Turn On It, Tune Out, Drop In

S WIND 30 TO 35 KT...BECOMING SW 25 TO 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS 17 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 14 SECONDS.

...I'd really like to surf sometime soon.

I'm sure the feeling is mutual...

For any who Surf in Oregon.

NW WIND 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 6 FT. W SWELL 19 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

On December 4, 1887 the Steamer Yaquina City, owned by Oregon Development Company which ran the Oregon Pacific Railroad, parted her wheel chains and went ashore while entering Yaquina harbor, becoming a total loss eight days later. The Railroad had brought the steamship to the Pacific Coast early in 1884 and operating her between San Francisco and the Oregon ports in connection with the railroad. The steamer was an old-timer in the gulf trade on the east coast, where she ran under the name Western Texas.

The Railway replaced the lost Yaquina City with the new steamship Yaquina Bay, built by Cramp & Sons in 1881 for the New York and West India trade. The new vessel, formerly known as the Caracas was two hundred and fifty-seven feet long, thirty-four feet beam, and twenty-one feet hold, registering 1,200 tons. While under tow, the hawser parted and she went ashore at Yaquina and was wrecked on her first trip, December 10th, 1888.

The loss of the two ships was more than the new company could absorb and the Oregon Development Co. went belly up.

NW WIND 20 TO 25 KT...BECOMING W 10 TO 15 KT IN THE EVENING...BACKING TO S AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 5 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT. W SWELL 16 TO 18 FT AT 15 SECONDS...EXCEPT 20 FT AT 16 SECONDS EARLY FAR NORTH.

All week long...

Even if you luck into a small one...

Like the wave above...

Chances are...

The 20 to 40 knot winds...

Will likely make it a bit messy...

Oh well...

There are spots...

And I hope to surf them...

Thursday through Monday...

If not...

There's always drinking.

S WIND 25 TO 30 KT...VEERING TO SW IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 35 KT. COMBINED SEAS 14 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 12 SECONDS.

Born on the North Shore of Oahu in 1946...

Nicknamed "Tiger" by Waikiki Beach Boys...

For his aggressive style in the water...

With his friend Eddia Aikau...

Pioneered Sunset and Waimea...

Trained as caretaker of the iwi...

First Lifegaurd at Waimea Bay...

Builder & Steersman of the`Hokule'a...

A canoe that voyaged from Hawaii to Tahiti...

Five Summer Stories surfer...

Country Surfboards shaper...

Founder of Pua Ka'ilima Surf Park...

Teacher of Hawaiian culture & tradition...

Paleo printing, the nose-flute...

Hawaiian chanting, the Haka dance...

A celestial navigator & practitioner...

Of Classic Hawaiian Aloha...

Passed on July 22 in 2005.

SW WIND 30 TO 35 KT WITH GUSTS TO 40 KT... EASING TO 25 WITH GUSTS TO 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS 15 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 12 SECONDS.

This still was from yesterday at 4pm...

It likely looked better than it was...

And only an hour or so before dark...

Morning comes, and voila...

The opposite of perfection...

Surf in Oregon.

S WIND 15 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 4 FT. W SWELL 11 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

Since surfing's unlikely in the immediate forcast future...

My thoughts tend to turn to new surfboards for when it is...

Likely...

Surfing...

'Cause it looks like Santa's sending a 20 foot swell for Christmas.

NW WIND 15 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 5 TO 6 FT... SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. W SWELL 15 TO 16 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

A rare south coast forecast...

Hopefully, the waves you can't see...

Are cleaner than the ones you can...

Either way, with a 15 foot swell...

It's sure to be as much a battle...

Albeit, an individual one...

As the battle of 1851.

SW WIND 30 TO 40 KT...EASING TO 25 TO 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 45 KT EARLY. COMBINED SEAS 17 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 11 SECONDS.

...not a surfer.

“What can we do with the western coast, a coast of 3,000 miles, rockbound, cheerless, uninviting, and not a harbor on it? What use have we for such a country? I will never vote one cent from the public treasury to place the Pacific Ocean one inch nearer”

~Daniel Webster (American Statesman, Senator and Orator, 1782-1852)

Well...actually, there weren't any surfers on the west coast then...so maybe he can be excused.

SE WIND 25 TO 30 KT...BECOMING S 30 TO 35 KT IN THE MORNING...THEN... BECOMING W 25 TO 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 40 KT. COMBINED SEAS 17 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 12 SECONDS.

Looks can be deceiving...

Needless to say...

17 foot seas...

Combined with...

40 knot gusts...

Rarely look so good.

SW WIND 20 TO 25 KT...BECOMING S 15 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 5 FT. W SWELL 15 FT AT 11 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 17 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

In the midst of the mess and mayhem...

A reeling righthander rolls through...

Winds whip past at well over 30 knots...

Currents cascade careening in confusion...

Surfers stand on shore stranded...

While Bloggers bloviate in the blogosphere.

S WIND 45 TO 50 KT...EASING TO 30 TO 40 KT WITH A FEW GUSTS TO 50 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS 22 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 13 SECONDS.

