(Image Source: http://www.flyaboveall.com/pacon.jpg)
Trick or treat?
Well how about a Treat! Check this out! The readership may recall a recent interview of LACo Veteran Recurrent, Kip Jerger, by Adam Sandler (see below).
x-ref:
"Q&A With Kip Jerger", by Adam Sandler
http://countyrecurrent.blogspot.com/2011/09/q-with-kip-jerger-by-adam-sandler.html
In this interview Kip mentions being rescued at Rincon by a couple other total stud veteran LACo recurrents and life long surfers and paddlers, namely, Mike Stevenson and John Baker.
Well get this!?!!! Adam just heard back from Baker about that day and what he recalled. So here you have it, Folks! Here's your Halloween Treat! We are going to simply copy and paste Adam's email here for consistency and attribution's sake. And please be advised that Kip encouraged us to speak with John and Mike about this rescue of theirs in order to give us all a greater appreciation of the dangers inherent to surfing in large surf and exiting over man made rock walls.
From: Adam Sandler
Subject: How John Baker Saved A Young Kip Jerger at Rincon
Date: October 31, 2011 5:27:16 PM PDT
To: Will Maguire
Will:
Recall that in Kip Jerger's Q&A, Kip credited John Baker and Mike Stevenson with rescuing him at Rincon during a day with huge waves? Well, I asked John Baker to recall the incident:
"Yes, the story is true," says retired OLS John Baker. "It's been a long time now, maybe 35-40 years ago, so in trying to remember it is a little fuzzy. Mike and I were at Rincon and the surf was huge -- solid 6-8 foot backs with a few bigger sets. Back then, you parked on the highway and could watch the surfing from your car. I remember it being pretty crowded. As we watched these huge sets pouring through the point, one of us happened to notice a surfer attempting to exit the water by climbing over the rocks/seawall that protected the highway. This was about a quarter of a mile south of the point. Well, the tide was very high, and together with these giant waves, there was a huge backwash off the rocks. We watched this guy make several attempts to get out, and we could tell he was in serious trouble. It was just suicide trying to get over the rocks. Being the lifeguards that we were, we both knew we had to help this guy if we could. We had no idea who it was; it was just someone in distress. Mike said to jump in and he drove my van. As we got down to where this surfer was, we could see the current was moving like a river along the seawall. This was making any rescue attempt that much harder. I could see his board had already been broken in half. I climbed down the rocks and yelled to him to watch for my signal to come in. Luckily, there was a pretty long lull and I waved for him to hurry in. He was pretty exhausted when I grabbed his hand and we scampered up the rocks. We drove him back to Rincon, and only then we realized it was a bloody and bruised Kip Jerger."
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Source material; Re: Rincon Photo:
FLY ABOVE ALL
"From Bates to Ventura"
http://www.flyaboveall.com/psbates.htm
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Wow! Thanks very much to both John Baker and Adam Sandler for sharing their remarks with all of us!
10-4
Until next time.....
"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com
Service • Training • Commitment
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