Winter swell arrives

BALBOA PENINSULA -- So what if Wednesday was the first day of winter? Thanks to a Pacific storm, surfers had a chance to surf some of the best waves to hit Newport Beach this year.

“It was really fun this morning. It’s been getting bigger all day,” Newport Beach surfer Lee Hernandez said as he stood on the sand near Newport Pier.

“I’ve lived here for 25 years, my whole life, and I’ve never seen it like this before,” Hernandez said. “It’s a west swell, and usually the big swells we get are south swells.”

With more than 100 surfers in the waves at Blackie’s, just west of Newport Pier, before noon Wednesday, the scene looked like a snapshot of a summer’s day. Or better, considering the way the past summer shaped up. On Wednesday, surfers had the chance to challenge 8- to 10-foot waves without a red tide to add a dingy hue to the ocean.

“It’s really good, dude. It’s really good. We’ve got good waves and good conditions,” Costa Mesa surfer Todd Martin said. “We haven’t had size like this in quite a while. This summer was pretty dry.”

A broken rib was not enough to stop Martin from surfing Wednesday, he said. He said he stuffed a foam pad into his wetsuit to protect the injury before heading for the beach.

“I’m looking at my wife going, ‘There’s got to be a way to figure it out,’ ” Martin said.

From the sand, one could see the forms of several black wetsuits bobbing up and over the crests of incoming swells. One wave often meant a ride for two surfers. Or more.

“If it was Saturday, it would be a sea of black. There would be wetsuits all down the line,” surfer and San Bernardino resident Corey Soens said.

With waves measuring 4 to 6 feet, or as high as 8 to 10 feet, Newport welcomed “some of the best surf in 6 to 8 months,” Newport Beach Lifeguard Capt. Rob Williams said. Occasionally, big waves can lead to serious injuries, but as of about 3 p.m. Wednesday, lifeguards had provided first aid to some beachgoers, but there were no emergencies requiring rescues.

Surfers can thank a storm with origins near Hawaii for the west swell that brought waves to Newport. Longtime Newport Beach surfer Bill Sharp said he expected the conditions would peak Wednesday before calming down.

“It was the best west swell Newport’s had in a while,” Sharp said. “This isn’t the best day in history, but places like 28th Street and Blackie’s are as good as they get.”

20051222irvj0zncDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)A wave crashes into the 28th Street breakwater, where two surfers wait before tackling the big west-northwest swell.