NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
W SWELL 11 FT AT 9 SECONDS.
There are few things lamer, in my opinion, than the surfer that bails out in front of a wave that catches them inside. Don't get me wrong, there are times that you simply can't hang on and the board is ripped from your grasp...and I'm not so core that I disdain someone who'd ditch in double overhead or bigger surf who was in a bad position and wasn't endangering someone else...
But you have to hang on to the board...take your medicine...suffer the consequences if necessary.
~photo by Grannis from Bing Surfboards website
TONIGHT SE WIND 20 TO 25 KT.
BECOMING S 30 TO 35 KT WITH GUSTS TO 40 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 6 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 11 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 7 SECONDS.
Today was light SE winds of about 10 to 15 knots.
Some surface chop but not too bad...
And about a 5 foot swell.
I knew today was the window I had been waiting for all month and I called a friend last night to make some suggestions for a surf at a certain locale of lore.
Headed down early before sunup in anticipation of the trek into a mysto spot that has been working of late. Came into the coast range just as the light quickened, it was a Christmas card...completely frosted trees in deep shadow with mountains in the distance glowing in the yellow orange sunrise yet to reach me.
Got the call at about 8 that the trek was a no go. Swung wide to take a look at a couple spots I like. I was heartened to see clean reeling head high surf peeling across the bar in front of me. Considered stopping there and paddling out, but pushed on to the next break south...more of the same. Things were looking up.
Pulled up to find a few heads in the water at a fairly popular central coast spot. To be honest, it didn't look as good as the other places I'd checked but there were a few waves coming through that were looking pretty fun. I stepped out of the car onto the frozen sand that cracked as I walked over to a friend's car and hopped in to discuss the possibilities. Chatted for a bit with Gaz, who was suited up but either trying to talk himself into it or out of it...not 100% sure which. I was kinda doing the same dance in my mind, but it was overpowered by the fact that I hadn't been in the water in 29 days...a rough November surfwise.
I said that the waves looked like longboard material and talked him into going back to his house to select a couple probable sticks since he had only his quad and I had a pintail gun shape that wasn't super suited to the surf I was seeing. So we headed back to the break and paddled out for a few.
Gaz lent me a Jim "The Genius" McPhillips singlefin noserider with 50-50 rails that I have to admit...I did not ride like a genius but a kook. It's been awhile since I have riden a classic old school board like this one...the last few years have been mostly tri-fin performance longboards, downrailers and boards that you can lay over off the bottom. The first 6 waves or so I leaned over and fell over, before I remembered how to swing it around and move to the front of the board...I say "move to the front" because my cross-tepping also was leaving much to be desired.
There were only 3 or 4 of us out at any given time and plenty of fun waves coming through. I considered heading in to get the gun on a couple occassions (if only to shoot myself for blowing many waves) but instead toughed out the challenge of riding on an unfamiliar board. A left started working as the tide drained and I pulled into a couple short reelers that deposited me in the channel for an easy paddle back out. The rights were definitely longer and faster, and while I caught a few satisfying ones...it was definitely not the board for down the line surfing and making sections. Still, it felt good to be in the water...despite my (still) aching neck and burning arms that protested this kind of treatment after a month of shoreleave.
All in all, a fun day. Cold, cold air that made the water seem warm. Big birds of prey gliding off the cape. Sea lions moving south offshore and Coast Guard helicopters patrolling the coast with finally nothing to do for a day...although they should be back at it shortly as the surf builds.
NW WIND 20 TO 25 KT...BECOMING NE 15 KT.
WIND WAVES 5 FT...SUBSIDING TO 3 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
NW SWELL 15 FT AT 12 SECONDS EARLY.
SUBSIDING TO 11 FT AT 11 SECONDS BY LATE MORNING.
TONIGHT NE WIND 15 KT...VEERING TO E AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT. NW SWELL 10 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
SUBSIDING TO 7 FT AT 10 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Things are looking up...
Surf could improve substantially over the next couple days...
Tomorrow and Friday are both forecast as head high swell...
With possible offshores...
We'll see.
Here's a nice take from a Pacific Northwest surfer:
2 weeks, 2 trips, 2 sides, 2 countries.~dub star
1,556 miles, gale force winds, sideways rain, 3-4 inches of SNOW, and some fun waves along the way.
All strictly Pacific North West.
This time of year I can’t help but think of warm water, the tropics, and reef passes. Hawaii, Cali, Mex, Costa Rica? But why? Forget it, it’s still fall and there’s plenty to be had right here in the equally as beautiful PNW. After all there’s a time and place for everything.
Call me crazy, but I like cold water. I like surfing places where there shouldn’t be waves. I like surfing in the pouring down rain over kelp beds. I like hiking through the rainforest in knee deep mud and seeing bears and elk on the beach. I like seeing Sitka Spruce, Red Cedars, Doug Firs, and snowcapped peaks from the lineup. I like trading waves with a good friend or stranger in total solitude. I just plain like PNW surfing no matter how far I have to go to get it because when you do put in the time and effort it’s always that much sweeter.
Shouts to the foreigner heads for keeping it real. A refreshing change from the normal BS I often deal with surfing local winter spots. Thanks to the Sitka bros for letting us and my dog chill while waiting for the ferry during the freak snow storm. And F the BFE guys who have no edicate and think they run spots that clearly have no locals, and if they did they sure wouldn’t be white.
The waves are the motivation, but it’s the adventure that keeps me going.
NW WIND 20 TO 25 KT...WITH A FEW GUSTS TO 35 KT.
WIND WAVES 6 FT.
