"(water running)" "(ethereal music)" " [Voiceover] 1936, the army corps of engineers completed construction of the west jetty of the Newport Beach harbor entrance." "It's intent was to protect and shelter but what this grouping of rocks created was something that no man could've expected." "(rock music)" "(waves crashing)" " The Wedge in one word, psycho." "(Entrance Song by The Black Angels)" " That wave is a standout, freak of nature." " The Wedge has as much power as any wave" "I've ever surfed in my life." " I would say Hawaii power in the middle of Orange County." " And it kills people and it breaks necks and you go, shit." "¶Bending time feeling fine" "¶Entrance song" " It's the most famous body surfing wave in world, duh." " When you talk about this mysterious place the Wedge you finally go down there and it's just all hell breaking loose." " It was a venue and it was like a gladiator pit arena watching a few of us pretty much like risk our lives." "¶Rolling fast down 75" "¶Cutting through like a knife ¶" " [Voiceover] The wave was the reason all of us were there." "It wasn't anything more than that, it was the wave." "(water rushing)" "(gentle, piano music)" " [Voiceover] My name is Ron Romanosky." "Some call me Romo." "I'm a shaper, a photographer, one of maybe, I don't know, three or four billion of them." "And I'm a hopeless and insufferable Wedge addict." "(pencil scraping)" "Our story begins at Wedge, 25 or so years after the jetty construction was over." "There was already an established group of guys at Wedge." "Fred Simpson and Roger Goodan were among them." "(plucky, guitar music)" " When I first went to the Wedge, this would be in the late 50's, there were no crowds." "There were no lifeguards." "A max crowd would be three, four, five people." "There were always enough waves." " When I first arrived at the Wedge and starting meeting the different people that were riding it already, there was one gentleman that I already knew." "He was the first high school kid to swim faster than two minutes in the 200." "And he did it in ninth grade." " The wave physics at the Wedge is unique for a couple of different reasons." "Firstly, that you have the wave that is coming in from the south." "It banks up against the jetty and so you end up with a side wave being superimposed on by another wave." "So you have two waves on top of one another." " It essentially doubles the height of the wave and it is as big as it gets on this coast." " It was routinely all body surfers." "Surf boards were too long and too heavy to be able to handle the big surf." "And, to be able to experiment with different techniques, it was really remarkable because we got a lot of riding in." "It was very, kind of egalitarian, sweet environment." " [Voiceover] No magazines, no social media." "People communicated on phones, land line phones." "Those early days at Wedge were really a simple time." " [Voiceover] In the early 70's Danny Kwock was on the beach, I believe, but I don't believe he had yet gone in that water." " First experience at the Wedge for me was" "I'd moved from Gwaii, I've kind of always heard about it cause I grew up at a place by Sandy Beach." "The guys down there, the kind of guys like Mark Cunningham guys that were like the legend body surfer guys, they'd always be talking about the Wedge and it was this infamous place, even in Hawaii as a kid." "And then I moved to California and we ended up in Newport Beach." "I all of a sudden knew like, this must be where the Wedge is, I think, it's in Newport Beach, you know, I don't know where." "I mean, I didn't know it was right by my house." "I just started going down there and hanging out and that was pretty much it, you know, at the Wedge at the time." "It was just a mixture of the local kids and there was Romo." "Then as I started growing up there," "I realized why people didn't come down, because Romo was pretty much like (mumbles) get out." "(machine buzzing)" " [Voiceover] Some time in the mid 70's, this group of guys showed up, never seen them before, blond haired, long haired, but they rode well." "They had respect for the guys that were there before them." "This new group of guys would become to known as Wedge crew." "And Mel Thoman was its leader." " My first experience coming down to the Wedge" "I think I was 14 or 15." "I think anybody who comes down first thinks it's gonna be big." "It's the Wedge, it's gonna be big, you've just heard stories." "I got there and it was like one foot." "So, 60 miles one way, one foot, not too happy." "But, a couple years later, it was 1975 and it was June, solid southern hemi, and it was, it was a good size." "And I remember standing on the beach for an hour and a half and I watched the guys who I could tell they knew what they were doing, they were ripping." "And I thought I was pretty good." "And I get down there and I go (laughs) I got a lot to learn." " There was this one summer where Mel Thoman and Greg Deets and these guys just rolled out of this cheesy van that was just so hideous." "And at the same time, this other guy Terry Wade was down there too." "Us kids were like, oh, who are these guys?" "Ya know, but then they started coming every day and they'd get there at freaking 7:00 AM and they'd leave at like seven o'clock at night." " We kind of made this little pact and we were the new guys, the young guys." " 77, that summer was the year I really got to know those guys really well and we started hanging out together and, no not getting in trouble." "Well, not getting caught I should say." " For some reason, it became a very large group that would go there every day, whether there were waves or not." "The group was very united and I think that's why it became the Wedge crew." "I don't know who coined the phrase but it kind of started in that min 70's era where I came in at." "(upbeat, rock music)" "(waves crashing)" "(upbeat, rock music)" " You could tell right away who the players were down at the Wedge and you just knew to stay clear and just stay low." " The Wedge guys saw themselves as kind of rebellious, non-mainstream and they regaled in that." " They had a lot of commaraderie." "They became the locals." "They kind of like were jerks to people who weren't from here." " You had all the guys in the group, thought the exact same way." "This is our wave and nobody else is gonna mess it up for us." " There's definitely a local Wedge crew and-  [Voiceover] They don't like anybody invading their turf." " They don't like (laughs)." " When I first went there, everybody was, it was aggressive." "I mean, everybody had their fucking balls out." " For the Wedge guys, yeah it is a little bit of a different story because that wave isn't about just fun, it's about pushing yourself to your limit." "(upbeat, rock music)" " The body surfer Wedge guys were like water polo lifeguard, buff, stud dudes, you know." "So, they didn't take crap from anybody." " You'd get the standard warning, you know?" "If you were an idiot and you cut you off or something and they landed on you, you'd say, listen man, don't