HUNTINGTON BEACH – Johnny Denney saw the young surfer hung upside down from the barnacle-covered pier piling, his upper torso – including his head – submerged under water.

The 11-year-old surfer Zach McCormick was paddling back out to the line up through the Huntington Beach pier for his mini grom heat during an NSSA contest on Sunday when a big set from a building south swell came out of nowhere. He was swept back onto a piling where his leash became tangled between the barnacles, leaving him helplessly dangling.

Denney, 55, didn’t hear a scream or cry for help. But knowing that the waves were getting bigger, he had been keeping an eye on the young surfers from just beneath the pier, and when he couldn’t see the young surfer who had been paddling back out, he caught a wave and scoured the ocean’s surface. That’s when he saw Zach, legs toward the sky.

Denney ditched his board and dove underwater, coming up under the young surfer and pushing him up to get air, hanging onto him as white wash from waves slammed them. Denney pushed his body against the sharp barnacles for support to keep the kid’s head above water. As water receded back, Zach was able to get air.

“He was so frantic, his little voice; he was screaming,” Denney said. “I kept telling him ‘you’re all right’.”

Denney’s swift rescue on Sunday during the NSSA surf contest likely thwarted a disaster, with no one else on the sand able to see McCormick dangling on the other side of the piling.

Denney – who has been surfing the Huntington Pier for more than 40 years – wasn’t supposed to be there that day, he was supposed to be surfing down south in San Diego.

“I know it was the higher up; I was supposed to be somewhere else,” he said.

Zach’s dad Eric is sure glad his son’s rescuer was surfing Huntington that day.

Eric watch his son paddle out on the north side of the pier and through the pilings – which many surfers do when there’s a strong current – but then lost sight of his son. When he couldn’t see Zach, he asked a photographer friend if he could see his son.

The next thing he knew, their friend Lucas Foster – who was paddling out in the longboard final – has Zach on his board and was paddling him to shore.

“(Foster) saw the whole thing, got him on his board and paddled him back in,” Eric recalled. “Johnny surfed his board right into the pier to get to Zach, saved him. Zach was crying and hysterical.”

With his board broken in two pieces after hitting the pilings, it took a while for Denney to get to the sand to see if Zach was OK. The family was shaken, and they left the beach in a hurry.

“What he did was the act of a hero, and we are forever grateful,” Eric said. “We are blessed he was in the water that day, and he had his eyes on Zach.”

For Denney, there was no hesitation.

“I care about these young kids, you know. It wasn’t about a surfboard. That didn’t even come in my mind,” said Denney, who said he’s smashed plenty of boards in Hawaii over the years.

Friend Kai Danbara said having someone like “Uncle Johnny” around keeping an eye out on the kids is invaluable. He said Denney was once a pro surfer in the ’70s who would take on 40-foot barrels at Pipeline in Hawaii.

“Johnny really is the unofficial water safety guy for all the groms,” said Kai, whose daughter Kalohe, 9, surfs Huntington. “He’s always right there, when my daughter or any of the other kids are surfing. Kalohe has been caught on the pier twice, and it scares her to death. That kid was in big trouble, he was hanging upside down. Johnny is a really good dude.”

Denney is an old-school surfer with weathered skin and tattoos covering his arms. He’s been through rough times, surviving being shot several times and many head injuries.

The McCormicks have decided the least they could do is find out who his favorite shaper is, and are in the process of trying to get a new board made.

Even at 11, Zach is no rookie at surf contests and has entered events since he was 5. This is a wake-up call for parents, that having a safety person in the water with the younger kids on sizable days isn’t a bad idea, Eric said.

“Little guys are competing younger and younger – you need to have someone in the water with them,” he said. “Nobody in the event or lifeguards had a clue what was happening. I understand it happens quickly… When you have kids involved, you need to have all eyes on them.”

Janice Aragon, executive director of the NSSA, said that division allows for a parent or coach to be in the water with the kids if they feel the need. They can also ask for lifeguard assistance if they feel intimidated.

So, was Zach so shaken from the incident that he wants to give up surfing?

“On the way home, he wanted to stop at Lowers,” Eric said, referring to the surf break at Trestles. “His spirit is not broken. We are forever grateful.”

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com