NW SWELL 17 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
On Wikipedia, I found this excerpt on caving...some interesting parellels:
Caves have been explored out of necessity for thousands of years, but only in the last century or two has the activity become a sport. In recent decades caving has changed considerably due to the availability of modern protective wear and equipment. It has recently come to be known as an "extreme sport" by some (though not commonly considered as such by its practitioners, who may dislike the term for its perceived connotation of disregard for safety.)
...an American caver...wrote about a group of men and boys who explored and studied caves throughout New England. This group referred to themselves as spelunkers. This is regarded as the first use of the word in the Americas. Throughout the 1950s, spelunking was the general term used for exploring caves in US English. It was used freely, without any positive or negative connotations, although only rarely outside the US.
In the 1960s, the term "spelunking" began to convey the idea of inexperienced cavers, using unreliable light sources and cotton clothing. In 1985, Steve Knutson (editor of American Caving Accidents) made the following distinction:
"...Note that I use the term 'spelunker' to denote someone untrained and unknowledgeable in current exploration techniques, and 'caver' for those who are."
This sentiment is exemplified by bumper stickers and t-shirts displayed by many cavers: "Cavers rescue spelunkers".
Potholing refers to the act of exploring potholes, a word originating in the north of England for predominantly vertical caves. The term is often used as a synonym for caving, and outside the caving world there is a general impression that potholing is a more "extreme" version of caving.
S WIND 25 TO 30 KT.
SOME GUSTS TO 40 KT ALONG THE COASTLINE UNTIL 10 AM.
WIND BECOMING W TO NW 25 KT THIS AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 6 FT.
SW SWELL 14 FT...SUBSIDING TO 10 FT.
TONIGHT W SWELL 13 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
I was reading the Sunday paper today in which an article was detailing the damage to the jetties at Barview. The jetties have lost hundreds of feet, have been breached and repaired in many areas and the channel itself is silted up and dangerously shallow, as evidenced by numerous fatal boating accident over the past few years suffered by vessels trying to cross the bar during heavy swells.
Another concern is that if the north jetty is permitted to deteriorate further it could potentially threaten the community of Barview, which owes its existence to the build up of sand on the north side of the jetty. This brought to mind the fate of another Oregon community that disappeared over a half century ago...Bay Ocean. Curiously, some contend that it was the construction of the north jetty that contributed to Bay Ocean's demise and the subsequent increase of land mass at Barview. Although there is no hard proof that the construction was the jetty was the determining factor in the devastating erosion that doomed Bay Ocean to be reclaimed by the Pacific.
The paragraphs below are from the website "PDX History.com"...the site also has numerous vintage images that detail life in Bay Ocean.
Bayocean was to become the Atlantic City of the West in the dreams of the town’s founder and first promoter, T.B. Potter in 1906. Bad health forced Potter, a real estate promoter from Kansas City, to leave Oregon before the town officially opened and the task of promoting and building the Resort Community was passed on to Potter’s son, Thomas Irving Potter. The first lot was sold in 1907 to Francis Mitchell, a 37-year old druggist who opened a grocery store. By 1914, 600 lots had been sold to house 2000 inhabitants.
There were grand plans for the new coastal resort, it was heralded as “The Playground of the Pacific Northwest”, but most of the plans never came to fruition. Bayocean was built on a sand dune on a spit between the Pacific Ocean and the fresh water of Tillamook Bay.
There were three Hotels and boarding houses, a School, a General Store, a Bakery and several other businesses. The Amusements consisted of a Trap Shoot Range, a Bowling Alley and Tennis Courts. Bayocean had a Cannery, a Tin Shop, Machine Shop and a Texaco gas station. The Town had a sophisticated water system, a telephone system and a power plant with a diesel engine that provided electricity. A Grand Opening for the Beach Resort was held on June 20, 1912 complete with a parade and marching band.
Additionally, the Natatorium at Bayocean housed a 1000 seat movie theater and a 50 X 160 foot pool, which varied from one foot to 11 and 1/2 feet in depth, it was heated and was known for its wave machine. The building housed dressing rooms, tub and shower baths, boilers, pumping and heating machinery, a laundry and an electric light plant.
A road from Tillamook was finally completed in 1928 and a school opened in 1932. The school doubled as a house of worship. Eventually, more than 2,000 sandy lots were sold and about 60 homes were built. The town boasted four miles of paved streets.
By the time the road opened, erosion had begun to take a toll as several buildings washed into the sea, and the Dance Hall had burned down. The town had about 50 year-round residents, but in the summer, the crowds would swell to several thousand inhabitants.
By 1932, the ocean had taken a tole on the Natatorium. It was no longer safe to swim there. As the ocean washed away the sand and under footings, the walls of the Natatorium began to sag and the roof collapsed in 1936. It had totally disappeared by 1939. The Post Office closed on March 31, 1953 as most of the resort town’s residents had moved away. Mr. Mitchell was the last resident to leave. By 1954, the spit washed out, making Bayocean an island. It became known as the town that fell into the sea.
Over the next few years, the town was closed and the remaining buildings were burned down, removed or torn down. The last house fell into the ocean in 1960. Several of the original buildings from Bayocean were moved to Cape Meares, including the School House, which is now a Community Center. Funds are being raised for restoration, and they are over half way to their goal of $40,000.
Unfortunately, very little else of Bayocean survives today, just a few pieces of concrete here and there, and just a few fading memories.
NW WIND 10 KT WITH GUSTS TO 15 KT.
BECOMING SW 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT...BUILDING TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
NW SWELL 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
A story from Duke...
That Legendary Ride
Much seems to have been made of that once-in-a-lifetime ride I made from the outer steamer lane off Waikiki, and now is as good a time as any to put the record straight. The incident has been written up before, but might bear repeating. I can remember the details as though it all happened yesterday, for, in retrospect, I have relived the ride many a time. I think my memory plays me no tricks on this one.
