House sized waves
Posted by: drexnefex in Surf, tags: NW, surfing, the Strait, WashingtonSurfed the Wedge this past Saturday. Shit was nuts. Here’s what went down:
Went to pick up Ki and Petersen with just enough time to catch the 1st ferry @ 5:45am. Ki was up and ready to go, Petersen wasn’t. After excessive calls/texts/horn honks we split. Brutal, but that’s how it goes. (we found out later he was in the shower–who showers before surfing??). Sorry man. We b-lined it to Edmonds, and made it on the ferry as the last car. Last car!
Elwha, Twin, etc wasn’t working so we made the call to head to the Wedge. It sounded like a war zone from the lookout, with waves exploding on the beach. Maybe that’s why no-one was parked or in the water when we got there. Mostly closeout bombs but we decided to hit it anyways.
Once we got down, i witnessed the biggest waves i’ve ever seen at this spot. The set waves were breaking all the way at the end of the rock wall and the spray was pushing up the wall and hitting the bottom of the tree branches that were hanging down! It was probably borderline surfable and definetly sketchy but there was a big enough of a period that a paddle out wasn’t too hard at all.
Ok, i’m out in the line up. Now what. Probably the biggest shit i’ve ever been in. The waves were REtarded big. I figured i’d go for one of the smaller ones–maybe i’d get lucky and not take a closer to the head or worse, breaking my board again. After being out solo for a bit two other guys paddled out. One guy made a few waves no problem but after a while they bailed citing danger. Hmmm… The one wave i caught was one of the smaller ones. I made my bottom turn and came back up then down again and was going 90 at bottom turn #2. Farther down the line, the wave was breaking the other way, peeling right, coming towards me. At this point i launched over the back of the wave going full speed and freaking went airborne… I don’t even know.. but i LAUNCHED. Im pretty sure i screamed like a girl.
Check the pics below. The wave in the 1st pic could’ve fit inside the wave in the 2nd pic. Check the rest of Ki’s photos here: http://ki.smugmug.com/gallery/3854978#223158019
I pretty much called it at this point and bailed. Walking back up we bumped into Clemmy and he convinced me to paddle back out again. Clem caught a nice left and i got one more before we bailed. Once we got back to the car Petersen was there waiting. Dude totally powered out solo, hung-over. Nice work man.
We (Ki, Clem, Petersen, Glen, Timmers and myself) ended up surfing Hoku later that day but it went from glass to blown out in about 10 minutes. Best waves i’ve ever seen at Hoku too.
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November 20th, 2007 at 12:39 am
here are two private embarrassing moments i had this weekend.
showed up late saturday afternoon. checked the elwha — nothing. drove thru to crescent to check the action. crescent was small but real glassy so i figured if cresent barely had swell twin prolly wouldn’t be working. decided to f’around on my long board. the left by the rock was pretty fun. surfed till sunset.
so saturday night i camped out in my van at twin and had a blast getting waisted by the campfire with some fellas. woke up bright and early sunday looked out the window and the waves were peeling in nicely. shoulder high and glassy. so i procedded to take my pants off and get nekid to slip into my wetsuit in the van. i was sitting on my cot stretching my legs and body out to put my legs into my suit. i was really stretching my legs out let me tell ya. so, anyway, stretching my legs out also stretched out the springs that hold the cot canvas to the cot frame. as i procedded to pull up my suit over my willus and balls. my ball skin got caught in one of the springs which hurt so i jerked up a bit and the spring pinched the ever living shit out of my ball skin. now part of my ball skin has grill marks on it like someone grilled up my balls on a george foreman. anyway, had it solo before the ferry riders showed up and the other drunks woke up.
coming back home on the ferry i decided to take a shit. the ferry bathrooms are good for shitting. they are usually a few vacant shoots, they have ass gaskets, and the stalls have good room to whipe your butt.
so, i put down my ass gasket and take a shit. i’m checking out the internet on my phone shitting thinking ahhhh this is nice. so i reach over to grab some shitter paper and commence with operation butt clean-up. well, holly fuck, what do you know? those assholes were out of shitter paper. i had no choice but to whipe my ass with a nice fresh ass gasket.
so, in summary, this monday morning my ball skin hurts like hell and my bottom hole doesn’t feel much better. but, i didn’t get skunked and the waves were fun so i’m good.
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:34 am
I thought about checking cresent, …damn it. Wedge was big and actually pretty clean next to the rock. Surprised there weren’t more takers…would have made it a little less intimidating if there were a few more soldiers out there. Drex took some beatings, i pussied around the big sets and took a safe one. It was still a humbling experience. I don’t know about house sized, but you could have damn well fit a small cottage in there.
November 26th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
i like your website it’s real handy for checking stuff. the snowman gave me the URL. any thoughts on privatizing the surf stuff though? i know, i know…. it’s not a secret anymore but there isn’t much sense in advertising it either.
November 26th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Thanks man. I made this site to be useful–kind of a one stop shop for checking weather.
