A dream for some surfers can also be a threat to local residents and visitors as large breaking waves have impacted the shores along the Central Coast.
According to the National Weather Service, a powerful storm in the northern Pacific sent long-period swells of 18 to 20 seconds toward the coast.
The Pismo Beach Surf Academy says they had to cancel some surf lessons this week because of the hazardous conditions.
“There are some that plan their trip way ahead of time so a cancelation at the last second,” said Rodney Way, Pismo Beach Surf Academy owner and instructor. “We’re not in control of Mother Nature and you know, when she’s alive, she's alive.”
The National Weather Service says that Central Coast beaches could see waves between 15 to 20 feet through Saturday night.
Some could even reach up to 25 feet.
Way says that type of surf is dangerous for beginners.
“It would be a disgrace to a surf shop to take people out in conditions like that. We’ve been doing lessons for a long time,” said Way. “That’s not something you’d like to take beginners out in. There was no beach. We couldn’t go over drills on the beach. It just wouldn’t be something that would be wise.”
The general manager of Pancho’s Surf Shop, Don Mckee, says they pause their rental services when waves reach a certain height.
“It’s just kind of a rule of thumb,” said Mckee. “It’s common sense for us, being a surf shop, just being protective of the community and tourists coming in. Surf gets over 5 or 6 foot, we just don’t do rentals at all. We just keep it safe for everybody that way.”
The Pismo Beach Bike and Surf Shop also stopped renting surf equipment but tourists can still make use of their bike rentals.
“We were told not to rent anything right now because customers can’t be safe out here with all the wild waves going on,” said Garrett McDowell, Pismo Beach Bike and Surf Shop manager. “Even though this would be a bad thing for us, it’s actually been great for us just because people have come out to come see and they want to do other things of interest.”
The National Weather Service says these large swells are expected to decrease slightly through Friday.
However, they are expecting an additional strong wavefront to return on Saturday.
