Photo: Screenshot//KTLA
Earlier this summer, longtime Wedge regular Brent Weldon predicted this season could bring immense changes to the wave and surrounding beach. He’d watched sand get ripped away during big swells during the summer months with little-to-no replenishment naturally washed in during the winter months. And predictions of this year’s Super El Niño convinced him those changes would be magnified.
“The last few years have been bad, but this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” he told The Inertia after old, rusted railroad ties started to become exposed as the sand disappeared. “If this Super El Niño is anything like people are predicting, the beach could be in serious trouble. With the lack of sand, more of the old railroad tracks and rocks that were used to build the jetty may continue to become exposed, and there’s also an increased risk of flooding reaching nearby homes.”
Well, we’ve only burned through two months since that conversation, and the predictions are proving correct. The Wedge has seen plenty of waves thanks to a very active Southern Pacific and seemingly nonstop swell. It’s all exposed more rocks, more pieces of that old railroad, and the infrastructure that helped form the famous jetty. Images of old pipes jutting out of the sand are hitting every corner of the internet now too, bringing extra attention to the issue from news outlets in the Southland. Sections of the beach are roped off with caution tape.
“A lot of sand has been carved away, uncovering things that haven’t seen the light of day in decades,” Newport Beach Lifeguard Battalion Chief Adam Yacenda told The LA Times. “There are PVC pipes, wires and a railway tie underneath the water and occasionally some metal.”
“It’s already dangerous enough,” Jeremy Wiegman told KTLA this week, explaining that debris getting dragged back into the ocean has already caused injuries to surfers this season. “Putting those exposed rocks into the impact zone is extra dangerous, because you’re gonna hit the bottom on almost every wave.”
KTLA reports that Newport Beach City Council plans to move sand into the area for restoration. That will be a big undertaking and certainly a widely-watched scrutinized project in the surfing world.
