A contractor paddled a bodyboard among powerful 12-foot waves near the Santa Cruz lighthouse on Jan. 24, 2014. Lifeguards offered help, but he declined while bystanders watched and urged him to get out. A later set of large waves pushed him into a narrow cove with steep, 20-foot walls known locally as the Toilet Bowl. Inside the inlet, surf slammed him against rocks. Rescuers attempted to reach him using a jet ski and a cliff jump, but heavy waves prevented immediate access and endangered the rescuers. A second rescue effort succeeded, and he was taken to a hospital, where he died from injuries.
"With the surf so risky, rescue personnel had been out patrolling these waters. And, as the pounding waves continued, lifeguards offered Zenk help, which he declined. A crowd was gathered on the bluff to view the spectacle of the huge waves, but their attention was quickly drawn to Zenk as he struggled in the surf. As one onlooker noted, "You take one look at him and he just didn't look like he had experience in heavy surf like that.""
"Worried bystanders screamed for Zenk to get out, but he didn't do it. Not long after, a set of big waves pushed him right into a narrow cove with steep, 20-foot walls, a place very familiar to locals. Here, inside the craggy inlet, huge surf slammed him against the rocks. While Zenk struggled, witnesses summoned two rescuers - one who came in with a jet ski, the other jumping from a cliff - but with the pounding waves, they were unable to reach him, narrowly escaping themselves."
"Later, a second set of rescuers were able to reach Zenk and get him to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries. "I still have nightmares watching that guy get killed," Santa Cruz photographer John Hunter recently told SFGATE. Even 12 years later, that day remains vivid to Hunter, who had been standing right above the site of the tragic accident, a notorious cove called the Toilet Bowl."
""We get at least one or two people each year that ends up drowning or ends up in really big trouble," Santa Cruz Fire Department marine specialist Ben Coffey said in a video from the California Fire Prevention Organization about the Toilet Bowl, the narrow inlet whose punishing waves and high rocky walls have lured thrill seekers and challenged rescuers for years. And while the overpowering surf can never be ignored, it is only one of the issues that ma"
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