Monday, September 28, 2009

It's officially fall and el nino is looking promising...


The west coast kills it.

The water is cold, rarely over mid-50’s even in the summer months. The air is frigid and the sun is elusive. Rain and fog dominate the weather reports for weeks on end. The waves are mushy messes of peaks and storm-swollen energy, did I mention there's wind too? The scarce seals only remind you of how outnumbered you are by sharks. The water is clouded and the breaks are fickle sand bars. The coastline is often rocky and threatening at best. Most surfers wouldn’t get near this whitecap wasteland and the ones that do probably don’t take kindly to your type. There are few people and never a bikini clad sorority on these clammy beaches.

Almost sunny...
So why travel all the way to the 51st state just to go to the foggy beach? Because the Jefferson state knows how to go huge, end of story.

Dustin Stoenner picking up speed in the Flyer down the line. October 2009

Will Parham going for the bread and butter on a relatively small day, 2008.

Once you get out beyond the breakers you can usually catch your breath. Sometimes you can pick your wave carefully and with ease and precision. Sometimes the wave chooses you.



Paul Gamache holding on with a wheelie just before sunset. Photo: Will Parham


The combination of raw energy delivered directly upon the west coast and consistent storm intervals makes for months of reliable surf. The waves are messy more than anything, but if you are in a kayak this can make for the most ideal conditions. The north coast contains miles of rocky coast with rips that will pull you out to sea before you can fasten your seatbelt and affix your mandatory anti-implosion device.
The north coast delivers punishing rogue sets and unpredictable walls of water. If you don’t get worked one day, the next day you’ll get throttled for an hour and never even make it out past the breakers. There’s always a chance that paddling out in a kayak will be impossible.

Leif Anderson bracing and gaining some forward momentum on a huge clean-up set. Photo Will Parham

Swims here can entail hundreds of yards of swimming into rocky shores and scant beaches. If you take a swim out here you may be all on your own, if your lucky your buddy will be there to help you.

The swimmer here had no implosion device, luckily, he was able to empty his boat and climb back in with a little help and avoided a very long swim with  strong currents. Photo Will Parham


Paddling out and dropping in can be intimidating and demanding but is usually worth it…

Dustin lookin' back and sizing up the wave. Photo Will Parham

And if ya don’t know... now ya know.

An early fall swell rolls into the bay at sunset, September 27, 2009. Photo: William Parham



Dustin Stoenner throws a nice flashback way out in front of the pile in his Fyler during a fall swell 2009. Photo Will Parham












2 comments:

  1. Will, it's November, you got the september blog post going. Get with the program, man. We need newer photos. Have any skook shots? Oh, wait, that hasn't happened yet.

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