do that again." "And if they did it again, well, sometimes we'd follow them on the beach." " [Voiceover] The Wedge crew." " [Brunette] The Wedge crew." " [Blonde] Yeah." " [Voiceover] We're in the Wedge pit." " [Both] Yeah." " [Voiceover] Are they gonna kick our butts for being here?" " Ya know and it was funny cause they came down in shorts at first and then all of sudden man, they'd just bust into Speedos and we're just all, whoa, you know?" " When I first starting riding, it was Speedos under the trunks, get down to the water, drop the trunks, ride in your Speedos." "And then, eventually we said, oh." "You know what, we're the best guys down here." "We were here all the time so why don't we just wear 'em on the beach?" "Because we didn't care." "We didn't care what anybody thought of us." " You know, it was their trip and they made fun of themselves." "They made it like funny to wear Speedos." " And the only time I wouldn't wear Speeds," "Romanaosky and I did a lot of Frisbee." "He'd say, Mel, there's no way I'm throwing the Frisbee with you wearing Speedos." " But it was funny, I think they kind of won us all over and kind of established their deal because they were freely charismatic, you know?" "Like, Mel was super funny and just was really good with the jibber jabber and keeping Romo from getting pissed off at him and making him laugh." "And he knew quickly, like," "Romo was the guy that gets waves, you know." " [Voiceover] Oh my God, that's great." "Uh oh, Ron just ripping it." "Alright, he's stoked, that was awesome." "(gentle, strumming music)" "(clapping)" " [Voiceover] Despite those Speedos, they were wave riders." "They brought a new energy to Wedge and that energy on the sand transferred right into the water." "They set the bar higher than it had ever been." " I think we just kept going and going and more people would kind of come in and if they had that same verve, they had that verve, that love." "It was like, let's go." "You know, and you have that same soul, that same heart, that same love." " The art of body surfing and the soulfulness of body surfing that the Wedge crew was all about, even though they love their fun, they were purist body surfers, you know." "And they loved that art form." " There is something special about being on that wave with nothing but your body." "And, it's difficult." "It's not easy." "So, when you score a ride body surfing, it's the greatest feeling in the world because you're one with the ocean." " There's no better way to ride a wave in body surfing." "There's just something special about it that you just can't beat it." " Body surfing down at the Wedge really started peaking with notoriety and people seeing body surfers as more than just guys that, oh, they don't know how to surf or body board or do whatever." "It's like, no, no, body surfing's like a full-on deal in its own." " I always say the wave got me there and the people kept me there because here I get down there and it's, everybody body surfs." "This is it, this is where I belong." "(gentle, pop music)" " [Voiceover] Fun with Mel's crew, it wasn't long before a new crop of kids started showing up." "These young guys, they were so good, you know, showing just incredible style." " When we first showed up, we were so afraid of the crew and they were such a unique group of individuals." "They had such flair, style." "They wore Speedos with all sorts of colors." "Did things on waves we couldn't imagine." "And we were just in awe of them." " I would go out there and Romo would tell me to leave," "Jeff Stack would tell me to leave." "You know, Terry Wave, even Mel, get out of here (grunts)." "That went on literally for years." " You had to prove yourself." "And to prove yourself meant taking off some ugly, ugly stuff." " [Voiceover] Uh- oh." "Oh, wait a minute." "Who was that?" " And finally working yourself up that little hierarchy to get some better waves and better waves." "And then eventually showing everybody that you can handle it and be there." " [Voiceover] Panama Rick." "Panama Rick in the barrel." " They talked about us, we talked about them and it just took, it took probably five years before we were semi-integrated into the crew." " [Voiceover] Back to Phil." "Phil, anything else you wanna say to the folks at home?" " I thought I had some good waves today." " [Voiceover] I saw you ripping out there but" " Mel try not to speak, I thought I rode well." " I think you finally knew you were in the crew when then gave you a nickname." "And my nickname had to be Panama Rick because my face was always red." "And Mel had a fish named Panama." "It was this red fish." "I got the name Panama cause my face looked like his fish." " Mel, where did Mel come from?" "It's Kevin, Kevin Feldman." "I have no idea where Mel came from." " Terry Sack Wade." "Sack had to do with more of his anatomy then it does with his huge wave riding." " The sack or the bat wing because his nut sack was so big, he'd stretch it out and do this at parties when he was drunk, it was just horrifying." " We had a nickname for Tom." "He was this huge guy with red hair and we called him Sasquatch." " It was actually Sasquatch from my high school friends and it was a Wedge crew member that said I believe that his friends call him Cashbox." " We would hear this, what we thought was Cashbox and we'd call guys with big asses, box asses." "So, we thought that was perfect." "You know, big guy, big ass (laughs)." " I got guys that come up to me, they go, hey, Cash, I had no idea you had a real name Tom Kennedy." "I go, I do." "I'm Tom Kennedy, Cashbox is my nickname." "But everybody in that community had a very fun, cool personality and that's what really made the Wedge crew what it was." " The stuff we used to do as a crew, it was all about fun." "I mean, my whole thing was like, this is the most fun anybody could ever have was riding the Wedge." "¶Well I'm so tired" "¶ Why don't you ¶" " Mel kind of became the root of this group of guys kind of coming together." " Mel was the guy who you could tell was kind of like the mayor down there, right?" "You had Fred Simpson who was the president, you had Terry Wade who was maybe an all-star." "Tom Kennedy was a comedian." "And you had Mel, the mayor." " [Voiceover] Mel Toman, for example, has a BA from USC but he chooses to stock grocery shelves at night so the waves have him all day long." "He even records a daily wave report for others like Tom Kennedy, who runs an insurance agency but still calls Mel two or three times every day." " He was the guy that would bring all those (laughs)." "He'd bring all those like blow up toys with like dragons and whatever down to the beach and ride waves with them." "I'd just be like, really guy, where do you come up with this, you know?" " He had a different vision, I think, than all of us." "I think we were like wave, wave, wave, wave, wave, you know?" "And I think Mel was sort of clever." "He was sort of like wave, wave, wave, but let's do something special about the wave, wave, wave, wave, wave." "And so, he initiated this