Jagged pipe lurks off Huntington shore

‘Big Wednesday’ storm breaks off dredging pipeline, and currents carry it toward pier; lifeguards fear for safety of surfers and swimmers.Scotland has the Loch ness monster, Humboldt County has Bigfoot, and now Surf City might have its own not-so-mythical monster, lurking somewhere out there in the ocean.

A 1,200-foot-long section of pipe is thought to be on the seafloor somewhere near the Huntington Beach Pier, presenting a potential safety hazard to anyone surfing or swimming in the area.

The missing section was part of a 2,600-foot pipeline that broke free from a four-ton anchor at Bolsa Chica State Beach, where crews were using it to dredge a waterway for the federal wetlands restoration project.

The pipe was described as black with six orange stripes, about 21 inches in diameter and made of 1-inch thick polypropylene, an anticorrosive plastic. It’s probably partially filled with dredging materials.

The massive “Big Wednesday” swell that pounded Huntington Beach on Dec. 21 is believed to be responsible for the busted pipeline, Huntington Beach marine safety officer Mike Baumgartner said. The western swell, with peaks ranging from 10 to 15 feet, likely loosed it from the anchor, while a strong south current broke it into several large pieces that eventually became entangled with the pier

The debris drew puzzled looks from tourists and visitors.

“At first, many people thought it was a whale carcass,” Baumgartner said.

With help from a diving company, a powerful winch and several bulldozers, contractor Ross Island Sand and Gravel was able to remove the section of pipe wedged into the pilings, but the biggest piece still remains lost at sea.

Contractor Randy Steed said although the missing pipeline is likely 1,200 to 1,400 feet long, it could have broken into several pieces.

Baumgartner said lifeguards want it out of the water as soon as possible; its ends could be jagged and sharp where it broke free from the rest of the pipeline.

“If someone were to collide with it while surfing or swimming, they could sustain serious injury,” he said.

It will likely take a diving team to locate the pipeline, but that can’t happen until wave activity dies down -- 12- to 15-foot waves are expected to pound Huntington Beach through at least Friday, according to the Scripps Institute’s Coastal Data Information Project.

“There are a series of storms coming through, but we think that will keep most people out of the water,” Baumgartner said.

In recent days, Huntington Beach has had unusually low tides, leading engineers and lifeguards to speculate that the pipeline is buried in deep waters.

“We feel it’s either buried or out of harm’s way,” Steed said.20060105isl61mncDOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Part of the dredging pipeline that broke apart during the big storms has been recovered and dragged onto the beach just north of Seapoint Avenue, but a 1,200-foot section is still missing and presumed to be in waters north of pier.