Mile 204 Report
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
December 4, 2020
My first sneaker wave.
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My first sneaker wave. My wife and I sat in the dunes watching today's heavy surf as two children, maybe 6 and 8, played too close to the water. A man, their father presumably, watched them with a phone to his face. Sometimes I've approached people and reminded them nicely to be careful of their children, but people don't like hearing that, and I didn't this time. The sneaker wave wasn't a monster. It formed from two or three normal sized waves that merged and came ashore but with a rush of water that surged almost up to the dunes. The children tried to run but were knocked down by it. They struggled in the surf, and my wife and I ran towards them, but fortunately the father was able to reach them and pull them to their feet and to safety. The children were soaked and crying. My wife shouted to the father if he realized his children could have been swept out to sea, and he said yes.
Conditions
Temperature: 50 F. Tide Level: 7.0 feet.
Looking normal after sneaker wave
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Jon French
CoastWatcher
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Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
Mile 204 isn't my usual mile, so I've waited to walk it again until work resumed on PacWave South's wave energy testing project at Driftwood Beach Wayside. https://pacwaveenergy.
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Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
Today marked my latest sighting of the old growth driftwood log that I've admired and whose comings and goings from Driftwood Beach I've documented since June 2020, when I first photographed it high on the beach south of Buckley Creek.
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Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
I had read that the 265-foot vessel Seacor Lee would be anchoring a mile off Driftwood Beach in support of OSU's PacWave South wave energy testing project, positioned so that divers from the ship could perform work on previously installed seafloor conduits.
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Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
I haven't walked Driftwood Beach regularly since the PacWave South wave energy project completed work underground in the Driftwood parking lot.
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Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
By the time I got to Driftwood Wayside, a lot of people had already arrived for their New Years Day beach walks, some 30 vehicles in the parking lot and 30 - 40 people down on the beach, accompanied by at least half as many dogs, almost all leashed.
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Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
This was probably the last dependably dry Mile 204 walk before the rains begin in earnest.
Jon French
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
After the morning fog lifted and before the marine layer moved in, I walked from Seal Rock on Mile 205 to Beach Access 66C on Mile 203.
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Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
Driftwood Wayside is open again after PacWave's departure, but I was the only visitor on this breezy, drizzly day.
Jon French