Watch: Los Angeles Goes XL, Surfers Go Survival Mode

Heavy rain and high surf have, in a nutshell, been the story of the atmospheric and oceanic conditions this winter season in coastal California.

It’s been, by some accounts, historic.

And yet, despite the hectic conditions – dumping rain and maxed out surf spots – some intrepid surfers are still giving it a go, occasionally finding windows of excellence, and other times just trying to survive. Like these dudes in LA’s South Bay recently:

“Massive surf hits in LA during the middle of a record rain storm and madman Will Allen optimistically paddles out and charges in some rather not user-friendly conditions,” Beefs TV captioned the clip. Soon joined by Tyler Stanaland for a wave, they gave it a good go on their 7'2" Catch Surf Crowd Killers.”

As mentioned, this does not look like a fun, easy, run-of-the-mill session in the South Bay. Without a channel, simply paddling out amidst the staggering closeouts would have been incredibly challenging by itself…let alone catching a wave.

Related: 10-Foot Wave Explodes on Surfer's Head, Friends Nearly Call 911 (Clip)

Elsewhere, San Clemente’s Kei Kobayashi took a monster 10-footer on the head during a recent Los Angeles South Bay session. It was so hectic that his filmer, Nathan Baker (@evo_n8) even contemplated calling the cops.

“This was the most giant waves I’ve ever surfed in LA,” Kobayashi told SURFER. “I caught 0 waves but survived three huge waves landing on my head.”

Then, there was another San Clemente native, Luke Davis, who went full hero mode, taking off on a closed-out South Bay behemoth. Photos from that one, as captured by @surfweasel_tk, are frankly terrifying. And although all he could do was straighten out to avoid certain obliteration, kudos to Luke for having a go.

“I’m pretty sure I have sand stuck in my brain after this one,” Luke commented.

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