The Wedge, Newport Beach, Phillip Colla Photography

The Wedge, Newport Beach

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Latitude: 33° 35' 36.81" N, Longitude: 117° 52' 53.97" W, Coord: 33.593561°, -117.88166°
Filed under: Surf on 9/21/2005
Backlit wave, the Wedge.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #16988, all rights reserved worldwide.
September swell at the Wedge.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #14416, all rights reserved worldwide.
Bodyboarder drops knee, the Wedge.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #16995, all rights reserved worldwide.
Backlit wave, the Wedge. The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 16988  
Session: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, August 26, 2006
 
September swell at the Wedge. The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 14416  
Session: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, September 25, 2005
 
Bodyboarder drops knee, the Wedge. The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 16995  
Session: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, August 26, 2006
 
Wave breaking, tube, Newport Beach.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #16802, all rights reserved worldwide.
Wave breaking, tube, Newport Beach.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #16803, all rights reserved worldwide.
Wave breaking, tube, Newport Beach.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #16804, all rights reserved worldwide.
Wave breaking, tube, Newport Beach. Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 16802  
Session: Newport Beach, California, August 4, 2006
 
Wave breaking, tube, Newport Beach. Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 16803  
Session: Newport Beach, California, August 4, 2006
 
Wave breaking, tube, Newport Beach. Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 16804  
Session: Newport Beach, California, August 4, 2006
 
Ugly wave, the Wedge.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #18706, all rights reserved worldwide.
Kirk Blackman, Newport Beach.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #16830, all rights reserved worldwide.
Kirk Blackman, September swell Newport Beach, California.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #14393, all rights reserved worldwide.
Ugly wave, the Wedge. The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 18706  
Session: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, April 12, 2007
 
Kirk Blackman, Newport Beach. Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 16830  
Session: Newport Beach, California, August 5, 2006
 
Kirk Blackman, September swell Newport Beach, California. Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 14393  
Session: Newport Beach, California, September 25, 2005
 

The Wedge in Newport Beach is one of the world’s most notorious and exciting bodysurfing spots. Locals in the 70’s and 80’s developed a reputation for getting barreled in the bruising, thick wave while risking being pile-driven onto the sand if they got sucked over. Growing up in Newport in the 60s and 70s, I remember many times sirens would sound down Newport Boulevard as an ambulance raced to the Wedge to attend to some poor soul who had gone over the falls trying to impress his buds or the (quite fine) local girls, crunching bones as he returned to the beach. The old-school still bodysurfs the Wedge by virtue of a local ordinance that forbids any boards in the water between 10am and 5pm. However, these days boards rule the Wedge, working the place with bodyboards and standup. The Wedge is best on a south swell. Incoming waves reflecting off the adjacent jetty combine with the next wave to form a doubled-up triangular mutant mountain wave that pitches over thick and fast in surprisingly shallow water. The result is a big, sucking, foam-filled donut. Don’t get caught inside during a closeout set.

See more photos of the Wedge taken recently.

Breaking wave, fast motion and blur. The Wedge.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #14355, all rights reserved worldwide.
Breaking wave, fast motion and blur. The Wedge.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #14354, all rights reserved worldwide.
Tube, the Wedge.,  Copyright Phillip Colla, image #17007, all rights reserved worldwide.
Breaking wave, fast motion and blur. The Wedge. The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 14355  
Session: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, September 25, 2005
 
Breaking wave, fast motion and blur. The Wedge. The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 14354  
Session: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, September 25, 2005
 
Tube, the Wedge. The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, USA.
Image: 17007  
Session: The Wedge, Newport Beach, California, August 26, 2006
 
Photo of the Wedge, Newport Beach
Photo of the Wedge, Newport Beach
Photo of the Wedge, Newport Beach
Photo of the Wedge, Newport Beach

See also Surfline’s Wedgecam for conditions and a cool aerial photo of the Wedge.


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Updated: November 21, 2009