South Swell Meet Up

The south swell traveled such a long way to finally arrive in Oregon, I thought it was only fair to meet it a little closer to the source. So early Saturday morning we drove Rye's vegetarian sedan down to Newport (OR), leaving the succulent smell of vintage French fries and tempura in our wake.

It was foggy when we hit the shore, but from what we could see through the pea soup, the waves looked pretty enticing. Every 20 minutes or so, a big set would march in and form powerful peaks, as if the south was combining with the predominant NW swell. We paddled out and it was really much bigger than we thought in the water. I was glad to be riding my 6'6 and I think Rye was happy to have pulled his 6'10 CI single fin out of hiatus. He got some bombs. It was really cold, which made waiting 20 minutes between sets a little harder, but when you'd spin for a big one, drop in late and slingshot off the bottom into pocket where the light north wind was opening up the faces, it was all worth while.

I couldn't get any pictures of the spot we surfed — it was just a little too foggy — but I snapped this one as we drove up the coast and back toward a different kind of wave: a heat wave that continues to swelter the city.