Beachgoers cool to chilly water

Andrew Edwards

Word on the beach has it that the water’s cold, too cold.

“If you stay in there for more than a minute, it just numbs,”

beachgoer Jacob Chavez said after a group of friends threw him into

the waves. “Your legs, they feel like ice.”

Chavez, who lives in Glendora, visited the beach between the

Balboa and Newport piers Friday. Around noon, many of the people

visiting that stretch of shore were lounging on the sand overlooking

the water. However, a small crowd that included skimboarding

teenagers and small children on body boards braved the chilly waters.

Roland Abbott, who also lives in Glendora and joined Chavez, said

he was hoping to spend a day in the water, but after stepping into

the surf, he realized the water temperature wasn’t up to his

expectations.

“It’s not the prettiest day,” Abbott said. “Bring a book and read

it.”

The water temperature Friday morning was around 56 degrees,

Newport Beach lifeguard Lt. Mike Halphide said. One week earlier, the

water was nine degrees warmer. Halphide suspects strong west winds

are to blame for the drop in water temperature.

“It just blows over and upwells the cold water underneath,”

Halphide said.

Cold waves have not stopped people from visiting Newport’s

beaches, but beachgoers have been more likely to stay on the sand

lately, Halphide said. He said lifeguards’ rescues have been down as

low temperatures keep “all but the most ardent and wetsuited out of

the water.”

Chilly water has not caused business to slow down at the Green

Room, a Newport surf shop, store manager Mac Carlson said.

For Carlson, cold water has been more of an issue outside his job.

“I went out there Sunday, and I didn’t have a wetsuit, and I was

in there for about 60 seconds,” he said.