The swell nicknamed “La Bamba” rocked the Wedge with HUGE, crazy surf pushing all types of surfers into crazy wipeouts.
I was at the Wedge on Friday, April 23rd through Sunday the 25th. While this wasn’t the biggest surf I’ve seen at the Wedge it was one of the heaviest.
The Wedge is located in Newport Beach – Brad Jacobson
Watch nine-time world bodyboarding champion, Mike Stewart, bodysurfing the waves of Teahupoo in Tahiti, in October 2018.
The legendary bodyboarder ended up suffering a painful injury.
“I was having a great session until the end of my last wave when good things came to an abrupt halt,” explained Stewart.
“As I rode my last wave I found a new technique that took me faster, out of the barrel and onto the shoulder. I then tucked both arms in, attempting to go faster still, to get out in front of the white water snow ball.”
The idea being to better penetrate the waves face and cut out, avoiding the dreaded inside suck over onto the dry reef. It was a miserable fail.”
“As I dove into the wave face I soon felt that inescapable, eerie anxiety of my body getting sucked over backwards.”
Snowboarding, at this point, has officially entered the mainstream. Networks are interested, contracts are being signed, and sponsor obligations are growing. In 2008, the Dew Tour officially entered the contest space, ushering in a new era of competition. In 2009, the double-cork entered the scene, causing the pipe to become the center of a full-on progression arms race. At the same time, the real dangers and realities of this exponential progression in the pipe began to unfold. Kevin Pearce’s traumatic brain injury and the tragic loss of Sarah Burke marked significant turning points for competitive snowboarders, causing many to question if all the risk was really worth it.