The sea rears up and huge surf roars
Lifeguards kept busy yesterday with monster waves on Oahu's North and West shores, despite choppy conditions that forecasters predict will improve today.
Surf along north-facing shores is expected to be 30 to 40 feet this morning before gradually decreasing to about 25 feet. On west-facing shores, surf will be 22 to 28 feet and decrease to 15 to 20 feet tonight, forecasters said.
"It's still going to be a little rough," said National Weather Service forecaster Norman Hui.
On the North Shore yesterday, with waves as high as 30 feet, lifeguards made one rescue and took 1,200 so-called preventative actions -- warning beachgoers, mostly, a city news release said.
On the western shores, where surf was 15 to 20 feet high in the morning, lifeguards made one rescue. They also made 37 assists with rescue crafts and took 800 preventative actions.
Large surf also hit Kauai's North Shore, bringing 15- to 30-foot faces, but there were no rescues, said Kauai county spokeswoman Mary Daubert.
"The waves were just so gigantic and washed out, the surfers weren't even going in," she said.