Pride was in it with me those days, and I was still striving to build bigger and better boards, ride taller, faster waves, and develop more dexterity from day to day. Also, vanity probably had much to do with my trying to delight the crowds at Waikiki with spectacular rides on the long, glassy, sloping waves.
But the day I caught "The Big One" was a day when I was not thinking in terms of
awing any tourists or karnaainas (old-timers) on Waikiki Beach. It was simply an early morning when mammoth ground swells were rolling in sporadically from the horizon, and I saw that no one was paddling out to try them. Frankly, they were the largest I'd ever seen. The yell of "The surf is up!" was the understatement of the century.
In fact, it was that rare morning when the word was out that the big "Bluebirds" were rolling in; this is the name for gigantic waves that sweep in from the horizon on extraordinary occasions. Sometimes years elapse with no evidence of them. They are spawned far out at sea and are the result of cataclysms of nature-either great atmospheric disturbances or subterranean agitation like underwater earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
True, as waves go, the experts will agree that bigness alone is not what supplies outstandingly good surfing. Sometimes giant waves make for bad surfing in spite of their size. And the reason often is that there is an onshore wind that pushes the top of the waves down and makes them break too fast with lots of white water (foam). It takes an offshore wind to make the waves stand up to their full height. This day we had stiff tradewinds blowing in from the high Koolau Range, and they were making those Bluebirds tower up like the Himalayas. Man, I was pulling my breath from way down at sight of them.
It put me in mind of the winter storm waves that roar in at Kaena Point on the North Shore. Big wave surfers, even then, were doing much speculating on whether
those Kaena waves could be ridden with any degree of safety. The Bluebirds facing me
were easily thirty-plus waves and they looked as though, with the right equipment-plus a lot of luck-they just might be makeable.
The danger lay in the proneout or wipeout. Studying the waves made me wonder if any man's body could withstand the unbelievable force of a thirty- to fifty-foot wall of water when it crashes. And, too, could even a top swimmer like myself manage to battle the currents and explosive water that would necessarily accompany the aftermath of such a wave?
Well, the answer seemed to be simply-don't get wiped out!
From the shore you could see those high glassy ridges building up in the outer Diamond Head region. The Bluebirds were swarming across the bay in a solid line as far northwest as Honolulu Harbor. They were tall, steep and fast. The closer-in ones
crumbled and showed their teeth with a fury that I had never seen before. I wondered if I could even push through the acres of white water to get to the outer area where the buildups were taking place.
But, like the mountain climbers with Mount Everest, you try it "Just because it's there." Somedays a man does not take time to analyze what motivates him. All I knew was that I was suddenly trying to shove through that incoming sea-and having the
fight of my life. I was using my Papa-nui (big board), the sixteen-foot, 114-pound semi-hollow board, and it was like trying to jam a log through the flood of a dam break.
Again and again it was necessary to turn turtle with the big board and hang on tightly underneath-arms and legs wrapped around a thing that bucked like a bronco gone berserk. The shoreward-bound torrents of water ground overhead making all the racket of a string of freight cars roaring over a- trestle. The prone paddling between combers was a demanding thing because the water was wild. It was a case of wrestling the board through blockbusting breakers, and it was a miracle that I ever gained the outlying waters.
Bushed from the long fight to get seaward,I sat my board and watched the long humps of water peaking into ridges that marched like animated foothills. I let a slew of them lift and drop me with their silent, threatening glide. I could hardly believe that such perpendicular walls of water could be built up like that. The troughs between the swells had the depth of elevator shafts, and I wondered again what it would be like to be buried under tons of water when it curled and detonated.
There was something eerie about watching the shimmering backs of the ridges as they passed me and rolled on toward Waikiki.
I let a lot of them careen by, wondering in my own heart if I was passing them up because of their unholy height, or whether I was really waiting for the big, right one. A man begins to doubt himself at a time like that. Then I was suddenly wheeling and turning to catch the towering blue ridge bearing toward me. I was prone and stroking hard at the water with my hands.
Strangely, it was more as though the wave had selected me, rather than I had chosen it. It seemed like a very personal and special wave-the kind I had seen in my mind's eye during a night of tangled dreaming. There was no backing out on this one; the two of us had something to settle between us. The rioting breakers between me and shore no longer bugged me. There was just this one ridge and myself-no more. Could I master it? I doubted it, but I was willing to die in the attempt to harness it.
Instinctively I got to my feet when the pitch, slant and speed seemed right. Left foot forward, knees slightly bent, I rode the board down that precipitous slope like a man tobogganing down a glacier. Sliding left along the watery monster's face, I didn't know I was at the beginning of a ride that would become a celebrated and memoried thing. All I knew was that I had come to grips with the tallest, bulkiest, fastest wave I had ever seen. I realized, too, more than ever, that to be trapped under its curling bulk would be the same as letting a factory cave in upon you.
This lethal avalanche of water swept shoreward swiftly and spookily. The board began hissing from the traction as the wave leaned forward with greater and more incredible speed and power. I shifted my weight, cut left at more of an angle and shot into the big Castle Surf which was building and adding to the wave I was on. Spray was spuming up wildly from my rails, and I had never before seen it spout up like that. I rode it for city-long blocks, the wind almost sucking the breath out of me. Diamond Head itself seemed to have come alive and was leaping in at me from the right.
Then I was slamming into Elk's Club Surf, still sliding left, and still fighting for balance, for position, for everything and anything that would keep me upright. The drumming of the water under the board had become a madman's tattoo. Elk's Surf rioted me along, high and steep, until I skidded and slanted through into Public Baths Surf. By then it amounted to three surfs combined into one; big, rumbling and exploding. I was not sure I could make it on this ever-steepening ridge.
A curl broke to my right and almost engulfed me, so I swung even farther left, shuffled back a little on the board to keep from pearling (nose-diving) .
