California's deadliest beach is in the Bay Area

Here are some of the beaches in the Bay Area that have claimed lives in recent years. Here are some of the beaches in the Bay Area that have claimed lives in recent years. Photo: Getty Photo: Getty Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close California's deadliest beach is in the Bay Area 1 / 22 Back to Gallery

September and early October represent summer in San Francisco — a time when the sun emerges and plans for a beach day are set in motion.

But what some of the more than one million annual visitors to the city's famed Ocean Beach may not know is that it may in fact be California's deadliest beach.

The stingingly cold waters along the 3.5-mile stretch have claimed the lives of eight people since 2014, more than any beach in the state, according to data from the National Weather Service. In 1998, a record seven people were killed in the water.

"It's just historically been a black spot in terms of drowning deaths," said Chris Brewster, liaison officer for the United States Lifesaving Association, a nonprofit professional association of beach lifeguards and open water rescuers. "The shore break is really strong and somebody who gets pulled off shore isn't going to last long just because of hypothermia."

Last August, a 19-year-old man wearing only shorts was seen struggling in the surf before disappearing in the water. The Coast Guard conducted a search for his body but then suspended it.

On a warm sunny day in 2016, five Vallejo teens locked arms in the surf when a wave knocked them down and dragged two of the boys out to sea. A search for their bodies was later called off. That same year a 29-year-old surfer and a 64-year-old woman both drowned.

Brewster noted that while drowning figures by NWS represent official numbers, real figures are in fact higher because some of the record keeping is based on media reports. For example, in 2017 the USLA reported 131 drownings across the U.S. compared to 113 reported by the NWS.

Rip currents are the main cause of drownings locally and nationally, according to NWS data, along a combination of other dangerous factors. Huge amounts of water flow in and out of the Golden Gate as the tides change, creating currents that span miles to the north and south. These currents grow strong during ebb tides, as they flow away from the Golden Gate, and can grow up to two knots in strength.

There is also an undertow that rinses back under arriving waves, and as it grows stronger, so do rip currents fed by this backwash.

"It's not a swimming beach," said Xavier Agnew, supervising park ranger for the National Park Service. "We don't advise that anyone enter the water there."

Drowning deaths at California beaches are not common — the NWS has tallied only 71 since 2014 — and according to USLA data the chance of drowning at a beach staffed by lifeguards is 1 in 18 million.

In 2017, USLA reports 53,000 rescues in California compared to only 36 drownings — 33 of those fatalities coming in areas not staffed by lifeguards.

"It really gives you a level of hazard at beaches throughout California and how swimming at a beach without a lifeguard is a really risky thing to do," Brewster said.

Most Bay Area beaches, including Ocean Beach, do not have lifeguards stationed in towers. Debate has flared over this issue with the National Park Service, which ultimately decided not to add lifeguards towers in order to dissuade swimming. A warning sign in multiple languages posted at the edge of the beach now stands as the only deterrent from swimming.

By contrast, Goat Rock Beach, just south of Jenner, had a lifeguard tower installed in mid-May, the first one on the Sonoma Coast. In December 2017, a father and son were dragged into the surf by powerful currents and drowned. Three others also reportedly died at the beach in 2016.

"Our recommendation is don't swim at a beach in California unless there is a lifeguard on duty and you check with them first," Brewster said. "If there aren't lifeguards stationed out there, don't go in the water."

Click through the slideshow above to see the deadliest Bay Area beaches.