Talk:The Wedge (surfing)

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Weren't/aren't boards of any kind banned at certain times of the year? Shawn, Montreal, Feb 2006

During the summertime for the main part of the day (0900-1700 May 1-Oct 31, istr) the Wedge is closed to bodyboards, surfboards, and other floatation devices. Ostensibly for safety purposes but due largely to the carping of the bodysurfer lobby. knoodelhed 08:00, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

THE WEDGE THAT WAS
By Lance Jencks

I've been bodysurfing the Wedge for over 40 years. There was an old Wedge, now there's a new Wedge, which isn't what the Wedge once was.

In the old days we'd get a beautiful side wave bouncing off the jetty, all summer long. You'd stand waist deep in the water near the rocks and look for the bounce to hop on, bodysurfing toward Catalina. There was brutal competition for position on that bounce. Always.

The Wedge was the world's greatest bodysurfing wave because you'd actually change directions while surfing through five (5) different sections, ending with "Ins & Outs" to float up on the sandbar North of the lifegard stand. (The standard Wedge ride was a left, going North.) It was a very long ride with more interesting sections and maneuvers than any other wave I can think of, anywhere.

(There are some places like Magic Sands on the Big Island that have a small Wedge-like wave, but nothing compared to the original.)

Section 1 was the sidewave, known as "backdoor," where you'd actually hop on and surf AWAY from the beach, aimed toward where the peak (the "Wedge") was forming outside. Once you reached the peak at what felt like 60 MPH, you'd shoot across its face (Section 2) with the big Wedge curl coming over your head: making it through this curl was the first goal of a good backdoor ride.

If you made it though the peak you'd slingshot toward shore (changing direction) and onto the shoulder of the peak, Section 3, which sometimes flattened out so you'd surf it "oldstyle," which is arms down at your sides, plaining on your chest, headfirst with no protection whatsoever. Medical doctors hated to see us bodysurf this way, but we did. Moving through the shoulder or across the flat took you into the next section, Section 4, which was the famous Wedge tube.

To all you spongers and skimmers out there, there's nothing like dropping into a tube at the Wedge HEAD FIRST, with your hands held behind, nothing but your Vipers and God to help you. As every Wedge surfer knows, getting locked into the Green Room (tube) at the Wedge at even 6 - 8' is a dream: the West Coast Pipeline. (Think of going into a Wedge tube headfirst without a board; perhaps you can understand why we bodysurfers have fought so hard to keep on doing it.)

In the old days the tube held up; today it mostly closes out, unless the wave is over 12' or so. Once locked in you would generally pull up your left elbow for protection in case you got whomped: the bottom often drops out when you are deep inside of Mother Wedge. But there were times you could make it through the tube--no board to help you--and out the other side: "Ins & Outs."

The final section (Section 5) was a float to the sandbar out the end of the tube, no whomping, no drop, just a gentle deposit of your body in the sand. So much sand your Speedos would be full of it; you'd stand and have to shake it out. We called it "peanut butter," the sand that engulfed you at the end of a good long ride.

There was one ride in my life, only one, where I turned the corner left, out to sea again, at the Section 5 sandbar to enter Section 6, which led back out to the Northern tube called "Cyllies," or "Cylinders"--this was the longest Wedge ride of my life. It was really freaky and only happened once, at least to me.

Today the inside backdoor hardly ever shows up, and when it does it's pretty much just a straight run down the beach. Sometime around year 2000 the Army Corps of Engineers rebuilt the Wedge jetty, which ruined our ride, stole our backdoor wave: now the Wedge is mostly a peak ride, dropping into a tube which almost always closes out. This is what you commonly see at the Wedge today: just two simple sections (peak and tube), not five...ever since the jetty was rebuilt. The old days are gone for good.

Here's a pic of the kind of Wedge we once routinely had--today you won't find it:

OLD WEDGE
http://randomfilm.com/WedgePhotos/12.jpg

I took this shot with a Kodak Instamatic, maybe late 1970's. Most of the guys who read this remembrance have never seen this wave, and never will.

