Larry Schick may live in Seattle but he grew up in Laguna Beach and still monitors the surf scene. He told me Monday about the waves being generated by Category 5 Hurricane Marie off the south of Baja, with expected peak surf on Wednesday.
So Liz and I decided to check it out at the Wedge, renowned for its close-in shorebreak, generally accessible to only elite bodysurfers. The surf made the local news and it was a madhouse getting out to the end of the Balboa peninsula, close to an hour after getting off the end of the 55 freeway. There were a few other spectators :wink:
The Wedge's jetty entrance to Newport Harbor is diagonal not perpendicular to the beach, so the swells crash into it.
Sometimes the waves reflect off the jetty and join an ensuing wave to form a higher peak.
There's one rider halfway up the face of the wave above at right.
Among the photographers was one with a drone camera.
A bodysurfer can barely be seen in this wave.
This one is a bit clearer here.
Both Liz and I botched attempts at video. I did shoot a sports sequence of one wave. Cresting wave:
Wave starts breaking, rider in foamy water center of wave far right.
Rider in free fall
Wedge surf closes out with a bang.
Bodysurfers duck back into the wave before it would pound them into the sand. Surfing with a board here is even more challenging.
These were probably my best bodysurfer shots of the day.
Surf (correctly measured as half the distance from crest to trough) was reported in the 15-foot range with max over 20 feet. I have seen bigger only once, in September 1975 when I was living in Newport Beach. Surf was angled a bit differently that day, actually better across the harbor entrance at Corona Del Mar. There was a kayaker out that day who was more skilled at catching huge waves than the surfers.
South swells from Baja tropical storms pump up the surf at south facing beaches periodically but rarely to this level. This may have been a once-a-decade event.
So Liz and I decided to check it out at the Wedge, renowned for its close-in shorebreak, generally accessible to only elite bodysurfers. The surf made the local news and it was a madhouse getting out to the end of the Balboa peninsula, close to an hour after getting off the end of the 55 freeway. There were a few other spectators :wink:
The Wedge's jetty entrance to Newport Harbor is diagonal not perpendicular to the beach, so the swells crash into it.
Sometimes the waves reflect off the jetty and join an ensuing wave to form a higher peak.
There's one rider halfway up the face of the wave above at right.
Among the photographers was one with a drone camera.
A bodysurfer can barely be seen in this wave.
This one is a bit clearer here.
Both Liz and I botched attempts at video. I did shoot a sports sequence of one wave. Cresting wave:
Wave starts breaking, rider in foamy water center of wave far right.
Rider in free fall
Wedge surf closes out with a bang.
Bodysurfers duck back into the wave before it would pound them into the sand. Surfing with a board here is even more challenging.
These were probably my best bodysurfer shots of the day.
Surf (correctly measured as half the distance from crest to trough) was reported in the 15-foot range with max over 20 feet. I have seen bigger only once, in September 1975 when I was living in Newport Beach. Surf was angled a bit differently that day, actually better across the harbor entrance at Corona Del Mar. There was a kayaker out that day who was more skilled at catching huge waves than the surfers.
South swells from Baja tropical storms pump up the surf at south facing beaches periodically but rarely to this level. This may have been a once-a-decade event.
