Newport Beach Council OKs Wedge Surfing Compromise

Striking a compromise between body surfers and those who ride waves on knee boards, skim boards or surfboards of any kind, the City Council voted Monday night to restrict boarding at the Wedge, a world-renowned surfing spot.

Saying the ocean belongs to everybody, the council rejected a request by a group of body surfers to ban boards from the Wedge 24 hours a day, year round. Instead, it voted 4 to 2 to reserve the Wedge for body surfers from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. between May 1 and Oct. 31.

Since 1985, boards have been banned from the site during those hours from June 15 to Sept. 10.

The Wedge, at the end of the Balboa Peninsula, is famous because of the steep drop of the waves and the speed of the ride. When the Wedge first became popular for bodysurfing in the 1960s, long boards, which were then in style, could not handle the waves. But now bodysurfers must compete with shorter boards and Boogie Boards, which have become more popular at the spot.

If the council had banned boards, the Wedge would have been Orange County’s first bodysurfing-only beach.

This spring, the Wedge Preservation Society collected 80 signatures urging the council to extend the ban on boards, calling the Wedge “a bodysurfing Mecca (which) is being overrun by bodyboarders, skim boarders and even stand-up surfers.” But a rival group, Save the Wedge, countered by getting 700 signatures during the weekend to protest the ban extension.

The debate Monday night packed the council chambers with about 100 surfers--some with long hair and thongs, others in suits and ties toting brief cases. Both sides invoked the basic American principles of freedom, democracy and equal rights.

“The Wedge has been known, and is in fact, the best wave in the world for bodysurfing,” said Terry Wade, head of the Preservation Society. “Our problem here really is one of fairness, when a body surfer is out in the surf line with any kind of surfboard . . . we just can’t compete.”

Bill Sharp, leader of the opposition, agreed.

“That’s what the problem is: There’s only one wave like it, so everyone wants to have a chance at it,” he said.

Body surfers begged the council to protect their rights as a minority, while those who use boards urged them to keep the beach free of restrictions.