Left it was; left and more left, with the board veeing a jet of water on both sides and making a snarl that told of speed and stress and thrust. The wind was tugging my hair with frantic hands. Then suddenly it looked as if I might, with more luck, make it into the back of Queen's Surf! The build-up had developed into something approximating what I had heard of tidal waves, and I wondered if it would ever flatten out at all. White water was pounding to my right, so I angled farther from it to avoid its wiping me out and burying me in the sudsy depths.
Borrowing on the Cunha Surf for all it was worth-and it was worth several hundred yards-I managed to manipulate the board into the now towering Queen's Surf. One mistake-just one small one-could well spill me into the maelstrom to my right. I teetered for some panic-ridden seconds, caught control again, and made it down on that last forward rush, sliding and bouncing through lunatic water. The breaker gave me all the tossing of a bucking bronco. Still luckily erect, I could see the people standing there on the beach, their hands shading their eyes against the sun, and watching me complete this crazy, unbelievable one-and-three-quarter-mile ride.
I made it into the shallows in one last surging flood. A little dazedly I wound up in hip-deep water, where I stepped off andpushed my board shoreward through the bubbly surf. That improbable ride gave me the sense of being an unlickable guy for the moment. I heisted my board to my hip, locked both arms around it and lugged it up the beach.
Without looking at the people clustered around, I walked on, hearing them murmur fine, exciting things which I wanted to remember in days to come. I told myself this was the ride to end all rides. I grinned my thanks to those who stepped close and slapped me on the shoulders, and I smiled to those who told me this was the greatest. I trudged on and on, knowing this would be a shining memory for me that I could take out in years to come, and relive it in all its full glory. This had been it.
I never caught another wave anything like that one. And now with the birthdays piled up on my back, I know I never shall. But they cannot take that memory away from me. It is a golden one that I treasure, and I'm grateful that God gave it to me.
W WIND 20 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 15 TO 20 KT THIS AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 5 FT DIMINISHING TO 3 FT THIS AFTERNOON.
W SWELL 13 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
The way the surf has been going...
I'm almost misty for sights like these...
These kooks aren't in Oregon...
But they do have brethren up here...
W WIND 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 40 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 15 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS.
Oregon has a long history of whales along it's coast...from annual gray whale migrations to occassional carcasses that wash up on the beaches...
This photograph from 1939 shows the skeleton of a whale called "Tillie the Whale" south of Waldport on the central Oregon coast. The bones of a whale are assembled outside as a tourist attraction. In the whale's mouth is a sign reading "Here lie the bones of Tillie, the whale; In the Shore Pines office we'll give you her tale".
Of course, perhaps the most famous and earliest record of a whale was Lewis & Clark's examination of a 105 foot Blue Whale on January 8, 1806 that had washed ashore at the mouth of Ecola Creek on the north coast.
Clark, Sacajawea, and others found a group of Salish-speaking Indians from the Tillamook tribe processing blubber and bought a few gallons of oil and 300 pounds of blubber for the expedition, wintering at Ft. Clatsop. The bones of the whale were last seen in 1941 at campgsites on the north side of the creek. Ecola was Clark's name for the creek, also the Indian word for whale. Ecola was not used by early white settlers who called it, and the community, Elk Creek. But many other arae settlements had the same name and Ecola came into use.
On a more comical note, there was the semi-ineffective plan of disposing of a sperm whale in Florence in 1970 with dynamite. Here's part columnist Dave Barry's take on it:
I am absolutely not making this incident up; in fact I have it all on videotape. The tape is from a local TV news show in Oregon, which sent a reporter out to cover the removal of a 45-foot, eight-ton dead whale that washed up on the beach. The responsibility for getting rid of the carcass was placed upon the Oregon State Highway Division, apparently on the theory that highways and whales are very similar in the sense of being large objects.
So anyway, the highway engineers hit upon the plan -- remember, I am not making this up -- of blowing up the whale with dynamite. The thinking here was that the whale would be blown into small pieces, which would be eaten by sea gulls, and that would be that. A textbook whale removal.
So they moved the spectators back up the beach, put a half-ton of dynamite next to the whale and set it off. I am probably not guilty of understatement when I say that what follows, on the videotape, is the most wonderful event in the history of the universe. First you see the whale carcass disappear in a huge blast of smoke and flame. Then you hear the happy spectators shouting "Yayy!" and "Whee!" Then, suddenly, the crowd's tone changes. You hear a new sound like "splud." You hear a woman's voice shouting "Here come pieces of... MY GOD!" Something smears the camera lens.
Later, the reporter explains: "The humor of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere." One piece caved in the roof of a car parked more than a quarter of a mile away. Remaining on the beach were several rotting whale sectors the size of condominium units. There was no sign of the sea gulls, who had no doubt permanently relocated in Brazil.
S WIND 20 TO 25 KT...BECOMING SW 25 TO 30 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 14 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS.
I can't speak as to the current painfully cold temp of the water since I haven't been wet for 3 weeks...aaarrrggghhhh!
But I do feel fairly confident that our waters are slightly warmer than this break.
And while Oregon water are cold, fickle and sharky...at least we don't have to deal with this...
S WIND 30 TO 40 KT...EASING TO 25 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 15 TO 18 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS.
There are lots of things that are rewarding about surfing as a whole...and plenty of things that make Surfing in Oregon special as well...a few comments from people who surf these frigid waters:
I love surfing here and...dig the surf culture. I've met...[many] very cool folks from surfing and...like the vibe.~gills
I am lucky enough to live in [one of] the most consistent areas of the coast in all conditions. Also,...the most stone age.~ss
Everything on the coast is super-sized in Oregon. Human beings are dwarfed in these seascapes...I miss Oregon when I'm somewhere south of here. Mountains and rivers! You can be alone here in an infinity of space. Since I've been here, I've surfed in snow, been in perfect waves by myself on a number of occasions, or with one or two other riders.~paul
...surfed epic overhead conditions with three friends. That's why I live here...no planning...if it's good...you go. As I type this I'm looking at the ocean. That's why I live here. More often than not my biggest decision is which board to ride....no bad days.~ding
S WIND 15 TO 25 KT...RISING TO 25 TO 30 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 12 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS.
