Hey listen, sharks scare everyone unless you’re stupid or brain dead. Shark attacks continue to be very rare, so unless you live in the immediate area of the attack or surf very sharky waters, don’t let this attack deter you from surfing. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you, but remember that shark attacks are more rare than being hit by lightning.

Obviously Sharks present a hazard if you’re in the ocean. Respect them, but don’t let your fear keep you from surfing or enjoying your time in the ocean. Shark attacks are very, very rare. You’re more likely to be killed in an automobile accident on your way to the beach, or struck by lightning while watering your front lawn. More people are killed by bees and snakes in the US than sharks. I repeat, more people are killed by bees and snakes in the US than sharks

Here are some places where sharks are quite common. Colder, deeper water or certain geographical locations have a greater number of sharks. One of the most popular exotic surf breaks, Jeffrey’s Bay in South Africa, is known to be frequented by the world’s greatest predator. Maverick’s in Half Moon Bay, CA is also a known sharky spot. Just be smart and keep your wits about you. You are heading into their world once you enter the ocean water.

The beach was packed along the shoreline at the Wedge yesterday. Alas the huge waves that everyone came to see were not to be. In the misty, overcast weather a few hundred spectators along with all sorts of media waited as the four brave souls took to the surf.

But on this day, fans of big crunching body-surfing waves were dissapointed. Mother nature would not give it up on the last day of vacation for beachgoers.

Background:

Between Balboa Pier and the Wedge waves are referred to as a shore or beach break. When the crest of the wave comes crashing down, regardless of its size, it lands in water no more than 1 to 2 feet (0.30 to 0.61 m) deep, and it will sometimes land directly on to the sand. This condition causes uninformed and inexperienced swimmers to be at extreme risk of a spinal cord injury. If a person is to “go over the falls,” (fall with the water in the crest of the wave), they will commonly strike their head on the sand below the shallow water. Shore break waves are much thicker and stronger for their size than waves that break farther out. Their thickness increases the force in which they strike the ground. Lower Newport sees many spinal cord injury victims every summer who often end up as paraplegics. So do not try body surfing the Wedge unless you’re an expert! The conditions at the Wedge are only for a swimmer in peak physical condition, with ample amounts of ocean experience and proper equipment.

POP Culture Note

Legendary surf music guitarist Dick Dale memorialized the Wedge in an eponymous 1963 instrumental piece, which is acknowledged as a classic of the genre and is included in his Greatest Hits. The Wedge also makes an appearance in Bruce Brown’s The Endless Summer.

Yesterday, lifeguards were on duty making sure bodysurfers were experienced and wearing fins, before allowing them into the water. Many of the bodysurfers were familiar faces and veterans of the gnarly waves that break at this local hotspot. A 15-year-old, who grew up nearby. kayaked across Newport Bay before donning his fins and jumping into the water. Plenty of people have broken bones and scraped skin at the Wedge over the years. Deaths are rare, but a year ago a 50-year-old man was killed when waves up to 20 feet high slammed him against the jetty. One baby boomer from Corona del Mar came to look at the swells but didn’t venture in himself. His days of challenging the Wedge are over giving way to the more sober enjoyment of watching others.

To the brave bodysurfers who challenged the surf yesterday we say thanks for giving us some thrills!

The Wedge is an awesome freak of of a surf spot with large surf that crashes, crunches and collides with anything in its path, breaking close to shore. Every summer, swells that begin life off New Zealand, half a world away, finally slam home in North America at the tip of this famous breakwater. And this wekend and today the waves have reared their heads and enthusiasts and onlookers are flocking to the Newport Peninsula to watch this natural theater of amazement.

A short explanation of how the waves are formed is as follows; As the waves approach shore, they bounce off the jetty’s boulders and, in the final seconds before landfall, merge and morph into a backbreaking and monstrous wave known as the Newport Wedge.

The Wedge is an elusive wave that breaks only a few times a year-it peaks during the summer months-and because of its unpredictability, it’s no place for a board. I mean that! Because of this, it remains a site for wave riding in its purest form- bodysurfing. The Wedge breaks so hard, in such shallow water, that even highly skilled bodysurfers sometimes get seriously injured, proving that this is not a wave to be taken lightly.

Unlike Oahu’s Banzai Pipeline, Northern California’s Maverick’s, or any other world-class big break, the Newport Wedge has the unusual distinction of being entirely man-made. Built in 1918 to protect the harbor, the jetty creates a wave effect unlike any other. Here’s how it works: Grinding alongside the boulders and headed for shore, each wave generates a reflected wave that bounces off the jetty and moves sideways behind the original. When that “side wave” hits the next incoming wave, the two combine to form a double-size mutant triangle. Precisely where the waves converge, the ocean floor rises abruptly. The big peak has no place to go but up.

Today is a good day to visit the wedge so off I go, camera in hand and with the good sense to not go in the water when the waves are breaking as large as they are today.

For more Newport Beach info follow this link http://www.visitnewportbeach.com/

In my never ending search for new talent I was given these two pictures of Vinnie Leonelli. He’s thirteen and rides the breaks around Santa Barbara. I suspect we’ll be hearing more about him in the future.

For decades, Haskell’s was a locals-only beach, a secret surf spot, a strand located off the Santa Barbara tourist track and far from its many restaurants and hotels. Enter the Bacara Resort and Spa, a $220 million development that’s been widely advertised across the nation and around the world. As a result of this upscale marketing campaign, the beach is fast becoming an international attraction. This is much to the chagrin of the locals who are trying to preserve the natural state of the beach.

The swell season generally starts in November and sometimes as early as October when the North Pacific wakes up and begins producing large storms at sea, which translate to swell and then waves on the coast. The swell season typically ends in late April, but we often see some wind swells through May and early June that keep some of our breaks fun. The best time for surf in IV is commonly during December, January.

Check it out. A Shark “T” sighting at Huntington Beach recently. Our good friend Albert G. spotted this lovely lady on the boardwalk near the Huntington Pier and snapped a shot for me. It’s the first “shark sighting” and I hope not the last. Below is the artwork used on the shirt which is not for sale yet but if you have interest let me know and I’ll do something about it.

Bruce Druery recently became a surfing convert at fifty-five years old. After working sixty hour weeks he decided to hit the waves down under where he lives.

“My inspiration were my two sons… who’d been surfing for over 25 years each. I couldn’t let them continue to have all the fun, so off I went as a 55th birthday present and had a lesson along with lots of 7 year olds and fitter teenagers a third my age. Despite the competition I got up on the board in my first lesson. I was hooked. This was a real challenge. And oh my God I’d lost 8 kgs before summer had even finished. I was now out of bed as dawn approached and down the beach for a quick paddle and still getting to work before the crowd but fully charged, and feeling in touch with the environment. I soon knew what time the sun went down, when the wind was coming, how much swell there would be each day and the state of the tide.”

A year later IBruce formed ECO Surfing… a new kind of learn-to-surf organization geared towards teaching surfing as well as all the issues surrounding gear, boards, waves, and ecology.

ECO Surfing is there to be your surf buddy. Someone you can trust to help and also someone you ask those questions you feel embarrassed about because it might not be ‘cool’.

ECO Surfing is built to become Australia’s most professional surf school network. They offer a range of programs to suit first time surfers from 5 to 75 this summer. ‘We have great people, the best gear, and a fresh approach, so that we find the best conditions each day… and oh yes, Number 1 son John is now our Surfing Director.” quips Bruce

Check them out http://www.ecosurfing.net/index.php