crazy thing every year, at the end of the year, Mel's tanning contest." " [Voiceover] The tanning tournaments were just the most ridiculously fun time you could have." "It was like the end of our year." "It was like Academy Awards of the beach." " [Voiceover] Quarterbacked by Mel Thoman, he would buy trophies." " [Voiceover] What is the even you're hoping to win this year?" " I'm looking for, obviously, look at the farmers." " [Voiceover] Give us the full frontal." " Full frontal?" " [Voiceover] Yeah." " [Voiceover] And, all the guys would come down to the beach and tan for one full day." "I mean, this became an annual event in Newport Beach and it was great." " [Voiceover] And Ivan, Ivan was classic." "Seeing this big, six foot, 300 pound guy with a giant beer belly tanned beyond belief, strutting around in their Speedo was pretty funny." " It wasn't about look how beautiful we are, it was, we'd have the farmer's tan." "We'd have the casper for the most whitest person." "We'd have, just joke awards." " [Voiceover] Blondest hair, lobster award for the worst burn." "You know, best legs." "For girls, we had best diamonds." " [Voiceover] Top lines, breast lines (laughs)." "(beachgoers chattering)" " We had some creative trophies." " We would come up and (clapping) and for best dorsel and somebody would get the trophy and everybody would clap." " Sara, best dressed from (cheering drowns out speaker)" "(cheering and applause)" " It tied in to girls, it tied into guys, it tied in to different ages." "You had guys that were back to like 40, you know." "And guys like Dustin who were like 20 and it was just, again, it was just, he functioned, I think, as a needle." "It kind of sewed a lot of us together." " What's incredible is that all of these people we want to be around are all some different and they would have these parties." " [Voiceover] Malarchy." " [Voiceover] Easy." " [Voiceover] It's not my fault." " [Voiceover] Atta boy, Mel." " They were crazy and as a youngster," "I was like, you know, the kid in Almost Famous just watching these body surfing heroes of mine and guys I just really respected, you know." " You wanted to be at the parties cause they showed film." " Yeah, those special films and slides, it's" " You gotta be crazy to go." "(girls laugh)" " [Voiceover] That doesn't sound too wild." " It is." " It is." " A lot of people don't make it home." " You know, this guy Dale Kovach would show the videos." "Mel would videotape during the day of all the rides and people would sit there at these parties and just pound beers and critique each other." " Then the slides would come up and the heckling would start and it was just like, who rode what and how big it was and who claimed the best wave." "(people shouting and cheering)" " Going to a couple of Romo's slideshows," "I just about peed my pants on the heckling and the catcalling and the peanut gallery at those things." "And, it's just really neat to see guys so stoked and so passionate." " We were watching 'em and the guys would be hooting and hollering and everybody's, you know, it just brought us together more." "I don't know if anybody really studied the films." " We studied that film." "We would borrow those video tapes from Mel and watch 'em over and over, me and the young guys, because we wanted a ride like the older guys and ride the best." "Because they literally had the best style." " [Voiceover] In the 60's, originally, you had guys with no style." "And the first endless summer, you watch guys riding waves, or rather, getting pitched." "But around that same time, body surfing was blessed with a guy by the name of Fred Simpson." "He was the first one to put his lead hand on the face of the wave and get his other arm back." "He navigated a wave the way a board would." "Then you get into the 70's, and that big group of guys, where Terry Wade was a bit ahead of everyone else." " [Voiceover] We're visiting a customer here." " Hi there, I'm Allen Hamill, what's your name?" " Terry Wade." " And Terry, do you shop here at Alpha Beta?" " No, I don't." " What?" " I don't shop." " You don't shop at Alpha Beta?" " No." " You're" " My first impression of Terry was my first year to guarding there on my first real big day." "Like, legit, 20, 25 foot day." "You would just see this red Speedo going from the peak all the way to cylinders and it was the same guy every time." "I said, who is that guy?" "And, that's when I first heard Terry Wade's name." "And he was one of the best I'd ever seen out there." " You know, it's important to know that there were a lot of big wave riders at the Wedge but Terry Wade, by far, not only took off on the biggest waves ever in the history of probably body surfing in general," "but he actually rode the wave." "And, what I saw him do 1983 was the most amazing thing ever." "The biggest wave, the biggest swell in the history for me, you know, 40 some years, and Terry rode the biggest waves." "(upbeat, pop music)" " I was there in 1983 when I saw him charge these monster sets and I'm just looking at it" "and I go, I'm witnessing history." "This is off the charts." "(sniffling) It was amazing." "Sorry." "Anyway, so I was there and, sorry about that, but you know, he's such a good friend." "And, you know, it just is tough to see what the Wedge has done to him as far as his life." "It kind of, you know, we joked around the Wedge ruined my life but physically I think it really took its toll" "on him, especially." "And that's sad." "But Terry, you know, he's just awesome." "(bright, strumming music)" " [Voiceover] Due to multiple and life changing injuries suffered at Wedge, Terry could no longer body surf." "He no longer lives in Newport Beach but in Taft, California." "Three hours inland." " If you ride Wedge long enough, you're gonna get hurt." "There's no way to avoid it, it's gonna happen." " I've seen broken arms and broken necks as a lifeguard and you'd have a dozen neck injuries every summer." "Out of the dozen you had, there'd be one or two that were serious where it was permanent injuries and that was always tough to see." " One time in 1978, on a big day a dead body washed up next to big D and me." "We pulled him in and they tried to revive him but he was, they pronounced him dead at Hope a couple hours later." " Here's how many deaths I've seen there in the water." "One, two, let's see, one, two, three, four." "Four people died." " There's a famous story of the Wedge of these women that went down below the burm line on a big swell and the lifeguard didn't get down and talk to them early enough." "They just were down playing and thinking that the water was gonna wash up and get their ankles wet like any normal beach." "And the Wedge is not a normal beach and they don't know the danger they're in." "And the waves swept up and took 'em off their feet and they were gone." "They just disappeared." " [Voiceover] The other one may get stuck, she's rolling." "Look at that, look out, look out." "You're gonna get hammered again." "Look." "(women screaming)" "Oh jeez, get the lifeguard." " [Voiceover] Better