TONIGHT S WIND 30 TO 40 KT...RISING TO 35 TO 45 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
COMBINED SEAS 14 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 21 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Once more onto the beach, dear brothers, once more,
And shred the walls with thine stiletto guns!
In death bombs there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility,
But when the blast of spindrift blows in our eyes,
Then imitate the action of the toothy shark:
Stiffen your sinews, summon up thy blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favored rage;
And lend yon eye a terrible aspect:
Let us forge through in portage of any headland
Like the hoary elk; let our need o'erwhelm it
As fearlessly as doth a jagged rock
O'erhanging and jutting as confounding base,
Swirled within the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and dive ‘neath the lip
Behold his full height! On, on, you noble hecklers,
Whose blood is thick and fathers wave-proof,
Fathers that like so many salted mariners
Have in these parts from morn till night paddled
And bagged their boards for lack of swell
Dishonor not your women; now attest
That this which you do call corduroy did beget you!
Be faithful now to men of charging blood
And show them how to surf! And you, good riders,
Whose limbs were forged in liquid, show us here
The mettle of your shoulders. Let us swear
That you are worthy of the sea; and doubt not,
For there is none of you so mean and base
That hath not sparkle and glint in your eyes.
I see you swim like sharks in the trough,
Straining in upon the drop. The game's afoot!
Follow your spirit; and upon this charge
Cry Charge On! Fade not into the pit, mine brethren!'
S WIND 35 TO 45 KT.
BECOMING SW 25 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 35 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
COMBINED SEAS 24 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 8 SECONDS.
SUBSIDING TO 22 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 8 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 20 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT...BUILDING TO 4 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
W SWELL 19 FT AT 10 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 15 FT AT 10 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Per the author of the pics...an inexperienced surfer went into shock and got washed into the first cove at this central coast break yesterday about 1:30 pm. In the pic above, the surfer and rescue swimmer are getting dropped off after after a nice (free) ride in the rescue basket. Below, are the Coast Guard boats waiting offshore during the rescue. Conditions clearly were not all time...but it looks pretty surfable in the top pic. And definitely surfable considering that conditions in November have been largely out of control.
Here's a sad story I missed from during the heavy storms early in the month (11/7)...it amazes me how little attention people pay to the dangers on the beach. Just for perspective...the combined seas that day were 21 feet with a 16 second period, the beach they were walking on is typically steep with heavy shorebreak and strong sideshore currents. 
The pic isn't of the beach in question...but it is a close approximation of the conditions during a smaller swell. I would suppose the shorebreak on the day these ladies were on their walk was probably 3 to 4 times as big. Here's the article:
A beach outing turned tragic Tuesday afternoon when two women walking along the shore in Gleneden Beach were apparently swept out to sea by a large wave. The body of one of the women was discovered the next morning, while the other is still missing.~Newport News
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office received a missing persons report at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. A deputy responded to a vacation rental home on Glenn Avenue in Gleneden Beach, where he learned that Elma Benefiel, 78, of Beaverton and her daughter-in-law, Jan Benefiel, 61, of Idaho Falls, Idaho had gone for a walk in the area around 1 p.m. and had not returned. Family members had gone looking for the women, and when they couldn't find them, they tried calling Elma Benefiel's cell phone, but the call went right to voice mail. At that point, family members notified law enforcement.
The two women had reportedly been seen around 2 p.m. by personnel from the Depoe Bay Fire Department, who were helping to coordinate the efforts underway in response to a home that was in danger of collapsing into the ocean due to erosion of the bluff. And a local resident also reported seeing the women walking on the beach at about 4 p.m.
Sheriff's Deputy Bruce McGuire, coordinator of Lincoln County Search & Rescue, said he activated the search team shortly after receiving the report of the two missing women. "We didn't know that they'd actually made it down to the beach," he said. "We started off in the neighborhood, letting the dogs run the neighborhood where they would possibly walk. The dogs actually led our personnel toward the beach."
That was about 10 p.m., McGuire said, "but because of the storm, going down on the beach would have been hazardous, so all the search was done from the bank and from the Coast Guard helo that went through and spotlighted that area."
Despite an intensive search effort that night, no sign of the missing women had been found by midnight, when the search was called off due to weather and lighting conditions.
However, at around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, a person living in a beachfront home near Salishan Drive saw a body on the beach, about a mile north of where the two women had disappeared. The sheriff's office, Oregon State Police and Coast Guard were dispatched to the scene and identified the body as that of Elma Benefiel. Depoe Bay Fire personnel responded and assisted in removing the body from the beach, and next of kin were notified.
McGuire said search teams scoured the beaches all day on Wednesday, but there was no sign of Jan Benefiel. A limited search of the area Thursday morning again turned up nothing. "At this point, we're kind of at the mercy of the ocean to do what it's going to do," he said. "Our search is going to pretty much be just a brief check of the area."
McGuire said it is unknown exactly how this tragedy occurred. "I think it was just an unfortunate set of circumstances, and it ended up taking their lives."
Watching coastal storms is an activity many people enjoy, but McGuire said, "We need to respect the ocean and make sure that we're keeping a good distance away from it, and keeping away from the edges of the cliffs because they're eroding away when the surf is up on them.
"Enjoy the ocean from a distance if you can," advised McGuire, "especially when it's in storm surge."
