California woman dragged into the ocean as massive ‘sneaker wave’ strikes

A massive “sneaker” wave dragged a California fisherwoman into the Pacific Ocean Tuesday, leaving her fighting for her life.

Pacifica resident Bae Cadotte was fishing from the Bay Area beach before a wave swept her off her feet and carried her 30ft from the shoreline.

Nearby fishermen dashed to rescue her and successfully retrieved the woman from the water. She survived with minor injuries, what she called “ocean whiplash,” and a hair-raising tale to tell.

Cadotte said she knew the wave was going to take her when she saw it.

“It took me and swallowed me up very easily,” she said.

As the water took her, she shed her fishing waders, which could have filled with water and dragged her down. Cadotte said she crawled her way out of the wave and was determined to survive what could have been her final moments.

“[I was] praying in my mind ‘please do not let me get taken away by this current,’” she wrote on Facebook.

A nearby fisherman decided to stay anonymous to KTVU but said he risked his own life to save hers.

“We as fishermen, we stick together,” the rescuer said. “I could have died, but I saved a life.”

Emergency responders arrived soon after she was rescued.

The lesson learned from the ordeal, Cadotte says, is that the recently closed Pacifica Municipal Pier should be reopened. “The pier saves lives,” she said.  “The ocean is not our friend. She is not merciful.”

She believes she’ll be fully recovered soon and is ready to get out fishing again — this time with a life vest.

Cadotte says fishing is her life.

“This is our life,” she insists. “We do this for food. This is for survival.”

Pacifica is a coastal city located within San Mateo County in the Bay Area.

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