Surfers Brave Waves of Up to 20 Feet at Wedge

The high surf that crashed onto Orange County beaches Wednesday lured Jim Cassady from San Diego to bodyboard the face of 20-foot waves.

“It’s scary,” Cassady, 22, said. “The wave goes from really deep to shallow really fast, with sudden drops.”

The element of danger makes it more exciting during the early morning, when lifeguards are not yet on duty, Cassady said.

About a dozen others dared to venture onto the Wedge, the world-renowned tip of Balboa Peninsula that attracts bodyboarders and bodysurfers.

“Because the waves are giant, it’s more of a challenge, a bigger thrill--more speed, bigger barrels and bigger air sections to hit,” said Chad Barba, 24, of Seal Beach. “I don’t know if I can describe it in words. It’s exhilarating.”

The red flags hoisted over the lifeguard towers Wednesday were a reminder of dangerous surf conditions. When waves are this big, said Newport Beach Marine Lt. Eric Bauer, it’s usually enough to intimidate the less experienced. An additional eight lifeguards were on duty Wednesday.

About 50 people had been rescued from riptides by 4 p.m., said Lt. Jim Turner. Two people were cited at the Wedge for continuing to bodyboard the big waves after 10 a.m., a time restricted to bodysurfers.

Most of the beach-goers were content to simply watch from the haven of the shoreline, leaving the water for the more experienced.

“I’m a little too chicken,” said Jake Jahn, 16, of Long Beach, who has been bodyboarding for four years. “It’s way too big for me. I’m afraid of not being able to hold my breath long enough.”

Jahn will have to wait a while to the hit the waves, because the peak of the high surf may continue into today. By Friday, the waves will be smaller, in the 5- to 7-foot range, gradually decreasing to 3 to 5 feet by the weekend, said Sean Collins of Huntington Beach-based Surfline/Wavetrak, a surf forecast firm.

Surfline has been monitoring the high surf since last week, when it started 500 miles off Tahiti, measuring 60-knot winds and 45-foot waves.

In Huntington Beach, senior lifeguard Todd Bartlett said, the waves reached at least 15 feet Wednesday and were strong enough to shake the pier.

Few surfers were out at Huntington early Wednesday, he said. The waves were so strong that they pushed surfers back to shore and only the experts could get out very far, Bartlett said.

Surfer C.J. Hobgood, a 17-year-old from Florida, said that the bigger waves had more power and reduced the work needed to generate speed.

However, he noted, “the waves are a lot weaker than Hawaii, even if it has the size.”