Jim Kusz, safety coordinator for North Lincoln Fire & Rescue, said he has seen storm surge come up onto the beach an extra 50 yards in a matter of seconds. He added that even though the wind and rain are over for the time being, the threat from storm surge still exists. "There are 50-foot swells off Nelscott," he said on Wednesday. "That's a lot of water being displaced when it comes ashore. When you have wind and water working together like that, it makes very unpredictable patterns."
SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
W SWELL 10 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
TONIGHT S WIND 25 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO 35 KT.
RISING TO 30 TO 40 KT WITH GUSTS TO 45 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
COMBINED SEAS 10 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 12 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 16 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 12 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Had Lewis and Clark made their expedition at a time of lower sea levels, their journey along the Columbia River could have take them to the edge of Astoria Canyon. However, their westward push stopped ten miles short at Fort Clatsop where the modern day mouth of the Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean.
Three-dimensional image Astoria Canyon looking southeast. The head of the canyon is to the left. ROPOS dive tracks are superimposed: blue, June 28; fuschia, June 29; green, June 30; white, July 1; red and black, July 2; and yellow, July 3. Relief is 400 - 500 meters from the top of the wall to the canyon bottom. The entire canyon is aproximately 120 km long "as the crow flies" and has an aproximate area of 1000 square km (using 8km as the average width).
~text from NOAA
Local Report:
Good surf today...lineup was pretty much maxed out at 5. Had a lot of time to myself. Surfed through a bloody nose after I tried to duck dive the 9'0". Longboarding is fun again; I was smiling the whole day. The sand[bars] have been changed from all the storms, but it looks like for the better.Mmmmmmm...surfing and drinking...two of my favorite pastimes...
The rip started flowing pretty strong, and it took a lot of paddling to stay in position. I ended the session exhausted. The most tired I've been after surfing in a long time. Once I got home I took a 3 hour nap.
Best memory from today: Taking a steep drop and looking down the face to see plenty of wave still to go before it would be time for a bottom turn.
Funniest moment: Dry hair paddle out to see the friend who had told me he wasn't going to be surfing today. Maybe if we didn't drink so much we'd have been out there earlier.
S WIND 15 TO 20 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT IN THE AFTERNOON.
NW SWELL 15 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
DROPPING TO NW SWELL 13 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
Yesterday I looked, but opted to stay dry. It was not surfable by any stretch of the imagination, nor as thick as this OB lip...but it was large, frothy and a side shore river on the inside...
Local Report:
...suited up...and walked down to the corner. I waded out, watched the set waves bombing outside, and noticed the butterflies in my stomach. I paddled out through the shore break, got under a couple of waves on the inside and started floating out in the rip...I easily made it outside, started looking for waves...I tried for a right, angled too far, didn’t quite get into it, and sat up on the ledge looking down in the pit while the windblown spray pelted my face. I wandered around some more and pulled out of a couple of lefts that I probably could have caught, but I wasn’t quite committed, yet.~holddown
I saw a decent right approaching, so I turned and paddled. I had to take a couple of extra strokes to huck myself over the ledge because of the offshore wind. I stood up in trim, made the bottom turn, raced down the line, and made a couple of top turns before kicking out. Hell yeah! I was able to paddle back around to the outside without going all the way in. A few minutes later, I caught another right, this one a beast. I looked at the nose of the board as I plunged into the pit and thought I was going to pearl. But instead, the pointed nose just skimmed the face and I bounced down into it. As I bottomed out, I looked up, but couldn’t see the top. I ran down the line again, but I was falling behind, and I realized I wasn’t going to make it out as the lip folded over. ...I kicked the board toward the open window, stepped off the back of the board, and took my beating. It wasn’t that bad and I was again able to paddle back around and out to the south. I was running out of time due to a work commitment, and the current seemed like it was really rushing out. I decided to try for one more, then call it a day. My third and final wave was a smaller but steeper left. I caught it, grabbed rail for the turn, then rode it for awhile before I straightened out and rode prone through the shore break.
SW 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT IN THE MORNING.
BECOMING S 20 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT...BUILDING TO 5 FT.
W SWELL 15 FT AT 11 TO 12 SECONDS.
I'll just let it go at that...
S WIND 40 TO 45 KT...RISING TO 40 TO 50 KT WITH GUSTS TO 60 KT THIS MORNING. BECOMING SW 35 TO 40 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
COMBINED SEAS 17 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 23 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
Heard some reports of ASW's (Actual Surfable Waves) yesterday...but now the winds back on it in a big way. In the meantime I'll settle in and wait for things to settle.
SW WIND 15 TO 20 KT IN THE MORNING...BECOMING S 20 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
RISING TO 35 TO 45 KT WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO 60 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
WIND WAVES 1 FOOT...BUILDING TO 5 FT.
W SWELL 12 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
TONIGHT COMBINED SEAS 16 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 21 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
After seemingly weeks of unsurfable chaos things have nearly cleaned up. Although it appears to be all too brief with more high winds approaching. There may be a few lucky (?) souls that can find a few today...
W TO SW WIND 20 TO 25 KT.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
W SWELL 20 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
SUBSIDING TO 17 FT AT 12 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT SUBSIDING TO W SWELL 16 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
SUBSIDING TO 14 FT AT 11 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Twenty foot mess subsiding to a fourteen foot mess...
But don't worry!
It's forecast to be back up to a twenty four foot mess by Wednesday.
This has been a pretty dismal stretch for Surf in Oregon.
Although last night's eighty mile an hour winds helped...
S WIND 25 KT...RISING TO 35 TO 40 KT THIS AFTERNOON.
COMBINED SEAS 17 FT N TO 13 FT S...WITH PERIOD OF 13 SECONDS.
