Huge waves draw crowds

Hundreds of spectators came to the Wedge on Friday with their cameras and kids in tow as one growling wave after another lashed the shore and body surfers tried to mount the towering columns of water.

The spectators inched forward until the waves chased them back. Large swells were greeted with collective gasps as some beachgoers whipped out cell-phone cameras to snap pictures.

“It’s just mesmerizing. We can’t take our eyes off of it,� said Clovis resident Sara Sanchez, who was visiting her mother in Newport Beach on Friday with her two children, Conner, 11, and Lucas, 7.

The family saw the large waves breaking at the Wedge from Balboa Pier and came down to the beach for a closer look.

“I’m so glad the kids got to see this, it’s a memory that will last a lifetime,� said Sanchez’s mother, Newport Beach resident Sue Pickens.

Conner watched a clutch of about 20 body surfers brave the massive waves in awe.

“You have to be pretty skilled, or crazy to try that,� he said.

City workers used a bulldozer to move a lifeguard tower up the beach as the waves began to lap around it.

Several TV news crews were also on hand to record the action while the lifeguard had three boats out in the ocean to monitor the surfers.

The West Jetty was closed Friday afternoon because of the high waves.

Body surfer Nathan Coble of Huntington Beach said the biggest wave he’s ever rode was 25 feet, but he was duly impressed with Friday’s size.

“It’s like a giant washing machine out there,� he said. “You go under the waves then they pick you back up and throw you out again.�

Jeremy Yorba of Tustin, who’s been body surfing the Wedge since high school and is there every Friday, said these are the biggest he’s seen in four years.

“When you get out there the waves treat you like a rag doll,� Yorba said.

A large southern swell churned up by a storm in Tahiti brought the massive waves to Newport Beach on Friday.

The Wedge’s exposure to southern swells made the surf particularly high.

As waves come in to the Wedge, they ricochet off Newport’s West Jetty, creating large, towering waves.