get going." " [Voiceover] Holy hell." "Oh shit." "Getting sucked out." "JT, how is she?" " She was-  [Voiceover] Is she okay?" " You know how hard it was to get her-  [Voiceover] JT, lifesaver." "That ones okay, we hope." "Her mom or whatever having a tough time." " [Voiceover] What makes the Wedge so dangerous?" " It's just the angle of the beach and the way it throws out." "It's a steeper break and it breaks into very shallow water." "Just down from the peak break it can break into absolutely no water at all." "And if you don't know what you're doing, or even if you do know what you're doing, sometimes you fall, free fall, and hit the bottom." "(dramatic music)" " [Voiceover] They generally wear fins so they can get enough speed to make it down the face before they would get thrown." "And that's why we generally try to keep the inexperienced public out of the water to save them from possibly life threatening injuries." " I've had broken collar bones." "Thank God, I haven't had a broken neck." "There's plenty of that out here." " I dropped in on about a four foot wave and it sucked up and I was at the top and I went straight down and hit my head on the bottom and broke my neck." " You have to be a little bit crazy though to get out there when it's like this." " Absolutely." " And that Pacific storm is having an impact right here churning up high surf and monster waves along the southland coast." " My relationship with the Wedge was, it was almost kind of like bi-polar almost." "Like, one of those things where there was such a rush and high and stoke but there was such a fear of death from it." "Like, seriously, like, it was just so like one or the other and it was zero in between." "And so, living right there and hearing the big surf all the time, I'd be so pumped but at the same time I would be like, is tomorrow the day I die, you know, is the day I drown?" " If there's a big south swell in California, guaranteed Wedge is gonna be the big spot, you know." "And, it's the nature of the beast of the Wedge that shits gonna go down on a big, heavy day." " Big days at Wedge, there's so much that goes along with that." "You know, not being able to sleep the night before and thinking about what you're going to do and where you're gonna put yourself." " [Voiceover] I would just be so nervous that I would almost puke." "I'd almost puke in the night before." "I'd almost puke in the morning." " Like, on a big day, to not be afraid or have a little bit of fear, you gotta be a little loony or actually really loony." " You want to survive, you don't want to die so you're thinking about that." "And you want to perform and so you're thinking about that." "But excited, you know, excited, you can't wait." "Cause you want it, you want it also but you wanna do it right." " Riding a big wave at the Wedge body surfing is the best thing you can do in the water." "It's like jumping off of a cliff and landing it." "And what's big, big, what you usually see is the top of roofs." " I've heard that when the waves get really big you can actually go over a set and see over the houses into the bay, over the bay." "Which I thought was bullshit." "And, a swell came through it was (mumbles) and sure enough, I went over a set and I could see over the houses into the back bay and I was like, you gotta be kidding me." " You're like, here we go." "Your feet go over your head and your flaying, you're like, am I gonna stay on the face or am I flying?" "And, you do everything you can to navigate it but there's nothing else going through your brain other than get me down the face and I better stick my turn at the bottom." "And when you do, you come up, and you watch the guys pulling the barrel, it's just all smiles." "(people shouting and cheering)" "(upbeat, rock music)" " The fact that the wave is so close to the beach, you know, proximity, you get that crowd factor." "It wouldn't matter if the crowd was there or not, we'd still be doing what we're doing but it certainly elevates things and it just adds to the circus of the whole place that it's just electric." " Those crowds on the beach, random, eclectic people from all over the world, tourists, whatever, just watching and hoping and someone was gonna eat crab, break their neck, die." "Sick as it sounds, people wanted blood." " Let's be straight up." "It's a scene." "It's a big, crazy, powerful wave breaking so close to shore where it's so spectator friendly." " And you got the water splashing up." "I mean like, water is taking people out." "It's almost dangerous that people are even standing that close." " I mean, what a special place, you know." "Every summer it's like the equivalent to the Super Bowl of body surfing." "All these elements come together and you get a couple lunatics out there charging these massive waves." " The thing that makes it so unique, the Wedge, it's a man-made mistake, it was it is." "But for us, it's a man-made blessing because we love it and we go out there and have the time of our lives." "And, it keeps us breathing, pretty much." "The fact that we can go out there and get our asses kicked and go back into life itself and be humbled and stoked and thrilled." "So, it's a special man-made wonderment of the world." "(bright, pop music)" "(people yelling and cheering)" "(machine buzzing)" " [Voiceover] You know, Wedge had been our happy home for decades." "Everybody was friends." "Everybody loved it." "And then a little invention came along." "¶There's something really rolling around the USA" "¶The Morey Boogie Bodyboard is here to stay" "¶Put your body on a boogie" "¶Grab your Morey Boogie" "¶Put your body on boogie" "¶And you should've bought a boogie" "¶And you'll be surfing today" "¶ Boogie ¶" " We were down at the water one day and this comes down with us with these boogie boards, these little soft little sponge looking things." "And he says, hi, my name it Tom." "I want you guys to try these boards out." "They should let you ride the waves and get better rides and stuff." "And we kind of looked at him and go, ah, okay, whatever." "He left a couple of boards down there and the next day a pretty good sized swell came in." "So, we started using the boards and we'd kick on them and kick on 'em and you'd get the wave and you'd start riding the wave and then we'd fling 'em." "And we'd throw 'em, we wouldn't ride the boogie board." "We called them diving board take offs." "So, you'd just take off on the boogie board to get speed and then go down and ride the wave and body surf." "But we didn't know that he had photographers down there trying to get photos for, to sell the product at the time and so, when we found out there was photographers, we never even used them." "You know, we just stopped." "But then Ramon one day, we had a good sized swell." "He took off on a wave and he did a diving board take off but they got the picture of him on the top of a really good Wedge peak." "Well, that was on the back of surfer magazine and that was the beginning of the end as far as that went." " The problem was anybody could ride them." "It