By Kevin Ueda
Special to the Daily Press

SM BEACH — With the number of lifeguards this weekend increasing fivefold to meet and greet the summer’s swelling beach crowd, larger than usual waves are expected to keep the new arrivals on their toes.

The 25 to 30 LA County lifeguards visible on the beach this week will be dwarfed by the 150 or so over the weekend, said David Estey, ocean lifeguard specialist for Los Angeles County Fire Department. The lifeguards will watch over the central section beaches — Venice, Will Rogers and Santa Monica.

Their timing could hardly be better, with the National Weather Service on Monday issuing a high surf advisory for south-facing beaches in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.

According to Estey, swells between 5 and 7 feet are expected off local beaches through 9 p.m. Wednesday, although it is difficult to determine exactly when high tides will arrive.

“How fast the swell is actually moving and approaching Southern California determines when it’s going to get here,” Estey said. “A slight miscalculation in estimation of the speed will make quite a difference in time of arrival — 10 or 12 hours, even a day.

“In Santa Monica Bay, many times swells take a little longer to get around the bend,” Estey said. “San Diego and Newport might pick up the swell a little earlier than us.”

On Monday, at 11 a.m., Santa Monica’s waves had only reached the 4-foot mark, which didn’t quite do it for Michael Alper, a Santa Monica-born surfer from Palisades.

“I prefer 4 to 6 (-foot waves), occasionally 8, but waves are usually way smaller than that around here,” said Alper, who uses Web sites like Surfline.com to check surf reports. “They have all kinds of crazy stuff, (such as) satellite images. They tell you how good it is, what the tides are doing.”

According to the 18-year-old Alper, the best way to check out the surf is by going to the beach and seeing for yourself.

“Sometimes, they (Internet forecasts) overhype the swell,” said Alper, who typically surfs around the Santa Monica, Venice and Malibu beach areas.

Some surfers do not share good surf spot locations because they enjoy surfing when it is less crowded and low key, Alper said. Other surfers become territorial near beaches like Lunada Bay, where they give “the eye” to visitors who spectate or try to surf the same waves.

Alper says the Santa Monica surf has its ups and downs.

“Pollution is pretty bad around here,” Alper said. “Anywhere in Santa Monica, especially near the storm drains, it’s pretty disgusting.”

Despite the murky waters in Santa Monica, the upside to the city’s beaches are the proximity and certain other beachgoers.

“I’d say there’s definitely some hot chicks down and around here,” Alper said. “Beaches are pretty happenin’ places ... there’s stuff going on.”

Amid all the happenings, beachgoers need to remember to swim safely during the crowded, hectic summer weekends.

Estey stressed that during high tides, swimmers and surfers alike should stay near the staffed lifeguard stations. Stronger tides also produce stronger rip currents — sometimes mistakenly called “undertow” — Estey said.

“Surf advisory or not, stay off rock jetties and outcroppings that might be splashed over in high surf,” Estey said. “When we have high surf advisories, pay very close attention to lifeguard’s direction at the beach.”