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Many at the beach knew Ryan Field or Alexander Robbins, either through school or through the local surf scene.
"They were both good surfers," said Mikey Selbicky, who had surfed with both boys at Carmel Beach. "Everyone really misses them right now. The accident was really tragic."
The boys were in a truckload of teenagers when it went over a cliff south of Big Sur. Three of the passengers survived the crash and were taken to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Two had broken bones and another suffered minor injuries.
News of the crash spread like wildfire as teenagers and their parents learned of the crash late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Some learned via text message and others from morning news shows: Their friends had died in a crash.
Christy Anderson, a Carmel High senior who wanted to memorialize her schoolmates, knew Field from classes and remembered him as someone who would always share.
"He was really funny," Anderson said. "He was all about surfing."
Early Tuesday, the teenagers decided on an impromptu surfing trip. They packed their boards and wet suits into a Ford F-350 pickup and headed down the coast to Sand Dollar Beach, about a 10-minute drive south of Lucia Lodge.
Robbins and Field, both Carmel High students, were accompanied on the adventure by Colin Cowsill, Dane Anderson and Kenny Schneider. Cowsill and Anderson are also students at Carmel High. Schneider is scheduled to enroll in the fall.
On their way back, at around 8 p.m., Robbins lost control of the truck. There was a curve to the left in the roadway south of Lucia. He overcorrected and the truck fell about 450 feet. It landed upside down near the shoreline's edge.
"At this point it looks like unsafe turning along with unsafe speed," said CHP spokesperson Larry Starkey.
Rescue crews worked through the night and early Wednesday morning to recover the truck and teenagers.
Rescue teams from the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade Cliff Rescue unit and the U.S. Forest Service were first on the scene and found two of the teenagers who had been ejected from the truck before it rolled down the cliff. A third teen was also ejected and found several hundred feet below, above the beach. Field and Robbins were later discovered in the truck on the beach.
The Monterey County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team and members of the Pacific Grove Fire Department Ocean Rescue joined in the rescue effort soon after the crash. Units of the California Department of Forestry, State Park Service officers, the CHP and the Coast Guard were also among those on the scene Tuesday night, according to Sgt. Joe Moses, head of the Sheriff's Department search and rescue team.
Toby Rowland-Jones, one of the first to locate the truck, said the heavy surf made rescuing the pair difficult.
"It was just very dangerous," said Rowland-Jones, a volunteer with the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade. "The truck was upside down at the shore with waves breaking over it."
Rowland-Jones and three other volunteer rescuers used sledge hammers and crowbars in an attempt to rescue Robbins and Field, but without success.
It was not until about 1 p.m. Wednesday that the bodies of the two teens could be recovered, Moses said, by the Urban Search and Rescue team, or USAR, a joint contingent of North County, Monterey City and Salinas Rural fire department personnel. They were assisted by the sheriff's search and rescue team.
By the time the bodies were recovered, many classmates of Robbins and Field began converging at the Carmel High School track or the Carmel Youth Center.
Coach John Ables said members of the school's track team gathered at the track early Wednesday to tell him the news. He'd read about the crash in the newspaper and was preparing himself.
"I knew it was kids I knew or might have known," said Ables.
Field ran varsity track at Carmel for three years. His brother, Jason, is also on the team.
"Ryan was a wonderful human being," Ables said. "He was so kind. He brought a certain peace to the track team."
Down the road, counselors and students gathered at the youth center.
Three sessions were held with parents and students to talk about the accident and share memories.
More than 100 teenagers gathered at the center before trekking down to Carmel Beach for the paddle out.
There were get well cards to be signed for Cowsill, Anderson and Schneider. And a surfboard with Field and Robbins' pictures was available to be signed as well.
"They were fun, spirited guys," said one counselor, who asked that her name not be used. "They were surfers and athletes."
Christy Anderson summed up the sense of loss. "Neither of them should have died at such a young age."
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