has written about Coastsider. Any bets when the Review will write about us?

Gray Whale Cove is beautiful spot with bigger waves than other Coastside spots, but it’s a treacherous place to surf.  Amelia Hansen from the County Times went to the beach with a surfer.  Within minutes, a strong current pushed him to the south end of the beach, where a surfer had become stranded last week. Rescuing that surfer and friends who tried to rescue him required a Coast Guard helicopter.

"Montara and Gray Whale Cove are both very dangerous because they are exposed to swells from all directions," said California State Parks Lifeguard Eric Abma, who participated in the rescue Sunday. "Gray Whale Cove is surrounded by rocks, the beaches are steep and the sand on the bottom is usually uneven."

Rescue agencies have received three calls from distressed surfers at Gray Whale Cove in the last four weeks, Abma said.

This afternoon, a prescient friend sent me a link to a Santa Cruz Sentinel story about Steven Ward, a UC Santa Cruz researcher who models tsunamis  caused both by earthquakes and by meteorites. Ward researches possible tsunamis in Asia as well, but he has been modeling earthquake-induced tsunamis on the coast of California. Ward says a 7.5 magnitude quake could send a 15-foot tsunami to the Santa Cruz shoreline in minutes.

In 1946 an elderly man was killed by a wave while walking around the point from Cowell Beach from a 7.5-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Alaska. A Santa Cruz restaurant located at the entrance of the Municipal Wharf reported that water levels rose up to its floorboards.

There’s a ton of information, simulations, and presentations at Steven Ward’s Web site.

UPDATE: The warning was cancelled at 9:09pm.

A tsunami warning is in effect for the coastal areas from the California-Mexico border to the north tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Estimated time of arrival in the San Francisco area is approximately 9:23pm.

There has been an earthquake of magnitude 7.4,  90 miles NW of Eureka and 300 miles NW of San Francisco at 7:51pm.

It is not known if a tsunami exists. But a tsunami may have been generated.  Therefore persons in low lying coastal areas should be alert to instructions from their local emergency officials. Persons on the beach should move to higher ground if in a warned area. Tsunamis may be a series of waves which could be dangerous for several hours after the initial wave arrival.

Source:

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA
830 PM PDT TUE JUN 14 2005

In an exciting water rescue involving multiple agencies, stranded surfers were rescued by lifeguards, firefighters, and a Coast Guard helicopter at Gray Whale Cove Sunday evening.

The Pacifica and Half Moon Bay Fire Departments got the call at 5:28pm. En-route, the HMB Fire Department called in the Coast Guard, San Mateo County Harbor Patrol, California State Parks lifeguards, and water rescue swimmers from the Half Moon Bay Fire District.

Firefighters found two surfers in distress at the south end of the cove, one in the water being swept around the south point, and one on the rocks.

A team of two state parks lifeguards (Eric Abma and James Nothhelfer)  swam to the victims, guided by fire personnel on the cliff. They were got the victim in the water onto the beach.

The surfer on the rocks was saved and pulled onto the rocks by Anthony Fontaine of San Francisco who found himself trapped on the rocks by the surf. A firefighter/paramedic from the Pacifica Fire Dept. made his way across the rocks to them and stabilized the victim.

A Coast Guard helicopter from San Francisco airlifted victims and rescuers on the rocks to the beach for further care by firefighters.

Two victims were transported by ambulance to Peninsula Hospital with minor injuries.

NOTE: This account was based on a press release from HMBFD.

Friday, Rita Adams was sworn in as the new postmaster in Pescadero.  The County Times’s Amelia Hansen profiles the woman who’ll manage three employees and a winding 94-mail rural mail route.  Adams’s first job on the Coastside was as a clerk in the Moss Beach post office in 1993.

A man drove a car through the front window of a gun shop in Eureka Square in Pacifica, grabbed a shotgun and started firing.  The Chron says no one was injured.

A construction crew broke a gas line in Montara around 1pm Thursday, causing the evacuation of a dozen homes on the 500 block of Eighth Street.

The line was broken by a crew installing a water line. According to George Irving, manager of Montara Water and Sanitary District, the crew that broke the line was doing work for a private home and it was unrelated to the water line replacement that the District is doing in Montara.