Sneaker wave at Baker Beach pulls mother, daughter into ocean

Vanessa Bull said she had just arrived at Baker Beach with her children when a sneaker wave slammed into the rocky northeastern end of the beach and pulled her 7-year-old daughter, Mireina, into the ocean. The Sacramento family was on the sand around 3:15 p.m. Thursday, June 18, and Bull said she did not know the surf was dangerous before walking down to the beach.

Bull said the water kept crashing over them as she tried to reach her daughter, holding onto Mireina’s sweater while bystanders rushed in and pulled both of them from the surf. San Francisco Fire Department crews and paramedics arrived after the rescue, and the pair were taken to the hospital in critical or serious condition.

A witness, Maria Flores, said she saw the girl on a stretcher with CPR equipment on her face and later heard that she had caught her breath. Bull said, “I just remember handing her over, and then everything went black after that.”

Fire Capt. Jonathan Baxter said the rocky northeastern end of Baker Beach can be deceptively dangerous. He said the beach is usually less aggressive than Ocean Beach, but it still has inherent hazards, and he warned people never to go on the rocks, with or without a beach hazards statement in effect.

The National Weather Service issued a Beach Hazards Statement for Pacific Coast beaches from Saturday morning through Wednesday morning, warning that long-period south to southwest swell could generate sneaker waves and strong rip currents. Beachgoers should stay back from the water’s edge, stay off jetties and piers, and never turn their back on the ocean.

Baker Beach sits in the southwest corner of the Presidio and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a mile-long sandy stretch with rugged cliffs nearby and views toward the Pacific and Marin Headlands.