For years it’s been common practice to see surfers excluded from certain lineups around Newport Beach during the summer months. More specifically, if you ride a hardboad you aren’t allowed in the water at the Wedge and between 40th and 44th street between 10am and 5pm from the beginning of May until the end of August.
That’s a hefty chunk of time and waves missed unless your ride of choice if a body board or simply a set of fins on your feet. In April of 2015 Newport’s Parks, Beaches and Recreations commission pushed for a smaller blackball window that would only last from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but now surfers are facing the potential of even more time out of the water each day. Under a new resolution approved by City Council, lifeguards now have the authority to throw up a yellow flag with that black dot anytime and anywhere they determine conditions aren’t safe for non-hardboard swimmers and surfers.
According to Newport Beach Lifeguard Chief Rob Williams the resolution doesn’t change much though. “We feel like the resolution was just cleaned up and clarified,” he told the Los Angeles Times. But even if the resolution does nothing more than paint a clearer picture of the existing rules it probably won’t make groups that have lobbied for surfers to have more access very happy. A story in the LA Times in July of 2015 pointed that surfers had been asking for a stretch of beach in the city that could be designated for surfers exclusively, so as to balance out not being given access to other specific beaches. Whether or not the new resolution actually results in longer blackball hours and more blackballed days is something we’ll have to wait to find out.
