Ninety-nine times out of 100, a trip down Santa Cruz’s West Cliff Drive is a peaceful, almost tranquil experience. Every day, hundreds of drivers, joggers and walkers traverse the waterfront road that forms the northern end of Monterey Bay. It’s a scenic, serene place with a few waves scattered next to the cliffs.
But last year, two Santa Cruz lifeguards had a radically different experience on West Cliff Drive. It was downright dangerous and life-threatening. Ben Coffey and Xander Mehl, both employed by the city of Santa Cruz Fire Department, outran a 20-foot-plus set on a jet ski for nearly a mile to save a surfer from getting smashed into large, uncompromising rocks.
Their efforts on Dec. 19 earned them Medals of Valor from the United States Lifeguard Association, the organization’s highest honor awarded to “an individual lifeguard who risks their life to an extraordinary degree in saving or attempting to save another person.”
Here’s how it went down. According to Surfline’s historical swell data, the local buoys spiked at an eye-popping 19 feet at 21 seconds that afternoon. The absurd west-northwest groundswellturned Maverick’s inside out and pulverized the rest of the state. In the morning, Ben drove the ski out of the Santa Cruz harbor after hearing reports of two surfers potentially in trouble at a surf spot called Mitchell’s Cove, roughly in the middle of West Cliff Drive. For reference, here’s a clip of Santa Cruz surfer Shaun Burns ripping a wave further up the point later that day.
Ben, age 27, is a talented surfer and son of longtime Santa Cruz shaper Ward Coffey. From Ocean Beach to Moss Landing, Ben’s seen and done a lot on the coast he grew up on. But he was taken aback by the power pouring into Monterey Bay that day.
Related: Santa Cruz Wharf Collapses in “Life-Threatening” Surf (Video)
“It seemed like mini tsunami surges,” he said. “To be honest, it was pretty cool to see that amount of swell in clean conditions. I grew up a few blocks from Mitchell’s, and we’d walk down in storms when I was younger. But to see a proper clean swell of that size, waves were breaking in places I’d never seen before. It was wild to watch, especially from the water on the ski.”
When Ben and Xander arrived at Mitchell’s Cove, they found two competent surfers who knew what they were getting into. They weren’t in danger, but they were drifting south in a strong current. “When we checked in, they were all good,” Ben said. “They were far from the cliff and way out in the channel.”
Then several things happened, and they happened fast. Word came in that waves had taken out the end of the Santa Cruz Wharf. That same surge of wave energy hit the West Side, where Ben, Xander and the two surfers were posted, creating what Ben called “the biggest set I’ve ever seen on the West Side.”
Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
“For us, we had to go down and help (with the pier),” Ben said. “But in that split second right before we left, we turned and saw this set that was coming down from Swift Street. It was just crazy. It was like a big wall from Swift Street pretty much to the Lane.”
It sounds incredulous, but if there was ever a day this would happen, this was that day. Ben and Xander decided that the set, if it delivered its full payload, might push the surfers too far into a rock garden, with lies east of the Mitchell’s Cove staircase. Most days it’s calm, but with this current and swell, it’d be a deathtrap.
“The surfer was already past the stairs,” Ben said. “He was pretty far from the rocks, but for how big that day was, it wasn’t far enough. And if you take six waves on the head there, you’re going into the cliff. If I were where he was on a board for that set, I’d be pretty bummed. It could have ended badly.”
So they decided to pull the surfers far, far out so that even if they were caught by the approaching set, the beatdown wouldn’t be as bad. So they put one surfer on the ski and dropped him about 200 yards out. Then the unthinkable happened.
“We went in, grabbed the second guy and turned around, planning to drop him off where we’d dropped the first guy,” Ben said. “But this wave broke and was already cleaning up that first guy. And we were well inside where the wave was breaking. And it broke all the way across from Mitchell’s to Saberjets, which is basically the Lane. When we first saw it, it was feathering and capping. We could have tried to go over it, but we probably would have gotten flogged. So we have the cliff on the inside, and this massive wave on the outside. So we just turned and ran.”
The trio on the ski did just that, zooming ahead of the whitewater for over half a mile. With the wave moving so fast behind them, the whitewater swinging out to the right and the rocks stationary on the left, all Ben could do was open up the throttle and go straight. Based on Ben’s recollection and rudimentary Google Maps work, they outran the wave for at least 3,500 feet, well over half a mile, before escaping its wrath at Its Beach, just north of Steamer Lane.
“It just kept breaking. There was no zone we could go over,” Ben said. “Finally, we came up to Its Beach and the Lane. Xander was in the back, making sure we were okay. But we weren’t sure if we could make it around or have to go onto the beach at Its or get caught by the wave. Luckily, we got to Its and at the channel off the point, the wave lay down just enough. It was a huge sign of relief.
“By the time we got to Its, we were pretty close to the rocks,” he continued. “It was maybe only like 200-100 feet, but it felt closer.”
Fortunately for the two surfers, Ben and Xander are capable watermen. Ben said that in addition to his professional training, he watches the Hawaiian water patrol during events at Pipeline and Waimea Bay.
“I just nerd out on that,” he said. “The last time they ran the Eddie, it was so interesting to watch them run their whole ski program. They’re so efficient. I definitely take notes from those guys. They get themselves in the gnarliest situations, so stuff is bound to happen. But it’s cool to see how good they are at getting out of those situations. Like when a ski slips, everyone knows what to do. They’re top notch.”
But even after surviving the set, Ben and Xander were still on the clock. After dropping off the surfer, they drove to the end of the damaged pier to help their fellow lifeguards. A full day on the water and an empty gas tank later, they finally returned to the harbor. Hats off to Ben and Xander. Valor off the charts.
Daniel Dreifuss /AFP via Getty Images