10-foot “ferocious” waves hit Wedge
May 15th, 2010, 9:43 am · · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer
(click the image above to see photos from this morning)
A south swell came through today, bringing waves along the coast – especially at the Wedge, where waves were hitting 8-to 10-foot faces.
A small crowd already started to gather and watch the action, as bodyboarders, skimboarders and surfers braved the heavy waves.
“I wouldn’t even try it, you wouldn’t catch me out there. I wouldn’t come back out,” said spectator Dave Lenz, visiting from Pasadena. “This is just fascinating. It’s ferocious.”
The Wedge is unique in the size of waves that hit here because a wave doubles up in size as an incoming wave comes straight to shore and meets with another wave that has banked off the Newport Harbor entrance.
Generally those who come out during big swells at this spot are familiar with the waves. Novice should seek waves elsewhere. This isn’t the biggest the Wedge can get, on big days waves can get up to 20-foot, but this swell is one of the first strong ones of the summer season.
Chad Andino was one of the few surfers found taking on the waves.
“It’s definitely one of the more challenging waves to surf. It’s a better wave for power and barrels,” he said. “Don’t come out here if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Meanwhile, other south facing beaches in Newport – like West Newport jetties – were seeing 6-foot waves. Most of the rest of the coast was seeing 3-to 5-foot waves, some occassional 6-footers at select spots. If you’re planning on taking the family to the beach, mellow spots include directly north of the Newport Pier, or Doheny State Beach.
Newport Beach lifeguard officer John Moore said waves were not going to get much bigger through the day, but beachgoers should use caution and watch for strong rip currents.
The National Weather Service released a high-surf advisory on Friday warning people of the strong through Sunday. The swell should slowly taper off through Sunday.
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Local surfers recognized
Being 51 now, back in the day, those waves were’nt anything,we wore Hang Ten swimsuit and used Duck Feet Fins, blue with black tips.And if we had too, we walked out on the Jetty and got in behind the waves, and body surfed. What with these boards guys and kids have been using for years?
“ferocious” huh?
As much fun as boogie boarding in waves 4-6 feet may be, I’ve taken some hard tumbles in the surf, as waves can and will be unpredictable. The Wedge is one place that even the most experienced wave riders have suffered life altering injuries. In my opinion, those that venture in these waves, when above 10 feet, are in fact tempting fate. I have to admit, in my much younger years, I did some things, such as diving from very high and dangerous places, that I would not even come close to doing again.
WHERE are these waves?
Hi, these waves are north of the Newport Harbor Jetty
It would be best if the writer told us where “the Wedge” is. Some of us aren’t regular readers of your website and have no idea where you’re based. I simply clicked on a Yahoo link. I shouldn’t have to make a Google search to find out what the author is talking about. Who, what, where, when, why, how…journalism 101.
Hi Jon, sorry thought I had clarified on the previous comment post that said north of the Newport Harbor Jetty. Glad you were able to find it, sorry for any confusion
Follow Balboa Blvd south all the way to the end of the peninsula…its name changes to Channel Rd…where it dead ends is the Wedge!
Brings back great memories. Miss the place. Now living in landlocked State. But we are still skiing and more snow for the weekend. POWDER DAY!
The Wedge is located off I-55. pretty much get off the freeway where it ends and take it all the way to where it deadends. park, walk onto the beach and youll see a long jetty. the jetty on the left, the huge dangerous waves on the right. its so dangerous, the waves pretty much smash onto the shoreline. you can only ride these waves for about 100 feet, if that. Hope that helps
Kinda’ funny thinking the I55 heads to the Wedge… it’s a little more complex than that. Here’s a good starting point map to figure it out:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=ocean%20blvd%2C%20newport%20beach%20ca%2092661&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
Look at a Google map of the Newport Beach Harbor… now go to the very end of the peninsula, and you will see the two stone breakwaters that mark the harbor entrance. In the link above, you can see it if you turn ‘satelite’ image on.
If you are in a car, and drive ALL the way to the end of the peninsula where the north side stone breakwater meets the land… THAT is the Wedge.
I was down there today (at L Street), and it really WAS going off! I was with my family, so I couldn’t run down to where the action was, but if you want to get some of the feeeling of being there, I took a 3-minute video with my cell phone of the sound, the waves, and the beach… very nice stuff – sit back for a zen moment and enjoy our beautiful beach:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZJsd1z7I4w
Enjoy.
You know where the wedge is if you are from Orange county. i have lived her for all of my 43 years, and to here someone ask , Where is the wedge? Is just baffling to me, damn foreigners. Do not worry about it people, if you dodnot know where it is at, it is safer for you to not be there. It is not the type of beach where you take your family and have a picnic, and let the kids look for crabs and seashells. This is Big Boy territory only.
Yeah…this is D-Bag territory…thanks for confirming that.
OOOOH! Be careful of those mean “locals” they don’t like “visitors” at “Their” “Wedge” bunch of OC D-Bags…
Yeah, not knowing where the Wedge is, is like not knowing where Knott’s Berry Farm is.
Hang Ten trunks, and Duck Feet … good memories. Birdwell Britches … Me, at 52, my Wedge days of getting slammed to the sand are long gone.