was very easy to." "And Romo's quote of, you could put a dead body on a boogie and it would make the wave, you know, that type of deal." "It allowed people that really shouldn't be out there to gain access to the wave." " [Voiceover] The bodyboards started showing up around the mid 80's." "And, at the time it wasn't so much of a threat." "There was only a handful of guys that truly rode the place." "Ben Severson, JP Patterson, Mike Stewart." " I remember going there and not really getting the most welcome vibe, for sure." "It's kind of understandable that they might not really take a liking to me and what I was doing down there." "But I think eventually, I kind of gained some respect and I slowly kind of worked my way in with a lot of those guys." " But, as the photos started hitting the magazines and it progressed, it just exploded." " When it changed was when, and it wasn't Mike or Pat, it was the hoards of other folks that just couldn't control themselves." "They brought it there and it turned into a money making venue." "You'd see guys take a wave, sprint out, talk to the photographer, run back." "They didn't care who they were cutting off and that was so diametrically opposed to what the Wedge was all about." "It was a dichotomy that didn't work." " When bodyboarding magazine came out and started profiling the Wedge, of course, and these guys, and suddenly it was like the floodgates were open and there'd be more and more of them." "And, they were growing exponentially like an amoeba or something, just crazy." " [Voiceover] Is that a boogie?" "I ain't filming boogies." "Oh, damn it, that boogie again." " [Voiceover] Oh Go, not a boog." "I just squeak 'em out of the picture frame, Ron." " Back in the early days, body surfers and the knee riders, because there weren't any boogie boards yet, always got along." " If you knew what you were doing, you could let 'em ride with ya and you could knee ride and they'd ride up behind and you could still ride the wave, both of you." "But the boogie board crowd was definitely disrespectful and it was just a whole different crowd of people." " What really was a big deal for the crew was that they weren't accomplished water men riding the boards most of the time." "There was just a few that were good." "The rest sucked." " Something special was being lost." "The heritage, a way of living with the water and body surfing does that like no other sport." "And when people come into your house and knock on your door and say, oh, by the way, we're moving in and I'm bringing my 500 closest friends, things aren't gonna go well." "(people shouting)" " [Voiceover] Altercation." "(people chattering)" " There'd be fights in full-on, like Romo would just like seriously backhand guys out there because they would be disrespectful." "Just like, bro, there's rules, there's the pecking order out here, there's respect." "And if you're cool with that then we're cool with you but if you cross that line or you come in and hog waves, you know, the boys would just be on 'em." "And like Romo was like the king guy of it and he would send guys in." "I mean, he got into it with them." " Remember Romanosky was always, he was always a tenacious guy." "I remember one time it was pretty classic." "I can laugh at it now but man, I wanted to just," "I came really close to just attacking him." "And, I was all stoked, I had this new board, you know?" "I'm like, oh yeah, I just got a new board." "And, I paddle out there and he's all, oh, right cool, let me have a look." "And so, I show it to him thinking he's gonna have a look at it right, he shapes his knee board and stuff, he'll kind of get it." "So he grabs it, looks at it, puts it on his head and just folds it over his head." " [Voiceover] But anyway, the boogie invasion happened." "And the guys had said that they had to do something about it." "Mel Thoman, Terry Wade, and Tom Kennedy formed the Wedge Preservation Society, or WPS." " About three months ago, the Wedge Preservation Society, a group of body surfers approached the marine department." " We went to the lifeguards and said hey, is there anything we can to somehow, you know, get this changed?" "And, so we had a process (mumbles) you gotta go see the marine department, the lifeguard department, just a whole bunch of things." " And that would be that the Wedge be regulated with no flotation from nine o'clock in the morning to again, five o'clock in the afternoon but from the months of May first to October 31st." " This comes out in the paper and suddenly, it's like, buddies like Bill Sharp who was one of the knee riders that was down there all the time, he gets wind, they're not happy." " I found myself personally, as a knee boarder, just going wait, I'm being swept out with the rest of the garbage and did what I could to help counteract that." " That was an exciting time for us, getting together as one." "Saying, we need to do something about this or, literally, body surfings gonna go away for one and two, people are gonna get hurt." " We gained support from other organizations." "We took our argument to the city council." " Hi, how ya doing?" "I'm Terry Wade and I'm one of the co-founders of the Wedge Preservation Society." "Body surfers are absolutely not the minority at the Wedge." "Minority in the world of surfing, absolutely." "But at the Wedge, the body surfers, it's probably the last stronghold of body surfing and in fact, historically is the only beach in the world that made a name for itself as a body surfing beach." "It is undoubtedly the best wave in the world for body surfing." "And that's why we're here." " We all dressed up, suits, ties." " My name is Philip Castillo and I'm also pro-Wedge Preservation Society." " It's a safety issue." "You know, more and more boards." "It's more and more boards." " Mayhem in the wave, more than one person." " The boogie guys and the boarders, they all came dressed in the beach casual and the whole crew, we were styling." "So, we presented our case and you know," "Newport Beach, they loved us (laughs)." " On the final decision, that place was packed." "I mean, there was probably five to six hundred people jammed into this place, standing room only." " Let me get back to the council and see if we can't come up with a decision here that will make everyone go out of here smiling and happy and probably hit the surf." " And, it ended up where three had voted yay and three had voted nay." " [Voiceover] Mr. Cox?" " I'm just gonna comment that I won't support the motion." "(applause)" " And it came to this last city council member, a woman, who I'm gonna say, she was probably in her late 60's, maybe 70, had lived in Balboa a long time." "And, it was all quiet and everybody waiting for her response and she said" " Well, last night my husband happens to be a quite a young, considers himself still a body surfer and my son, of course, has a board." "And he's (laughs) real conflict." "And, we ended up with something very similar to what the (mumbles) motion said this evening and I will be supporting that." "(cheering and