The Wedge is not a good wave. Sorry, but you’re most likely not going to score a perfect barrel here. You’ll be lucky to make it out of one. Whether you’re J.O.B. or a hardcore local, brace for impact because getting tossed is a guarantee. Despite all that, you could just have the ride of your life.
Make no mistake, I’m not telling you to rush out and come surf The Wedge. People die here. Seasoned pros get their asses handed to them. It’s big, heavy, shallow, cold, and dangerously close to shore and the rock jetty. Knowing when it will break is not the same as knowing when it will be breaking.
I don’t care. It’s still one of my favorite waves in the world.
A session at The Wedge is the best combination of adrenaline-filled action and a carnage reel. At any given big swell, refracting waves double-up for impossibly steep drops; massive backwash explosions will either launch you to the air or completely obliterate you; 20-foot plus walls of water chase you towards a shore you can never quite reach because of raging, river-like rip currents; four-to-five times overhead barrels closeout on top of you when it’s waist deep if you’re lucky; and if you’re likely to win the lottery, you may find a doggy-door out of one.
Summer is on its way, and for those brave enough and skilled enough to grab a surfboard, bodyboard, skimboard, or a pair of swim fins and a speedo (as the local, die-hard bodysurfers are wont to do), it’s an adrenaline rush like no other. I’ll be glued to my reports from the guys at Solspot, long lens in one hand, waterhousing in the other.
The local news crews have taken to posting up and reporting live all day whenever there’s even a remote chance of waves, so expect it to be crowded like a heat with Kelly at Pipe and tempers to be short.
See more of Ben’s work at driftwoodfoto.com and on Instagram: @driftwoodfoto.