SEAS BUILDING TO 19 FT LATER THIS AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT COMBINED SEAS 20 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 12 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 24 FT.
Following the route of an ancient Indian trail that linked the Clatsop and Tillamook people, Highway 101 was opened over the treacherous headland of Neahkahnie Mountain in 1940. It was the final segment of a highway that hugged the Oregon coast from Astoria south to the California border. A series of bridges built during the 1930s eliminated river ferry crossings on the route, while the ocean-view section over Neahkahnie Mountain replaced a much longer inland roadway.
Carved from the rock, the narrow roadway attempted to accommodate itself to the scenic splendor and natural features of the mountain. Envisioned as a scenic byway more than an artery of commerce, the Oregon Coast Highway often incorporated, as shown here, turnouts where motorists could stop and take in the expansive shoreline view. The highway engineers worked with the terrain, isolating and preserving a rocky outcropping and siting turnouts to coincide with the topography.
The concrete curbing and the stone wall were safety features, but the wall was also an appropriate artistic feature, and it preserved the view for highway drivers. The construction work was done primarily by workers in the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a Depression-era federal employment program. The WPA construction projects in Oregon were often characterized by the use of such rustic rockwork, which can also be seen at such locations as Rocky Butte in the Portland area and Pilot Butte in Bend.
~excerpt from The Oregon History Project
W WIND 15 TO 20 KT...BECOMING SW 20 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 5 TO 6 FT.
W SWELL 16 FT AT 13 SECONDS.
Here's a story of Origins from a Central Coast surfer...as you may be able to discern, he didn't learn to swim and Surf in Oregon:
[My] first memories are swim lessons around the age of four in the salt water pool, from a guy that was still teaching kids their first swim strokes 15 years later. I swear he was wearing the same khaki hat with sun flaps and the same sunglasses he had on when he was teaching me.~gaz
My father had a swim regime on Saturdays, so I tagged along to the Olympic sized pool at the Racheal Finlayson Baths, another salt water pool. After he was done with his laps, but before leaving for home...I got to dive for change. He would reach into his pants pockets and make a big deal of whether he had brought enough then toss a small handful into the deep end, 10' down was my "pocket money" for the week, all I had to do was get my 7 year old ass down there to get it.
No fins...because he thought they made a swimmer lazy, and no goggles just because that would have made finding the coins too easy. Free money being free money, I scoured the bottom till I had collected them all, great conditioning for wipe outs. There were also other old guys in the pool and seeing me dive for cash cracked them up, so on their way out they started tossing coins for me to get, I scored heavily some days and lost my fear of getting under the surface. Money talks, I guess.
Piggy backing while he swam out to the backline was the first foray into the ocean. I can remember the blue glass surface of the sea to this day, of what was probably a small day at South Beach. The shoreline seemed to have shrunk when I next looked back and then I felt him reaching around behind him to pull me, a very unwilling me, I have to say, off his back. Frantically kicking with my legs while he held my arms he told me to bodysurf the next wave in and not to panic. No matter how much I begged and pleaded he wouldn't take me back onto his shoulders, and at some point swam away leaving me to drown I was sure!
Soon a wave came and those lessons and the pool diving all came into play as I swam into my ride, desperate to get back to somewhere shallow enough to stand and escape from the sharks that I was certain were homing in on me. After that terrifying intro, I was mat surfing within months and at 9 got my first glass board. The Wave Master. Orange speckles over a clear top deck with a green/white resin swirl on the bottom and a hatchet fin on the back complete the picture.
S WIND 40 KT WITH GUSTS TO 50 KT.
EASING TO SW 20 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
COMBINED SEAS BUILDING TO 19 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS.
Beaches and breaks up and down the coast are showing increased fecal bacteria levels, which is the norm following heavy rainfall and flooding...
Some popular North and Central Coast spots showing on average about 170 parts per million...
One South Coast bay has levels from 435 to 620 parts per million...no smiling kids, even though I have it on good authority that it's going off there.
Here's a good lesson on results, a local report:
...it's flooding real bad...A few of us went down to try to score at XX, but there was just too much water moving...opted for the Zod on the [river]. For shits and giggles...we [thought we might do] a little tow boarding. Once up river a bit, towing seemed like a real bad idea, the water was brutal...it looked like cowshit and smelled like cowshit. Couple that with the minefield of debris flying down the river and it was a no go fo...As we came back through downtown the smell of cowshit dropped off and was replaced by oil slicks while retaining it's cowshit appearance. For whatever reason this seemed better to me and I decide to jump into the river and give it a shot. Everything started out pretty smoothly when out of the blue I open my mouth as I'm hitting my feet and take a big gulp of the cowshit and fuel infested water. Before I have time to even realize what happened I swallow the brown watery treat.~Sooloo
My reward you ask?
Endless burning mud butt. An ear infection. Gut wrenching vomit.
The ear I can handle, it's just an inconvenience really. The vomiting is more of a hassle as it is a total waste of food. The mud butt on the other hand, has made my world a very small place.
It's like someone removed my stomach and replaced it with a straight pipe from my mouth to my a-hole. Not a regular pipe either. No this pipe has some sort of heater and grinder on it that takes the food and mudifies it then heats it up to about 300 degrees before turning it loose on my poor unsuspecting bung.
I can't stray too far from the crapper now. A car ride can turn into a tooth grinding battle as I try to keep the gates shut.
I figure I have about 2 months before I'm dead.
NW WIND 10 TO 15 KT...BACKING TO S AND INCREASING IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
RISING TO COMBINED SEAS OF 12 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 18 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
After a week of high winds, out of control surf and coastal flooding there's a brief reprieve...very brief. It's bumping back up almost 20 foot swell again tonight...get some while you can...don't mind the debris.
