Our Five Favourite Newport Wedge Clips!

Newport wedge is a unique and beautiful beast. She’s unpredictable and shallow and you never quite know when she’s going to turn on the wave rider sliding down her, shut down and bury them in the sand. Accordingly she makes for some of the most entertaining web clips we’ve ever seen, from massive air drops to crazy close out pits, we just can’t get enough of her churning sand bottomed charm. Spring has sprung in Orange County and accordingly The Wedge is begining to roar to life once again, so to celebrate we’ve decided to bring you 5 of our favourite clips from years gone by in which she features:

Kicking things off with the real reason everyone clicks to watch The Wedge doing its thing: the wipeouts.  Here are all the best ones from 2015, from the abstract sponger catapulted by backwash to the more common place caught in the lip pin drop, this clip provides a rich and varied selection sure to have the sadists amongst you squealing and giggling with glee.

As a man who is drawn to novelty in general, it is no surprise the JOB has long had a relationship with The Wedge and he’s even been known to fly all the way from Hawaii for one day of action (admittedly on Red Bulls dollar). In this clip he tries out his patented board swap and whilst the swap itself is pretty spectacular, we also really enjoyed the carnage involved in the prep for such a escapade.

Probably one of the most watched Wedge clips ever, this one is short and sweet and features sponger Alex Johnston getting catapulted about 8 foot into the air  by a pitching lip as it collides with the backwash, before plummeting into around 3 foot of water. I’ve been known to scream like that dropping into a 3 foot Newquay bay close out, so while some may mock the infantile shriek that makes up the audio of this clip, I deem it to be an entirely acceptable and rational response to the situation he finds himself in.

Here’s local boy and apparent wedge specialist Charlie Wiggs with a super cool clip where he actually manages to tame a few waves, get barrelled and coming out unscathed. As much as we enjoy watching grown men lying on little bits of sponge getting pitched by the lip, it makes a nice change to actually see someone getting spat out of a big wedgey pit for once. The bit where he burns his perfectly good hog is a bit weird though, especially since he apparently then has to get to and from the wedge on that rubbish little motorised push bike, still I s’pose anyone who will unflinchingly pack a close out like the one at 1.30 aint gonna be that normal are they?

The only Wedge clip to receive a Vimeo Staff pick, ‘Above The Wedge’ is a beautifully shot and moody little number, filmed with a drone and featuring a really interesting perspective that shows the raw power of the wave. Although drones were already pretty ubiquitous by this time last year, they have undoubtedly increased in popularity, as has the skill of the pilots, meaning we’re sure to see plenty more Wedge clips from this angle over the coming months so stay tuned.