Two Santa Cruz lifeguards heroically rescued workers after a massive wave caused a section of the Santa Cruz Wharf to collapse into the sea.
While already on alert because of the high surf that hit the Monterey Bay coast Monday, Santa Cruz Lifeguards Lts. Isaiah Mullen and Sam Hofmann, stationed on a Jet Ski in the water near Cowell Beach, suddenly turned their attention to the Santa Cruz Wharf. At the time the Wharf collapsed, we were on the Cowell side about one quarter of the way to the end of the Wharf, just getting ready to do another patrol, said Mullen in a video interview published by the city of Santa Cruz .
And that’s when something alerted me to look out at the end of the Wharf, which I believe was the cracking of the pilings. Around 12:45 p.m. Monday, a massive swell took about 150 feet of the already-damaged south end of the Santa Cruz Wharf into the sea, with portions floating there for a short time before being dispersed by tidal forces. We were just off the Wharf around Lifeguard Headquarters when my deckhand, who was keeping an eye on the outside, watching for waves that we would need to punch through, and he said, ‘I’m pretty sure the end of the Wharf just fell in,’” said Hofmann, who was driving the Jet Ski. “And I flip around just in time to the splash of something going in at the end of the stick. The team quickly made their way to the wreckage and informed Wharf maintenance workers what had occurred as they sped past them to the Wharf’s new end. As we approached the debris, we could see the true scope of what had happened and the amount of Wharf that was in the water,” said Mullen.
Wharf Collapse Rescue Lifeguards Santa Cruz California
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