On the flooding...here's a local report from a couple days back:
We took a Zodiak up almost to Cloverdale and checked on some pretty ruined houses. Lot of people stuck on the upper floors but no one needed help. Worst smelling water ever, it made Mex seem drinkable.~Sooloo
SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 FT.
W SWELL 13 FT AT 11 SECONDS.
SUBSIDING TO 9 FT AT 11 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
In 1854, the only access from the Willamette Valley was over the very crude Hebo Trail laid out by early settlers. This trail ran from Grand Ronde over Mt Hebo (originally called Mt. Heavo) and followed an old indian trail 20 miles to the Tillamook Valley. Before the settlers began arriving to the Nestucca Valley in the 1870's, it was populated by Indian Tribes of the Nestuggas and the Killamooks (the name origin of the Nestucca River and Tillamook). The original name of Haystack Rock is said to be "Chief Kiawanda Rock" named after a very well known Chief of the Nestugga Tribe from the early 1800's. By the time the Tribes were relocated from their homes to a reservation on the Salmon and Siletz Rivers, the Indians numbered around 200. Around 1876, Chief Nestugga Bill and the last of the small tribe, paddled down the Little Nestucca River across the bar into the Pacific Ocean and headed south to their new home.
~from Pacific City History
~photo holddown
SW WIND 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS TO 35 KT SOUTH OF CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT.
BECOMING W 15 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
COMBINED SEAS 16 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 21 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 16 SECONDS IN THE MORNING.
SUBSIDING TO 15 FT AT 12 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
The first shot is from yesterday...
The second from a few years back...
Bring your Sea Plane.
S WIND 35 TO 40 KT...RISING TO 40 TO 45 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 12 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 18 TO 22 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
TONIGHT COMBINED SEAS 20 TO 22 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS.
In recent conversations with some associates there was some discussion as to who was the greatest surfer of all time...
There were no criteria per se, and I suggested that perhaps you had to look at it by era rather than "all time"...
However, in thinking about it, I came to the conclusion (and in my opinion) that Tom Curren would get my vote as the greatest surfer ever...
He blends that casual style of the single-fin era with more radical manuevers that predated the aerial style of today...
Technology has moved forward (backward as well) and the moves made on waves today were unthinkable in the past...
As more barriers and impossibilities are overcome the heros of yesterday will surely be replaced with the rippers of the future.
SE WIND 15 TO 20 KT.
BECOMING S 30 TO 35 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.
COMBINED SEAS 10 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 13 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT COMBINED SEAS 16 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 20 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Bumping from 10 foot to 20 foot surf...
Too bad the period isn't bumping as well...
Certain Victory At Sea conditions out there...
WIND 20 TO 25 KT.
RISING TO 35 TO 40 KT WITH GUSTS TO 50 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 11 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 20 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
Stoicism was one of the new sur-philosophical movements of the post-longboard period. The name derives from the porch (stoa poikilê) aka "the nose", where the skilled members of the old school posed, and their poses were held. Unlike ‘epicurean,’ (i.e. "Dude! These waves are epicurean!) the adjective ‘stoical’ is utterly misleading with regard to its philosophical origins (i.e. "Dude! Didja see that barrel? I am so Stoical!). The Stoics did, in fact, hold that emotions like fear or envy (or impassioned sexual attachments (i.e. "In the tube"), or passionate love of anything whatsoever (i.e. "Hooting") and/or said display of such) either were, or arose from, false judgements (i.e. "Kookism") and that the sage (aka "Soul Surfer")--a person who had attained soulful and physical surf perfection--would not undergo or engage in them. While surf stoicism would occur, to display outwardly such stoic was "uncool". The later Stoics of Shortboard times, (not butt-wigglers and bouncer/hoppers) emphasise the doctrines (already central to the early Stoics' teachings) that the surf sage is utterly immune to clean up sets or difficult paddle outs and that surf is sufficient for happiness. Needless to say, size does matter. Even the hugest surf requires display of ‘stoic calm’, which encapsulates and protects and embodies the general drift of these claims. Claiming, naming and stoicism are antithetical yet inseparable in this context. It does not, however, hint at the even more radical maneuvers which the Stoics developed, "the soul arch", "the lip bash", "floaters", etcetera. Only the stoical surf master is free while all others are slaves, flounders and kooks. All those who are morally vicious (small minded locals) are equally so, despite surface skill. Though it seems some Stoics take a kind of perverse joy in misinformation, fading kooks into the pit or in unbridled sarcasm and bitterness, they do not do so simply to shock. Stoic surf ethics achieves a certain plausibility within the context of physical theory and psychology, and within the framework of surf-ethical theory as that was handed down to them from Robert Simmons and, later, Miklos Chapin Dora. It seems that they were well aware of the mutually interdependent nature of their philosophical views, likening sur-philosophy itself to a breaking wave in which logic is sine and period; ethics and physics, the drop and the barrel respectively (another version reverses this assignment, making ethics the barrel). Their views in logic and physics are no less distinctive and interesting than those in surf-ethics itself.
S WIND 30 KT TO 35 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 15 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 SECONDS.
Since a little less cross stepping will be occurring over the next few months here's a little variation on toes over...
Looking pretty messy out there...Oregon is supposed to get more rain in three days than it did during the month of October...so far things are meeting expectations.
S WIND 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS TO 35 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 13 TO 14 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 9 TO 10 SECONDS.
Took this pic last winter on the central coast north of Cascade Head...
Huge surf 20 plus feet produced mountains of foam on shore...
The wind was howling out of the south and would push it in pulsing mounds...
SE WIND 15 TO 20 KT.
GUSTS 25 TO 30 KT NEAR COASTAL GAPS.
WIND WAVES 4 FT.
W SWELL 5 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
BUILDING TO 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
A shot of Paul Hoffman rolling at La Costa in the 70's...
