Officials say Javier Lopez was playing soccer with a friend when he decided to go out for a swim. That's when his friend says he disappeared. He was last seen in the surf at about 2:48 p.m.
Crews with the Coast Guard, Cal Fire, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department, and the Pillar Point harbormaster
They dispatched two boats, a helicopter, an airplane, and rescue swimmers. Surf conditions are said to be relatively calm, but the water is cold. Crews are conducting a grid search in the hopes of finding Lopez.
"What they've done is they've dropped a data buoy in from where the last location was to see which way the surf conditions are going, which way he would be going, and they're doing a search pattern from there," Cal Fire Battalion Chief David Cosgrave said.
"We were just playing around here," said Moses Soto, the missing man's friend. "And he go into the beach and when I started looking for him, he just was gone."
Friends say Lopez works at Gin Wan, a restaurant at Half Moon Bay. His boss and coworkers came to the beach when they got the news.
Search crews say they're not sure how long they're keep looking.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Coast Guard at 415-399-3451 or the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department at 650-522-7700.