applause)" " All hell broke loose." "We all stood up, began celebrating, hugging, and there was a giant parade that went right across the street to Malarky's." "(bright, pop music)" " I don't think anybody really realized what they were fighting for until they'd go down there in the summer and you'd be out and that black ball flag would come up at 10 o'clock and all the guys" "would get out of the water and you'd just kind of go, oh, yeah." " [Voiceover] Boogie boarders can kiss their Styrofoam goodbye." "Beginning immediately, knee boards, skim boards, and body boards must stay on dry land from 10 to five" "May through October." " Well, once they put the new ordinance in it was like I lost a friend in the summer." "I mean, you couldn't go down there and knee ride anymore." "You could go down there and body surf but that wasn't my gig, I was a knee rider." " There'd be so many days where when they'd first started blackballing," "I remember sitting on the beach just like, really, like and I'd just be like seeing Mel and Terry and all those guys just like (laughs)." "You know, and just laughing it up, getting so many waves." "But I was stoked for them." "And then, but you know what was cool about it was when the blackball thing came," "I body surfed a lot more, you know, I went out cause I love riding Wedge." " I told Box the other day, I said, you know, if anything that's kind of a cool legacy that we worked our tails off on." "We did it the right way and it worked, thank God." "I mean, seriously, because boogies," "I would not be riding there." "Boom, it would've been over." " [Voiceover] Lifeguards believe it will take the boys of summer a few weeks to catch on." " So far the Wedge has been the only beach to have that rigid separation between surfers with boards and without them." "(machine buzzing)" " [Voiceover] Here I am a knee boarder and I'm stoked out of my mind that the guys got the blackball." "The Wedge was pioneered as a body surfing wave and the city council helped to protect that culture." "But waiting down that road, the guys didn't really count on that thing we know as time." " When the blackball happened in '93, we were all hoping it would be kind of a resurgency in body surfing but I think it hit at a perfect time when a lot of the guys were getting older and starting families." "And, they thought they'd have the time to get out there and utilize the freedom they had now with no bodyboarders out there." "And, in fact, that really didn't happen." " After our generation started getting older and having kids and families and a lot of guys moved on, financially I guess guys couldn't just take off for a summer and screw around anymore." "Ya know, that happens when you get a mortgage and kids and car payments and all that stuff." " Personally, I was single longer than most of the guys." "I was 42, almost 43." "So, I had a good 25 years of non-stop waves, women, whiskey, you know (laughs)." "(upbeat, folk music)" " When you're young, you go under waves, it's a huge set coming in." "You're going under waves and you are praying to God that there's a bigger wave." "I need this to be bigger." "Bring it, bring it, bring it." " [Voiceover] Tom Kennedy, what's a perfect day at the Wedge?" " Well, a lot of girls on the beach (laughs)." " [Voiceover] (laughs) The scenery." " And, I like a big wave of course." "As you age and you become more wise, you hope not that there's bigger waves." " Having a family and four boys I would just flash every time I was out there when I'd take some poundings, ya know?" "This could be the last, ya know, and I'm like," "I wanna see my kids graduate from high school or get married one day, ya know, those things started going through my mind and as like an athlete knowing when to walk away from their profession or their thing." "(people chattering)" " You gotta wash your hands off in the water." " [Voiceover] Dale's gone from distributing vibe to distributing goldfish (laughs)." "(kids chattering)" " Ya know, there was a depleted Wedge crew and it was really sad because you didn't wanna see the division or you didn't wanna see people moving on with their lives." "You wanted to see people still show up everyday." " There was that period, it was 15 to 20 years ago because all the skimming came in and the sponging, body surfing kind of went out and there were no younger guys doing it." "And, a few of us were worried that body surfing was actually gonna die out at the Wedge." " With '89 being my year of starting my Wedge body surfing and becoming a part of the group." " [Voiceover] The boats, boaty." "Oh, where'd he go?" " But I recall showing up at the beach and none of the guys I knew were there anymore." "They were all gone." "I was on the beach by myself for days on end, riding waves by myself with guys I had no idea who they were." "And, the glory of the Wedge crew kind of went off by the wayside with the advent of the boogie board." "That was it." " The idea of crew was, and riding Wedge was held together from the most unexpected places." "Some of the fringe riders of Wedge and it really surprising if you look back and think about, you know, some of those guys like Gene." " When I first started going to the Wedge," "I was really not a good body surfer." "I was just learning." "I was 42 years old and I was learning a sport so, I was treated like shit for a long time." "But, I just stuck it out because I loved it." " Gene was kind of a good figure to add in to the 21st century for a lot of us." "It was like, okay, here's an old guy that's pulling the weight still." "(waves crashing)" " [Voiceover] Mean Gene." " [Voiceover] Was that Gene?" " The first kid to come in and started making body surfing cool was Sean Starky." "There was no other kid that filled that gap." " I remember body surfing one day, it was two to three foot," "I remember taking a side wave across the sand and I'm kind of laying there in the sand and there's this guy, arms crossed, looking down at me, super tan in a Speedo." "Potato Head they called him." "Kind of looking at me going, what's your name?" "My name's Sean." "It was like, alright, I like your style man," "I like what you're all about." "You should come down here more often." "Then he just walks away." " That's when I said to myself, we have a gap here, we need to stop the loss" "of young body surfers and we need to start incorporating that back into Wedge crew and build our ranks up so we can have, at any given time, a force to reckoned with in the water." "Not for mischief and mayhem but of camaraderie, of good times, of stories, of wave riding, pushing each other to do bigger, better things." " [Voiceover] The need for a new generation of body surfers was there." "And, with Potato Head being the den mother, or what have you, he saw to it that he had a whole flock." " First experience at Wedge was swimming across the channel with my cousin Ozzy and first person I meet is Potato and Potato's like, what are you doing here?" "And I'm like, just getting some waves man." "Potato's like, you're body surfing wrong." "And