Big Wednesday - Hurricane Marie

Hurricane Marie was the 6th most intense Pacific hurricane on record.  Seriously, it has a wikipedia page.  

Here are some morning shots of the HB Pier.  When large south swells hit the OC typically Huntington suffers from a nasty current. Of course no one was out, who would want that punishment?  Paddle out at Beach Blvd and you'd be at the Pier in a matter of minutes. Assuming you could get out...

Can't recall the last time I saw a wave break by Ruby's... They have really good shakes btw. 

This was the only clean, somewhat surfable wave I saw.  Most of the waves were not peaky like this, they were big walls.

Let's paddle out!  Not.

So I had to work all day and missed most of the morning action.  The hot spot was 17th street in Newport where a number of pros showed up.  I talked to a high school buddy who surfed it in the morning and he said it was incredible. A number of pros were out including Jamie O'Brien and Rob Machado.

Here are some shots of Newport in the late afternoon.

17th/18th Steet was the place to be 

Beefy section.  Sir-Mix-Alot Approves

It's rare to see white water flying up here - between Newport Pier and Balboa Pier

More Geyser Action... 

A nice right sneaks through...

More 17th street action

The Harbor mouth was breaking but it was a little soft.  I was hoping there would be a barrel section like Ala Moana.  No dice... 

Wedge + Big Swell = Crowd

This was to the right of the Wedge.  Seemed like more people were watching this wave- not quite as peaky but packing some power.  Sorry there's nothing to show scale here but I remember thinking you likely burst and eardrum if you got got caught in the wrong place.  

Here's a sequence at 18th Street.  Hawaiian charger Adam D'Esposito drops and gets a pit.  Rumor is he came flying out on the wave before...