Big Waves today along the coast

As the Polar Vortex swings down into the U.S. far to the east of California the waves on the ocean are pretty big. We went out today to see them and everyone and there little brother were watching the waves today because today is the MLK holiday so many many people were off work and traveling for the 3 day weekend here in California especially along the coast because it was 75 degrees today along the coast and incredibly beautiful and a clear sky for everyone to enjoy. There were so many bicyclists that it was hard to navigate at times along the coastal roads too. There also were joggers and walkers but no surfers because the waves weren't breaking right for that and also we were out at high tide where the water because of the high waves were breaking all the way up the beaches so you couldn't really walk on most beaches without possibly endangering yourself either because of sneaker waves that might drag you out to sea and because of the water temperatures in Winter you wouldn't last long (maybe about 5 to 10 minutes alive before you got hypothermia and started hallucinating and then you would soon be dead because you would lose the capacity to make useful decisions to stay alive. If you had a wet or dry suit on you might survive long enough to be rescued however if you weren't beat to death by the waves on the rocks near the shore by the waves.

These are things locals all know about but tourists often die this time of year from getting too close to the Pretty Waves which then have sneaker waves that you don't expect.

A week or so ago I was walking our corgi and a sneaker wave got me. I couldn't get across the river rocks on the beach away from the sneaker wave so I watched my corgi run across them (because she has 4 legs) and knew she was okay but I couldn't do that at 72 so I got water from behind up to about my knees every though I was about 25 to 30 feet from the "normal" place the waves were coming to.

So, even an old surfer, body surfer and Scuba diver and free diver since I was about 6 years old can get surprised by Sneaker waves unless you are watching every moment. I saw it coming but I couldn't get beyond the river smooth round rocks in time to avoid getting hit up to my knees with jeans on by a sneaker wave.

So, what chance does a tourist have who has no idea at all about what happens in the ocean and lives far inland usually or on the east coast where things often are completely different?

Here during the winter we can get 20 to 35 foot waves from storms and you have to be ready for all the consequences if you are around when one of these things breaks. I have seen really advanced surfers ride a 35 foot wave here but even they need someone on a jet ski to catch the wave and grab them when they finish the wave so they don't die with a 35 foot wave here where I live on the northern California coast.