Nathan Barrett of Long Beach raises his surfboard as he gets hit by a large shorebreak wave at the Huntington Beach Pier on Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Huntington Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Surfers ride a wave as many other surfers wait on their boards for a one to come their way just north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The winter storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Hundreds of surfers sit on their boards as they wait to ride the waves brought onshore by the recent storm just north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Surfers rides the waves brought onshore by the recent storm just north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A beach goer looks on as a large shorebreak wave hits the beach just south of the Huntington Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Huntington Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Large waves hit the pilings of the Huntington Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Huntington Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Standing down from an eroded beach, surfer Nathan Barrett of Long Beach looks out over the large breaking waves just south of the Huntington Beach Pier on Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Huntington Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Nathan Barrett of Long Beach raises his surfboard as he gets hit by a large shorebreak wave at the Huntington Beach Pier on Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Huntington Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Water from a large shorebreak wave makes its way nearly a hundred yards up on to the beach just south of the Huntington Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Huntington Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Hundreds of surfers paddle through the water as they wait to ride the waves brought onshore by the recent storm just north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Surfers ride a wave just north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The winter storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Surfers and beach goers make their way along the beach south of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Surfers and beach goers make their way through the debris on the beach north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
As a surfer rides a wave, other surfers paddle through the water looking to ride the waves brought onshore by the recent storm just north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Beach goers check out the waves just south of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Surfers rides the waves brought onshore by the recent storm just north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
As a surfer rides a wave, other surfers paddle through the water looking to ride the waves brought onshore by the recent storm just north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Surfers and beach goers make their way through the debris on the beach north of the Newport Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A skimboarder runs down the beach toward a wave near the Balboa Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Newport Beach. The winter storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A gull rests on a trash can on the beach just south of the Huntington Beach Pier early Friday morning, January 6, 2023 in Huntington Beach. The recent storm that brought rain, wind and snow to most of California, has also brought large, and in some areas, damaging surf. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
You’d almost think it was the height of summer given the crowd in the water near the Newport Beach Pier on Friday – except this winter water was numbingly cold.
Zipped up tight in their wetsuits, more than a hundred surfers bobbed in the water lining up to ride wave after wave. A winter westerly swell rolled in Thursday, but conditions were mucked up by a rain storm. Friday’s morning high tide combined with the swell under clear skies to make a great morning of surfing along that stretch of beach.
Further north, near the Huntington Beach Pier, not so much.
As the lone surfer on the beach, Nathan Barrett of Long Beach stood beneath the pier just after sunrise on Friday morning looking out at the large crashing waves as he held his surfboard under his arm waiting for the right moment to jump into the churning water that was crashing up and hitting the bottom of the pier.
Once in, he tried to paddle out to ride the waves, but within a few minutes was washed down the beach several hundred yards, unable to get past the shore break. The current was too much for him.
At one point, the waves breaking on shore were so big they washed over Barrett, carrying the water nearly a hundred yards up onto the beach.
Mark Rightmire had his first photograph published in his hometown newspaper in Athens, Ohio, at the age of 12. A graduate of the Visual Communication program at Ohio University, he has been a staff photographer at The Orange County Register for over three decades, documenting the people, places, and landscapes of Orange County. Assignments have also taken him beyond the boarders of O.C. From Auckland, New Zealand to Dublin, Ireland; Disneyland to the Atlantic City Boardwalk; from the French Quarter of New Orleans to Pike Place Market in Seattle; the Stanley Cup Finals in Ottawa and NYC, to the America’s Cup in San Francisco and San Diego. In 2014 he traveled to Russia to cover the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. A love for the outdoors often reflects in his photography.