LHJ
skeeter@randomfilm.com
08/03/07 75.38.112.192 07:40, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Good story and great pic. Thanks for sharing. Can you tell us what was "wrong" with the jetty that the ACE had to "fix", what they did to "fix" it, and what was different about the rebuilt jetty and how it changed or ruined the wave? Regards, Unimaginative Username 04:49, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

The jetty was not rebuilt. An area near the base of the jetty, outside of the water and 100 yards from the shore, was developed and turned into a small park. I think that's what the previous author was referring to. Moreover, the sand beach is annually bulldozed and graded because of the extreme erosion created by the Wedge's signature wave action -- when the Wedge gets big, high tides can create a 10-foot wall of sand at the edge of the beach. This decades-long natural erosion process is more likely the culprit of the different wave breaks experienced by the author above -- the surf zone of the Wedge is significantly deeper than it used to be decades ago. Frogan 04:25, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

THANKS TO UU
Thanks for your kind post, UU. No, the whole jetty wasn't replaced, just torn apart and rearranged. I watched it happen. After that, no more corner bowl. The park had nothing to do w/ it, sorry. Someone said the reason for the reconstruction was that sand was moving though the jetty and filling up the harbor channel, which sounded like a good explanation to me.

I must say there is reason for hope at this point. I was away most of the summer, but made it down around Labor Day and the scene has once again changed. Several large boulders which had stood in our takeoff spot (due to the reconstruction) have been swept away or buried, which is great. The sand has built up against the jetty again and we're finally getting back that old bounce off the wall...yippie! Long rides off the rocks, straight down the beach and lots of fun. Still no corner bowl or the the 5 sections we used to surf. But things are greatly improved, which makes me happy.

In the old days there were electrical poles on the jetty, leading to some kind of device at the end. We measured the size of waves by how many poles away from the beach they broke. A ten-pole wave was as big as it got. Here's a shot of Wedge when the poles were still standing:

6-POLE WAVE:
http://randomfilm.com/WedgePhotos/11.jpg

I have some streaming video online, should anyone care to see it.

skeeter@randomfilm.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.35.239.19 (talk) 15:41, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

JETTY REPAIR

I did some research on the jetty repair today, since it's odd to be told that what I saw never happened. The repair was undertaken by J.E. McAmis Inc. under the auspices of the Los Angeles Division of the Army Corps of Engineers during the period of October 1996 - February 1997, earlier than my prior guess. The project is listed at their website halfway down this page: http://www.jemcamis.com/PROJECTSCOMPLETE.html

I wish I had shot some pics at the time, but it was such a shock to see it happening, I guess I freaked. What they did was to bring in huge cranes on barges, remove perhaps the top 1/3 of the jetty end-to-end, then shipped in new boulders on more barges, which they then positioned (dropped) atop the base that remained. I remember watching the new rocks falling off the sides down into the water: it was horrifying. This was when the inside wave got all screwed up, and stayed that way for years. (I never imagined that my backdoor ride at Wedge would one day disappear, but it did. As mentioned, it's finally cranking up a bit, 10 years after the fact.)

I've put a call in to Newport Harbor Dept., but the guy who knows the story is on vacation or something. Maybe he'll have some photos I can scan, I don't know.

-Skeeter

[edit] Move to article space

There some fascinating history being shared here.I encourage you to move it into the article space. I had family in Corona de Mar and have had the chance to witness the Wedge when it was breaking. Utterly amazing! Shawn in Montreal (talk) 06:26, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

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Thank you, Shawn in Montreal, I do not know how to move this text to the article space, so I will continue here.

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I am grateful to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, for making available a public document entitled:

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"Newport Bay Harbor, Orange County, CA: Condition Survey for Entrance Jetties," dated November 1993. This is public domain material of which I will excerpt two images from over one-hundred pages of material.

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THE WEDGE AS IT WAS: 1993 http://randomfilm.com/photos/wedge_001.jpg From this government photo it is apparent how easy it was in 1993 to hop on the side wave which bounced off the jetty ("backdoor"), cut across the peak and under the lip (where there is a surfer in this photo), then keep going through the tube and out the other side (northerly)...where you'd often float up gently on the sand spit which lay out of this photo to the right. It was AVLR (a very long ride).

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WHAT HAPPENED: 1993 Report http://randomfilm.com/photos/wedge_002.jpg This is a shot from the jetty looking inland. Wedge waves are to your left, the boat channel is to your right. The poles are still there; reconstruction has yet to begin. Text beneath the photo reads, in part:

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"Note displaced armor stones from 'Wedge' waves."

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Discussing events w/ my peers, one of them said: "At least you had it."

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Lance Jencks skeeter@randomfilm.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.35.237.172 (talk) 03:51, 11 March 2008 (UTC)