The moment he spotted a flash of red T-shirt and a boy floundering in the icy waves of Ocean Beach, Tony Barbero knew the kid was in big trouble.

"He was in tears, struggling, screaming, shouting for help," Barbero said.

Barbero, a 17-year-old high school student, powered through the waves, grabbed the boy and pulled him up on his surfboard.

"I tried to comfort him as best I could," he said. "I gave him a hug. I told him I know what it is like."

They all do, those who surf the waves at Ocean Beach. The place is a remorseless churn of frigid water that can take a life on a sunny afternoon in minutes. Ocean Beach can knock you down, pull you into its foamy breakers and put you under so fast that nearby beachcombers would never know it happened.

Barbero is an authentic hero - and that's not a term to be used lightly. He's the ordinary guy, suddenly thrown into a life-and-death moment, who did everything right ... and more. He rescued that boy on Wednesday and brought him to shore on his board, then turned to see the kid's uncle bobbing face down in the waves. He left his board, dove back into the sea and swam out to pull in the uncle, unconscious and struggling for life.

"I wasn't going to let that happen," said Barbero, son of San Francisco fire Capt. Joe Barbero. "Not on my watch."

A true hero

Although another boy is still missing, the rescue is a lovely story and if someone isn't putting together a civic award ceremony with the mayor, they should. But it is also a snapshot of the terrible force of nature that claws at the sand on the west side of San Francisco.

There are no lifeguards at Ocean Beach - there are beach patrols with rescue swimmers - and that's by design. Golden Gate National Recreation Area spokeswoman Alexandra Picavet said they don't want people to even think of it as a swimming beach. Frankly, it's not that safe as a walking beach either.

There are signs - "People swimming and wading have drowned here" - and patrols warn the unwary to stay back. But often they are tourists or day-trippers.

"When they left the house that morning, these people never thought they would end up in the ocean," Picavet said. "The waves lull people to turn their back. The next thing you know that 10th wave knocks someone down."

Rogue waves

The rogue waves are the first, obvious danger. UC Berkeley engineering Professor Reza Alam, who is working on ways to harness the force of waves for power, said tourists from the East Coast may not realize it's different here.

"The western coast is steeper," he said. "The amplitude of the waves builds up much faster."

"Sleeper" or "sneaker" waves can easily overpower someone on the beach. Picavet said studies have shown that 6 inches of moving water can sweep people off their feet. And that's just the start.

Once the wave breaks, the water rushes back out to sea.

"The rip currents are horrendous," said Mark Massara, a longtime Ocean Beach surfer. "You can easily be pulled a mile or more away, on your surfboard, paddling against it the whole way."

Alam said an extreme rip current can travel 7 to 8 feet per second.

"And the world record for swimming is 7 feet per second," he said. "No way you can fight that."

That's not even the most serious concern. Ocean Beach doesn't have to drown you, just hold you in its freezing grip until you succumb to hypothermia. Caught in a rip current, carried off shore, victims have to get out of the water or die.

"The problem is that it is such a big, wide stretch of wilderness that no one can see you," Massara said. "Five weeks ago I got hit by my board and took 50 stitches. There were people surfing a couple of hundred feet away and they didn't see what was going on. I had to rescue myself."

This week the kid in the waves got lucky. Tony Barbero spotted him and pulled him out. Score one for the rescuers.

But Ocean Beach endures, wave after wave. It will have other chances.
