The wedge was a normal stretch of beach at one point until someone decided it would be a fine place to dig an enormous harbor. Newport Harbor was born and separating the mouth of the harbor and the regular beach was accomplished by laying out 1/4 mile or so of large boulders referred to as a jetty.
The wedge is known because as waves form and hit the end of the jetty as the wall of water rebounds it creates a much larger wave then what Mother Nature created. Even when other spots are typically 2-3 feet high as far as wave height is concerned the Wedge can be generally counted on to be twice as high. The caveat being the waves at the Wedge break much closer to the shore so while the wave size is impressive it is certainly a surf at your own risk type environment.
Anyhow, a big swell moved into the area and while some areas had 4-6 foot waves this afternoon at the Wedge had some waves I would think close to 15 ft or so. Keep in mind I am no surfer and certainly no expert on measuring wave height. But hopefully the pics and videos speak for themselves. Much like Fun with Weather pt1 these were taken with my camera phone and I apologize for not bringing a real camera.
Enjoy!
On this picture below if you blow it up you can see a bit of a blur on the wave-that was actually the lone surfer out in the ocean. Gives you a pretty good idea about the size of the wave.
Believe it or not these were not the biggest waves I have ever seen at the wedge. If memory serves roughly 10 or so years ago there was another storm that brought in bigger much more powerful waves. The waves crashing the shore were powerful to the point where you could feel the break of the waves under your feet and the crash of the wave sounded like a clap of thunder. Todays wave were not of the ilk, but under these conditions its always a treat to visit the Wedge. Props to my friends at McClain Concepts, an awesome orange county marketing company for helping out!
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