Dirty Old Wedge Page #3

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.

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