so, I'm like, okay how do body surf correctly?" "And then he kind of did his weird thing." "But that was the first, literally the first time we actually went out, had a good time was with John, was like, first approaching it." " I saw it was a work in progress." "Potato Head was down there building a new crew." "You could see it had potential and I was glad to be home because I wanted to help cultivate that." " I kind of made the conscious decision where I wanna be a Wedge tree guy," "I wanna be a part of this." "Sure enough, you know, after putting in a summer, they guys kind of starting taking notice of this young kid who's swimming, I would swim in anything." " The one thing that we try to do as older riders was let 'em know that there was kind of like a hierarchy." "For one, I wanted to get my waves." "But two, wanted them to kind of go through a little bit of what I did and what we all did that made us better." "It wasn't to discourage them." "It was to make sure they understood, we want you ride here but we want you to ride here and consider yourself being the best." "We want you to ride and respect to the path." "And so, we had to kind of like, we wanted to cultivate that." " And, there was like, alright, we have some young blood here." "We have some fresh stuff coming in." "We're gonna push the limits." "I'd like to call them kind of like my stable of young rippers that are out there riding." "They're all getting older now but we're filling the pipe line full." "Their friends are coming down and just a good time." "It's getting fun again." " Potato Head, he really is probably the glue that holds our whole young crew together." " The first person to talk to me was Gene, for sure." "Seeing him say, oh, hey, how's it going." "Or, oh, that was a good wave." "That meant the world." "Getting acknowledgment from your heroes or people you're looking up to or striving to be is huge." " Like what Gene used to do." "They would talk to you, they would be down there give your pointers." "Oh hey, nice ride kid, keep it up." "Just little things like that." "Then you'd have these other guys like Lee or even some of the Larsons where it's like, they won't say a word to you and like, that's okay." "You're gonna wait for them to say the word cause like when they talk to you it's like a big deal." " The fact that everyone's such a tight knit group and is constantly pushing each other in the water that's why you see the type of riding that's going on down there." " It's really a testament to how everyone has each other's backs." " So, whenever someone gets hurt down there, there is a tight unity, kind of brotherhood, where we're always calling each other saying, hey, did you hear, what's his name got hurt." "Say, oh, is he okay?" "No, he's at the hospital." "Alright, we'll go visit him here, what's happening?" " For Gene, when he was in the hospital, we had guys in there almost every day visiting him, helping him and his family out every way we could." " I hurt myself on March 30th in a year ago, 2012." "It was a smaller day that turned into like a 10, 12 foot day, 15 foot day later that day." "But when I got in at 11 or 12 it was not much going on and I took off on like head high wave, maybe something like that." "I remember I got hit, I slammed really hard." "I saw a bright light." "Like, this magnificent bright light but it wasn't a spiritual thing it was my spine exploding I think." "I just came up and I knew I was hurt." "I had broken nine ribs, you wanna hear this?" "I had broken nine ribs, punctured a lung, broke my T nine, 10, 11 and my spine and nicked my spinal cord but I didn't severe my spinal cord." "That's why I'm sitting here today." "So, it was a mother fucker." "It fucked me up." " When he got hurt, we, it was devastating cause here's a guy that rides only purely because he's stoked and riding waves." "It's the last person you wanna see get hurt, right?" "A person that deserves to ride the place forever and then some." "But, what happened was he had just like a positive attitude and he got through some stuff that was just amazing." " I went back down to the Wedge first chance I could and I wasn't sure I wanted to go back but I did." " We could see him coming from where we kind of sit next to the rock." "We see Gene walking up, you see the silhouette of a guy carrying a cane." "Everyone's eyes pretty much lit up." "(upbeat, pop music)" " Just like the first time he came down to the beach" "I got pretty teary eyed about it because he really, you know, I was like, God damn it, this old man is not giving up." " I've had many grown men come up to me and cry and give me a hug and tell me they're so glad that I'm alright and just the spirit of the Wedge as I felt it, it's been, it's just," "it's a great thing." "And, especially the Wedge guys," "I wanna thank them so much for just being there for me and it was, I wish I could explain it better but it was just a really great and special experience for me for my whole life." "I'll never forget it." "And I thank them all the time and that's it." "(flags flapping)" "(waves crashing)" " Gene, to the day he died, when he was, he would be out there, shitty waves, great waves and he was always pumped." " He was just the nicest, most genuine guy you will ever meet in your life." "Welcoming and kind to everyone, anyone, wave rider or not." "Not just at Wedge but in life." "That's how, that's truly how he was." " I think Gene's stoke brought us together and knowing what's fun about riding." "And, I think Gene's legacy had us realize how close we need to be to each other." "And, I just remember everybody showing up to his funeral and how we felt about it." "And how we all felt as brothers again." "Ya know, sharing our grief and that we need to have each other's backs and remember how stoked Gene was in riding." "When I go down to the Wedge now," "I think about him and I smile." "I don't like weep I just get stoked because that's how much fun he would have." "¶You're still the one to break my heart" "¶You're still the one to tear it apart" "¶You're still the one to call me names" "¶As if all I ever wanted" "¶All I ever wanted was pain" "¶You're still the one to break my heart" "¶You're still the one to tear it apart" "¶You're still the one to call me names" "¶As if all I ever wanted" "¶ All I ever wanted was pain ¶" " [Voiceover] His memorial was a great thing, a touching thing." "It brought everyone together, young guys, old guys." "It cemented the group." "Then we got Hurricane Marie." "The greatest hurricane swell I've ever witnessed." "I think at times, could these waves have been a gift from Gene?" "(upbeat, electronic music)" " There hasn't been the mystical 20 foot hurricane swell since the 90's, right?" "And you see in a few weeks out, this thing could happen." " It gets all the hype." "Like, oh, alright sure, it's gonna be big, whatever." "It's gonna be big hurricane, the angles right, everything." "I'll believe it when I see it." "Then a week rolls in and the forecast kind of improves." "Like, oh, okay, this thing might shapen