Big Corona: The Beach That Helped Launch California Surfing
Today, Big Corona—officially Corona del Mar State Beach—is better known for swimming, fire rings and family outings than for powerful surf. During the 1920s and early 1930s, however, it was one of California’s most important surfing beaches and briefly stood near the center of the emerging mainland surf culture.
Before the harbor jetties
Big Corona lies immediately south of the entrance to Newport Harbor. Before the harbor mouth was fully dredged and protected by long rock jetties, ocean swells rolled directly toward the beach and through the harbor entrance. The waves could be dangerous for boats, but they created excellent conditions for the era’s heavy wooden surfboards.
The beach was sufficiently well regarded that Duke Kahanamoku reportedly considered the waves entering Newport Harbor among the best on the California coast. Photographs document Duke tandem surfing at Corona del Mar with swimmer Viola Hartman in 1922, helping introduce Southern Californians to a sport that was still strongly associated with Hawaii. (Sherman Library and Gardens)
Surfing at that time bore little resemblance to the modern sport. Boards were generally long, solid pieces of redwood or other heavy timber. They could weigh well over 75 pounds, making simply carrying and paddling one an athletic accomplishment. Surfers rode upright, usually on relatively straight lines, rather than carving sharply across the face of a wave.
The Corona del Mar Surfboard Club
By 1928, Corona del Mar reportedly had the only organized surf club on the Pacific Coast. Known variously as the Corona del Mar Surfboard Club and Corona del Mar Surf Board Association, it had approximately twelve members.
The club helped transform surfing from an informal exhibition into an organized competitive activity. Big Corona became a gathering place for pioneering watermen from Corona del Mar, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach and elsewhere along the Southern California coast. (Sherman Library and Gardens)
The 1928 Pacific Coast championship
Big Corona’s defining moment came in 1928, when the club sponsored the Pacific Coast Surf Board Championship, widely described as the first major mainland American surf competition.
The program was broader than a modern surfing contest. It included:
- A paddleboard race from the beach to the west jetty and back
- A surfboard lifesaving demonstration
- Canoe-tilting competition
- A rough-water board race beginning near the harbor bell buoy
Several hundred spectators reportedly watched fifteen competitors. Duke Kahanamoku was invited but did not participate. Tom Blake—who would become one of surfing’s most influential board designers, writers and promoters—won both the paddling and surfing portions. (Sherman Library and Gardens)
One local historical account says Blake used two boards: a heavier paddleboard for the offshore portion and a lighter board for the return through the surf. After rounding the buoy, he abandoned the heavier board and rode the lighter one toward shore, gaining a decisive advantage.
Surfing competitions continued at Corona del Mar into the 1930s. Local surfer Keller Watson Jr. was among the champions associated with that period, and Big Corona remained a recognized gathering place until the Second World War interrupted organized contests.
How the harbor ended the wave
The same waves that attracted surfers presented a serious threat to fishing boats and other vessels entering Newport Harbor. Engineers therefore worked for years to stabilize the entrance.
Construction of the west jetty began in 1917. Even its early form altered the surf, producing smoother and less powerful waves at Big Corona. Storm damage periodically opened gaps in the structure, allowing some of the old surf to return.
The east jetty was begun later and, between 1934 and 1936, the harbor entrance was dredged to approximately 25 feet while the jetties were substantially extended and reinforced with roughly 200,000 tons of rock. These improvements made the harbor safer, but they blocked and redirected much of the swell that had once broken at Big Corona. (Visit Newport Beach)
The result was one of surfing history’s great geographic trades: Big Corona lost its celebrated waves, while the altered swell patterns helped create the powerful reflected waves at the Wedge on the opposite side of the harbor entrance.
Big Corona’s place in surfing history
Big Corona’s period as a major surf break lasted only a few decades, but its influence was considerable. It was a meeting place for Duke Kahanamoku, Tom Blake and other pioneers; the home of one of America’s earliest organized surf clubs; and the site of a landmark 1928 competition.
The sheltered beach seen today gives little indication of the powerful waves that once entered Newport Harbor. Big Corona remains open for surfing, but its modern identity is primarily that of a protected swimming and recreational beach. Its greater legacy is historical: before Huntington Beach, Malibu and the other famous California surf centers rose to prominence, Corona del Mar was one of the places where mainland surfing first became an organized culture and competitive sport. (newportbeachca.gov)