I try to stay sensitive to the surf culture by not blowing out spots that few people know about. I keep pics, titles, locations as obscure as i can.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
hey drexnefex thanks a lot for all the info you sent me on NW surf spots: it’s great for someone like me who is just getting into surfing after watching Blue Crush (awesome movie dood don’t you think) and wants to know where to practice! Most people I emailed were like “no way you f’in kook get the F off my site” but you were really nice with all those aerial maps and directions and names and secrets and stuff, me and all my frat bros are “totally stoked” to try and “get rad” with you and all the friendly surfers at these sweet spots bro…
GO SEAHAWKS DUDE!
November 26th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
hahahaaa. oh man. that’s pretty funny. that made me spit coffee on myself.
December 12th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Man o Man……..you guys have a really nice site but its a shame the way you post pics up and talk about the straights/locations and follow it up with your photos……If you havent noticed not to many people do this because its BAD brotha and the karma will soon catch up to you like it did perfect wave surf shop and all the other clowns who exposed our precious breaks.
dont be a sell out…you guys wanna make money in the surf industry do it without exposing our area.
keepn it real since 99
Dustin
www npwsurf com
December 12th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Thanks man!
Wedge Aerial taken down.
We’re not making any money. No plans to.
December 12th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
well, you guys are making money with the tag from evo affiliate program (10% referal) and the other tags.
but anyways, sounds good brother!
Nothing like keepn secret what we have up here. In the last 5 years spots have been getting twice the crowd they used to. The people who find spots on their own keep it secret ya know and are less apt to expose it. Anyone who ever emails me we just send them to westport and they can begin their search there.
Frank from www NXNWSURF com says it best.
“The North Coast of the Olympic Peninsula has the last remaining stretch of true wilderness in the continental United States. This wilderness should be used with the utmost respect. It’s a fine line between exploiting this area and suppling surfers with the gear they need. Hopefully we at NxNW can maintain that balance.
Many spots on the North Coast are on private property. They can, have been, and can be closed again to the general public. Most of the complaints we have heard about involve breaking rules and leaving trash. You can do your part to keep these spots open by obeying all rules, and packing out more trash than you brought.
Although we don’t give out maps we believe the search will bring the reward.”
thanks agian, you guys have a good thing going with your site besides the pics in the straights.
Dustin
www npwsurf com
December 13th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
we completely understand your concern regarding blowing out the strait.
we don’t get enough traffic on this site (160 hits total) to generate any money. to date we’ve made $0 dollars. but keep coming, we dig the traffic.
we’ve grown up in WA and have only been surfing for the last 8 years. in that time the amount of people in the water has skyrocketed. probably due to the fact that the population in WA has also skyrocketed in the last 8 years. surfing in WA has def become more popular in that same time but the cold water, long drives, inconsistency of the waves will always keep that in check. and as far as the strait goes, (unless you call PA home) there will always be a ferry to contend with and even more inconsistent waves to keep those spots in check. but, with the amount of people in the area, spots will inevitably get more crowded.
aside from the now removed aerial of the wedge, none of the pics of the spots on the straits have been named, show any sort of discernible location that would allow someone to find them, nor are there any directions. the locations in the pics are only recognizable to someone who is familiar with that specific location–and that’s by design.
we will continue to post pics of NW surf. and we will continue to do so in a tactful and sensitive manner.
chime in anytime.
December 15th, 2007 at 8:23 am
You say that no spots have been named take another look at your site. whats the goal?
December 24th, 2007 at 5:44 am
My personal opinion…..the spots “named” are already “blown out” spots. They are all well known spots, and other pacific northwest surf sites have been posting shots from these spots for years. Noone is trying to post directions to, or other relevant information of the whereabouts of any of surf breaks. Even the aerial photo could be of just about any coastline. The goal….so it seems……is to create a forum for people who share a common interest and/or hobby. Unless someone is posting directions and maps with ANY kind of reference points, I don’t think there is a reason for ANYBODY, even someone keeping it real since 99′, to get their panties in a bunch.
December 29th, 2007 at 4:03 am
First-Drex and Ki and anyone else posting great surf pics thanks.
Second- Don’t Quote a surf shop that makes it’s money off boards from china and doesn’t support the local shapers.
Third- Anyone who has surfed the straits since 99′ should know. The Straits are a mystery you never really know when you’ll score. So be stoked when you get some and share it with your bros. Lifes too short to be bitter.
The goal is obvious friends having fun and sharing it with other friends.
If you want to talk about crowds surf with some of the boys from the 80’s.
Drex is not the enemy it’s people who expose spots in surfer magazine.
Washington is a unique and beautiful place I don’t blame anybody for moving here. I wish they didn’t but that’s out of my hands. Get used to people in the water and enjoy when you score with just your bros.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
As far as North By Northwest goes they support local shapers. Iwas just there last weekend and saw plenty of boards by Ewaliko and Hammersurf. I have been to every surfshop in washington that I know of and everyone of thenm sells boards made in china.