up still kind of hold my excitement until, and then like two days before is like, oh, okay, something's happened and we're getting waves." "It's gonna line up, it's gonna be, you know, hopefully ideal." " Didn't sleep well the night before." "I woke up, looked at the cam, it was pumping." "Went down and saw the crowd." "It was going down, a lot was going on." " You start to get the jitters and like, me and my other young friends who ride it were just so amped to get this opportunity and we knew this was gonna be the time." "Like, this swells like our chance to really show like the young crew is here, we're here to stay and we ride well." "(fast-paced, rock music)" "¶Contraption every night" "¶Paint out the lights" "¶It stops all the feel ups" "¶That go under the tables" "¶Is that what they say" "¶Is that what they say" "¶Is that what they say" "¶And I am destination" "¶The jewel of a song" "¶A well cut appetite" "¶A spread that has been wasted" "¶Is that what they say" "¶Is that what they say" "¶ Is that what they say ¶" "(water rushing)" "(waves crashing)" " Hurricane Marie, I mean, as everyone knows and says was the swell, right?" "But what really pushed it over the top for me, what made the swell so special and something that I will personally always remember isn't necessarily always gonna be the waves but it's what the day really represented" "and just how symbolic it was for almost like the changing of the guard." "Seeing all these guys like Teddy, Charlie, James, all these young kids step up and ride just amazing." "It was a huge deal and seeing all the support from the old guys who could've gone in anyway if they wanted to, they could burn us in every if they want and we would've been fine with that" "but they're giving us waves, ya know, giving us the chance to prove ourselves." "And, I think they're happy to see what they saw." "¶Run river run" "¶ Carry me to the ocean ¶" " I think as we get older, you lose your selfishness over the place." "You realize that it's what it is, it's a wave, and it's not there just for us." "It's there for the guys when we had it, we'd go, oh my God, yeah, we're the best generation ever, we had more better wave riders, much crap." "We rode it and everybody loved it, that's all there is to it." "Everybody was together because we loved that wave and we tried to get that stoke go to the next generation down." "Even the younger kids, I mean, they've got at that age what we had at their age." "You can see it and it just makes me feel good to see kids really love that place." "¶ I just don't know ¶" " The Wedge means everything to me." "For me, I think that my favorite thing that can happen down there is you'll take off on a nice peak, catch it all the way in, they'll be on the inside and you see your buddy" "take off on the very next one, you through your hands up, you know, that's when you get stoked." "That's the good stuff." "That's what Wedge means to me." " I think the bottom line is you're doing it because of fun." "Life should be fun." "And I said for us, this is the best." " Wedge is like made my life and it's also ruined my life in many ways." "My neck hurts every single morning when I wake up." "My hips busted pretty much." "Sometimes I just wake up and my hip hurts." "But literally I wouldn't change anything that's ever happened to me at Wedge because the friends I've met, the waves I've gotten and just the overall good times I've had out there has made every sacrifice I've ever had to make" "completely worth it for that wave and that vibe and everything that you get down there." "I wouldn't change it for the world and I can't wait to show my son the same exact thing" "I've done down there and I hope he follows in those footsteps, for sure." " It's one of those things where now where I look at the photos of it and I see all the posts and I'm just like so stoked for the new crew that's riding it, that's like enjoying it" "and it's still the same old dirty old Wedge, you know, it's still the same." "¶Where I go" "¶I don't know" "¶ Where I go ¶" " [Voiceover] My last wave was in the fall of 2008 and it's still on my mind." "I still think about it." "I dream about it." "I have nightmares about it." "I was a wave rider, a knee boarder and Wedge was my spot." "¶So I run river run" "¶Carry me to the ocean" "¶As long as you're in motion" "¶I will go" "¶See that California sun" "¶I know I'm getting closer" "¶I got no destination" "¶But I just got to go" "¶Run river run" "¶Let that city fade behind me" "¶They're never gonna find me where I go" "¶See that sun sinking low" "¶Let it pull me to the ocean" "¶I don't know where I'm going" "¶But I just got to go" "¶Mmm" "¶Mmm" "¶Mmm" "¶ Mmm ¶" " Welcome to Coastal Focus." "Southern California's long been know for its surfing and one of the most unique and wild surf spots around is right here in Newport Beach." "I'm Sherry Lynn Deganheart, stay with us as we take a look at the Wedge." " [Voiceover] Incredible, red flag, blackball and Ivan all tanning away here at the Wedge." "JT, checking his unit and he is glad it's still there." " [Voiceover] For now dealing, one of the top body surfers of all time," "Mr. Terry Wade, gives the thumbs up sign, unfortunately he doesn't realize that the surf is not too happening as we speak." " [Voiceover] Jeff, I got a view here that I just love to view (laughs)." "These young ladies could need saving guys, don't forget that." "Beware." " [Voiceover] What type of guys are in the Wedge crew?" " [Voiceover] Yeah, what kind of guys are crazy enough to?" " Guys that are crazy enough to ride 30 feet waves and take it and not get hurt." " Hello, I'm Cashbox and we're looking for the dooply doop bird." "Oh, and here comes one right now." "Hello, sir (laughs)" " [Voiceover] Apparently the Dumbo ride is down and, well, how do you feel about that sir." " I'm extremely bummed out." "I was really looking forward to going on the Dumbo ride." " [Voiceover] Is that your favorite ride here at the D land?" " Well, you know, I like it a lot." "Maybe they'll just let us ride-  [Voiceover] Thank you very much sir." "(upbeat, rock music)" " [Voiceover] Ladies and gentlemen, he was out of last week's swell completely because of an enlarged left testicle." "I'm kind of wondering if the grapefruit size has gone down at all." "We'll be interviewing him when he comes up and we'll probably interview his left testicle also." " [Voiceover] A lot of you guys in the Wedge crew have been wondering how the MCCS works." "That's the Mel Cinema Crewmation Service." "And, I'm glad to show you." "First we have matches, of course film, and my trusty canover aid." "You take the matches, okay suckers." "Wait, stop." "It's not lighting." " [Voiceover] Look at that." "Incredible move, I think he'd probably get a 20, 20 to 40 points on that one folks." "Waving to the crowd." "Perfect execution for the contest." "Good job JT." "(upbeat, rock music)" "(people cheering)" "(people laughing)" " Welcome down to the Wedge." "Come on down, ride a wave, break your neck." "We don't care." "(gentle, acoustic music)"