Complex sentence: At about 3:00am surfman Fernando Bearse, who was on patrol, spotted a schooner about a quarter mile from land directly in front of the station; with the surf pounding hard and the wind blowing so strong it was decided against launching the surfboat.
Split into simpler sentences: At about 3:00am surfman Fernando Bearse who was on patrol spotted a schooner about a quarter mile from land directly in front of the station. With the surf pounding hard and the wind blowing strong it was decided against launching the surfboat.