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A few years back myself and a few friends set out to surf Westport.  We all met up at Southcenter, 6am, coffees in hand.  Standard.  One of the guys (who i’ll nickname ‘Mateo’) wasn’t feeling too well, and was sipping on some orange juice.  Figured it’d help him feel better or something.

We piled into one car and hit the road, arriving at Westport a couple hours later.  The Cove was kinda working and so were the Groins.  We split up.  Mateo and another guy at the Cove and myself and the fourth guy at the Groins.  I guess the cove wasn’t working too well since Mateo and the other bro joined us out in the line up shortly after.  The surf wasn’t bad and we all were enjoying the junky waves we were getting.  Not too many people out either which is rare.

After about a half hour i noticed Mateo paddling in.  Weird, i wonder he’s going, i thought.  Maybe another half hour later i noticed Mateo sitting on the rocks in his street clothes.  We pretty much had just started surfing, there were waves and not a lot of dudes out so why would he be bagging it already?

The three of us that remained surfed about an hour more and then called it.  The tide was high so it made for a bit of a tricky exit on the rocks at the Groins.  Right as i was getting out Mateo came over to me and excitedly said ‘dude, you gotta come check this out!’ and started Read the rest of this entry »

Back when i was a kid growing up in Everett, my friends and i found this big sandy hill in the woods. After building forts, rope swings and chopping down 200 foot alder trees for no reason this was a pretty good find.  But what were we gonna do with it?  We couldn’t skateboard down it.  Ah, i know.  Let’s get those Black Snow snowboards that we got from Target for 20 dollars and “sandboard” down them!  This will be rad!

The radness lasted only a few days.  After strapping in atop the 5 foot cliff at the top and bomb dropping to a complete stop followed by multiple cartwheels, or attempting to turn once gaining speed only to fall straight to your grill and receive a mouthful of sand, or actually making it down the hill only to hit grass, rocks and sticks at 20 mph to a complete stop followed by multiple cartwheels—we called it.

Picture Central (aka Ski Acres) on the stickiest day last spring.  Like the kind where after an hour your base looks like you rode through an oil slick.  Well sand boarding is stickier than that.  Or at least it was on the Black Snow snowboard from Target.

Nowadays the woods that i grew up playing in have been replaced by apartments, roads, and light industrial buildings.  But if you’ve never experienced the joy of snowboarding in sand don’t sweat it. Oregon has it’s own sandboarding park!  Complete with rails and boxes for all you jibbers out there. Located just north of Florence on the Oregon coast the Sand Master Park has everything you need for sandboarding–sand board rental, rails, boxes and sand.  They even have contests!

Wow.

Thanks to my man Mike C. for forwarding this little gem.

Myself and a bunch of friends rallied out to La Push last weekend. Left the big city at 2pm just in time to hit a mega line at the Kingston Ferry. Evidently the Lavender Festival in Sequim was hoppin so lotsa baby boomers were en route. After watching some agro ferry-frequenters go ape shit on some ‘outta town line cutter’ we made the ferry only 1.5 hours late.

We made it to La Mush by about 8:30pm and were in the water shortly after. It was cloudy that night so the post sunset light went quick–usually this time of year you can surf well after sunset. Water was glassy, waves were waist high and punchy. As the evening went on the waves melded with the horizon and became really hard to see. Luckily a little Quileute firework show helped out with some depth perception. We got out of the water in more or less complete dark. The rest of the gang showed up that night.

The waves Sat. morning were Read the rest of this entry »

A month ago i wrote how i’d heard that there was a shark sighting in Westport by a bunch of people. At the time i thought it to be a bunch of bull shiz but later heard from a legit source that it was indeed legit.

Below is an email i received from a friend who actually saw the shark.

“Hey man,

I’m not sure what to say on this one as I still don’t know what to think. I have always thought of W-Port as the Shark free zone of the NW. Living and surfing in Oregon for years, I always knew that there Read the rest of this entry »

Gas is expensive. Therefore surfing is expensive. If you live Seattle it’s even more expensive. Have you ever really stopped to add up how much gas you burn surfing?? I know math is hard so here’s a handy table i calc’d that breaks down estimated cost to various surf spots in WA, OR based on fuel economy and the price of gas at $4.50 and $5.00.
We all pretty much knew this but it’s pretty nutz to see it in spreadsheet form. Gas probably isn’t gonna get any cheaper either. Try not to factor in beer, camping fees, food or ammo for your airsoft gun. Ouch.

Here’s an interesting read on other oil related impacts to surfing. Thanks Dax. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25571902

There are lot of factors involved with predicting surf conditions. Swell, wind and tide all play a role. Some spots will break on a given set of conditions and another spot a short distance away will not.

Generally the bigger the difference between the size of the swell and the interval of the swell means cleaner, more powerful waves. For example a 6 foot 15 sec swell would typically be better than a 6 foot 8 second swell. The Northwest has spots that break on every swell direction–some better than others.

Wind can play a big part in how clean the swell is and the shape of the waves. Onshore winds usually smash down the waves and make them crumbily. Offshore winds can scoop up the waves and shape them better. The direction of the wind can make a big difference in the wave conditions too. Depending on the orientation of the beach one spot could have offshore winds while another spot close by might have more of an onshore wind direction.

The influence of the tide at certain spots can literally turn the waves off in a matter of minutes. Some spots are so tide dependent that they’ll work for a while and when the tide switches–flat. Typically most spots break better on an incoming tide. Another major influence is the change from incoming to outgoing tide. Some places break better on a big tide swing, some don’t.

What it really comes down to is each spot is unique. They all break different–different swells, different winds and different tides. You have spend the time to figure out how each spot works.

Now that i re-read this i realized that this is probably completely useless to someone who didn’t already know this stuff. Good luck!

Word on the street is that a shark was seen last week at the Jetty in Westport. To my knowledge this is the 1st shark sighting at a Washington surf spot. Not sure what kind of shark it was.

Evidently the shark was milling around ~100 yards south of the Jetty. Maybe it was the consistent south swell for the last week but a shark sighting in WA was just a matter of time. Surfing’s gotten so popular in WA in the last few years that statistically it’s bound to happen. Statistically.

Here’s a link to a map of US shark attacks. Florida wins! http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/GAttack/mapusa.htm

Here’s an interesting site devoted to reporting shark sightings and attacks. http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/

Read the rest of this entry »

What up duder.

Did you know that Friday June 20th is International Surfing Day?!

What do you do if you’re a surfer and you live in a city 3 hours away from the Ocean you ask?  Answer: celebrate International Surfing Day with a bunch of other dudes wondering why they don’t live at the Ocean either of course.  More info at Surfrider Seattle.