The big waves are back. Surf was up Tuesday at the Balbѻa Peninsula and West Newport Beach, where 6- to 7-foot waves have had surfers out in full force, said Jim Turner, the lifeguard battalion chief.
"We've got hundreds of surfers out there," he said. "They're taking advantage of the great conditions."
A confession: I used to work at The Daily Pilot (the local LA Times paper for the Newport Beach area and the source of the article linked here), and we just made up the surf report based on whatever the LA Times had reported for the previous day because we had no data or resources to put together a real surf report. I bet you they're still doing it exactly the same way to this day, since the economics of the newspaper industry have only become more dire over the years.
Every now and again some Wedge local would call our depressing, windowless office and leave a voicemail saying "you fuckheads, the Wedge doesn't even *break* on such and such a swell, and you said it's 6-8. You don't know what you're talking about."
As I surfer, I was pained by the fact that we were putting out pure b.s. But I did it anyway.
If I had it to do over again, I think I would raise the issue with the editor and ask that we kill the surf report feature rather than putting out bogus reports. However, I was brand new as a reporter and just did what I was told. Oops.
Hell, they do that on every single story there is. Its all fabricated to sound better than it is on every story. Thats why there is hardly any happy news. Its just too boring and truthfull for them.
