This is nice.
SURF:
Last weekend, not so much. Hot weather and windy conditions (compliments of Tropical Storm Lidia) messed up a good swell and brought sweltering heat (more on that below in WEATHER).
FORECAST:
Still no major storms on the horizon but the Pacific won't be totally flat.
WEATHER:
In one of the most bizarre weather phenomenons I've ever felt, Tropical Storm Lidia decided to mess with us in the middle of the night on Saturday. As we went to bed, the temp was 78 at the coast and dropping from a mild sea breeze. Lidia snuck in around mid-night though and as she did- her circulation turned offshore- a Santa Ana 'easterly' wind if you will. So temps around 4 AM on Sunday- usually the coolest time of the day- dramatically rose to 90 degrees. If WalMart was open, I would have ran to buy a fan in my PJ's. But alas it was 4 AM of course and it felt like sleeping in a tent during a Palm Springs summer. Lidia has since moved on but tropical moisture has lingered all week. That will be the case again through the weekend. Models show a weak cut off low moving in from the N on Sunday- which normally wouldn't be all that exciting- but throw in some tropical moisture- and we could see a stray shower/thunderstorm at the coast. For early next week, we have a couple more days of tropical clouds over the mountains, then we should dry out the 2nd half of next week.
BEST BET:
Either small NW on Sunday or a little shot of SE surf on Wednesday. Yawn.
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
Today's News of the Week is a quick history of the Newport Beach harbor entrance. Now before you click off this email, it’s an amazing story as one of the world’s best waves from the early 1900’s (Corona del Mar) died and rose from the ashes as one of the most feared waves on the planet today (i.e. the Wedge). Here's a little history lesson:
Pre-1800’s: The original mouth of the Santa Ana River was located at the Newport Harbor entrance in Newport Beach, CA (splitting present day Big Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar and the Wedge in Newport Beach). Up until the the late 1800’s, Newport Bay was predominantly a river estuary with few open channels. The river flowed into the bay bringing with it heavy silt and making boating difficult. To eventually create Newport Harbor, sand deposited by the Santa Ana River had to be constantly dredged away.
Early-1900’s – Old-timers (no jokes about me please) said the sandbar at the rivermouth would break consistently over 20’ due to waves coming out of deepwater and hitting the shallow sandbars. It was called the best wave in California due to it’s consistency and long rides (take that Rincon)! George Freeth and Tom Blake, early pioneers of surfing (who rode 100 pound balsa boards), made the wave a famous surf spot.
1916 - Small (almost useless) jetty on the Wedge side of the harbor entrance begun by the Army Corps of Engineers to help boats navigate the treacherous sand bar formed by the Santa Ana River.
1920-22 - The Bitter Point Dam was built to divert the river away from the Newport Bay and on its current course to the ocean at the border of Huntington/Newport Beach (i.e. the Santa Ana River Jetties). All of the islands in Newport Harbor are the product of dredging and man-made forming from the sands and silt deposited over time by the Santa Ana River.
1925 - Due to it’s status as one of the best waves on the coast, a frequent visitor by the name of Duke Kahanamoku would surf the sandbar along with friend George Freeth. Duke, the godfather of modern-day surfing (as well as an Olympic gold medalist in swimming), actually saved eight lives in 1925 after rough surf capsized a boat at the harbor entrance.
1926 - George Rogers, lost his oldest son George Rogers Jr., in another boating accident at the harbor entrance due to large surf. He’d then dedicate his life to extend rock wall jetties out toward the ocean, to block big surf from capsizing boats coming in and out of the Newport Harbor.
1927 – George Rogers dies from a heart attack on his boat, just outside the harbor ironically. Construction of a small concrete ‘jetty’ was constructed on the Corona Del Mar side of the harbor entrance.
1934 – Construction of permanent large jetties on both the Corona Del Mar and Newport Beach side of the harbor entrance was started by the Army Corps of Engineers.
1936 – The large jetties were finished, effectively killing the sandbar at the harbor entrance (the unofficial death of the Corona del Mar) but giving birth to ‘The Hook' on the other side of the harbor entrance. The Hook was a wave that unknowingly was formed by the Army Corps of Engineers when the 1st wave of a set would bounce off the newly formed Newport Beach jetty and morphed into the 2nd incoming set wave, forming a bigger meaner wave then just the 1st or 2nd wave alone.
1960s – ‘The Hook’ didn’t sound ominous enough (or descriptive enough) so it was changed by locals to: ‘The Wedge’
1963 – Newport Beach City Council gets wise and finally posts danger signs at the Wedge.
1964 – Before social media, there was the film, “The Endless Summer”, which brought the Wedge to the world stage as one of the most notorious waves ever.
1993 – The lifeguard “Blackball” flag was implemented, banning hard boards (i.e. surfboards) from 10am to 5pm, May 1st to October 31st.
Present Day – The wave at the harbor entrance has come full circle- with surfers like Jamie O’Brien carrying on Duke’s tradition by flying over from Hawaii to surf the new wave.
PIC OF THE WEEK:
Gotta love old world charm. Sure the electricity in town is spotty, restaurants aren’t open on Sundays, and there’s no such thing as the internet- but what more do you really need in life than this throaty right hander and no one out?
Keep Surfing,
Michael W. Glenn
Gnarly
The Next Bachelor
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