So, there was this storm off New Zealand...

This past week has been a busy one for those that make a living on the beaches of southern California. There were waves and high tides that haven't been seen in years! One high tide had the parking lots flooded at Huntington Beach! All this from a storm 1/2 way around the world off the coast of New Zealand!

The Wedge, Newport Beach, CA

These waves made the news for several days, some beaches were closed due to the extreme rough surf and of course, this brought out all the surfers and body boarders in droves! The most notorious place for body boarders to surf is a place called "The Wedge" in Newport Beach. It wasn't until we arrived there that I realized we had been there before, I just never knew that was called the Wedge! We called it the Newport Jetty- because that is exactly what it is!. Due to the direction this particular beach faces and the man made jetty to protect the Newport Harbor entrance, the waves at the Wedge get incredibly big in an incredibly shallow area, which is why they don't allow surf boards, only body boards- which are about 3 feet long vs. the six foot long surf boards.

Most of the time, body boarders do a lot of free falling from the 6-10 foot waves that are normally present, but with the storm off of New Zealand adding it's contribution, the waves were up to 20+ feet! Did I mention how shallow this area is? The life guards and locals that use this location suggest having your insurance card with you when you arrive, because it's a rare week when the local ambulance services aren't there to pick up someone that just got trashed by a wave. And these waves were twice the normal sizes!

So with this build up, you just know I had to go get some photos of it... along with everyone else in Orange County that owns a camera- from cell phone to one guy with a lens I swear was 3 feet long! He could have counted nose hairs of the surfers at 50 yards if he had wanted to! I know, I know... lens envy... what can I say? :o) So the beach was covered in people just waiting for the surfers/body boarders to do a spectacular wipe out. And they didn't disappoint either! After one particular wipe out, this body surfer sat on the beach for about a 1/2 hour before trying it again!

All this past week, there had been numerous news reports about the number of people the life guards had pulled out of the water due to the rip tides. Much stronger than the usual they get around here. And then they had a drowning of a surfer at San Onofre State Beach in Orange County. Sad to say the guy was 42 and a father from Torrence. Yesterday (Labor Day), they pulled over two dozen people out of the water at Newport Beach alone!

By the time I made it to the beach to take photos, the Balboa Beach Parks & Recreation folks had already put up a berm of sand 10 feet high between the parking lots and the water's edge. You literally had to climb over the berm to get to the beach! There were several spots that had been knocked down a bit from the number of people cutting thru that place to get to the beach. Quite the sight to see! In the next few weeks, the sand will shift and smooth out (whether from the people at the beach or by the Parks & Recreation Dept.) and there will be new sand on the beach.