There's an indescribable feeling when you come to the end of a trail...

Or to the first viewpoint of that trail and gaze down at the surf...

Sometimes it's a feeling of disappointment as you realize...

The wind you felt in the woods was as strong as it felt...

And the waves below are blown into a mess of chop and foam...

Othertimes a left or a right peel off below you...

And you either watch briefly or hurry down the trail...

Scramble onto the beach and struggle into your wetsuit...

And paddle out stoked about your good fortune.

The watercolor above is a work by painter Jeffrey Hull...

From his website:

Jeffrey is also a long time Oregon surfer. Swing by his gallery if you're on the north coast and the surf is blown out or you're surfed out. Support the arts! And a fellow surfer.

SW WIND 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 25 KT...RISING TO 20 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS TO 30 KT IN THE EVENING. COMBINED SEAS 14 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 13 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 17 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 13 SECONDS.

The wind crop has gone haywire...

Overgrown and gone to seed...

Gotta wait for the wave farmer...

To lay out some new clean rows.

SE WIND 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT... BECOMING S 20 TO 25 KT WITH A FEW GUSTS TO 35 KT. WIND WAVES 3 FT...BUILDING TO 6 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

Y'know what Pacific Ocean?

When you fire off a perfect head high right...

In what was previously a foamy, slopfest...

It makes me sad and a little bit angry...

Not because I can't appreciate a nice wave...

Or because I know a spot that'll be even better...

But because I am nowhere near where I need to be...

I hate it when you do that, but alo understand...

That you are the ocean and will do what you need to do...

But you're making me hate.

NW WIND 10 KT...BACKING TO S IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

This little window of manageable surf looks to end tomorrow...

I like a plus 15 foot groundswell as much as the next guy but...

I also like coming home to the wife & kids in one piece.

N WIND 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

Ever wonder what happened to Mike Mulligan & his Steam Shovel?

Well...they're still hard at work repairing Oregon's jetties...

Of course, Mike likely upgraded to a diesel model.

E TO SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

Swell seems to have dropped a bit...

May have to take a bit of a drive...

To find waves good enough...

To justify struggling into...

A soaking wet wetsuit...

In 40 degree temperatures.

E WIND 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT...BUILDING TO 4 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS.

Pulled up to the north coast about 9am...

With about an hour to burn before work...

Watched for a bit a handful out...

Working over a distant left point break...

Even from a half mile away you could see...

The yellow playtex living gloves...

You're soaking in it.

SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

Hitting the north coast tomorrow early, then late...

Winds swinging to the east, so maybe even better...

Snowing now, hopefully the passes will cooperate...

For some potential right or left sliding cruisation.

N WIND 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. NW SWELL 7 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

Consult Buttons.

Watch 'Em...
Only the good ones of course...
Although the bad ones have their moments...
And clearly a solid mix is of the utmost importance...

Some of my old school favorites...
~Surfing Hollow Days
~Search For Surf
~Slippery When Wet

Some transition period gems...
~Five Summer Stories
~Free Ride
~Super Session

Mainstream studio pictures...
~Point Break
~Big Wednesday
~North Shore

Some other good ones...
~Glass Love
~Shelter
~Lines From a Poem

And the must watch All-Time Classics...
~Apocalypse Now
~Endless Summer

And, of course...
~Morning Of The Earth

There are many I left out...
And there are many that are simply...
Straight up surf pornography...
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

NE WIND 10 TO 15 KT...EXCEPT S 10 TO 15 SOUTH OF CASCADE HEAD IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 2 FT...BUILDING TO 4 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

Headed out to the coast today...

Didn't even bring my boards...

Didn't want the temptation...

I guess to be truly honest...

I didn't bring my wetsuit...

Because I could always borrow a board...

And hell, if the surf was that good...

I could just go buy a new wetsuit...

Lords knows I need one...

Might as well get a board too...

Anyhow, passed all the power trucks heading inland...

Saw them trying to clear the Salmon River Bridge at 101...

Checked on some friend's houses for them...

Beach eroded but no serious or immediate damage or threat...

Marveled at the loss of beach in Brohampton...

And wondered about phase next of the evil condos...

With their sea grass anchored berm sagging into the sea...

Likely an armada of dumptrucks, tractors & workers...

Battling the edge of the Pacific in an unwinnable war...

Sounds kinda sickeningly familiar...

Chatted with Gaz as we watched a few foolhardy people in the water...

One stuck in the rip...

One stuck further out in the rip...

And one on the inside...

Stuck in the rip...

And getting sucked sideways at speed...

All three likely were licking their lips...

Trying to clear their faces of toxins...

From whatever horiffic blend of contaminants was in the sea...

Cow shit, people shit, fossil fuels, and who knows what...

I left my surfboard and wetsuit at home...

Because these condition just ain't my cup of filth...

Although, as I tapped Gaz and pointed, saying...

"Check out that peak"...

As a bumpy ocean yielded a servicable head high peak...

Gaz stated what I thought to myself...

"If it cleans up I might have to go out"

Or something along those lines...

Which is why...

I left my surfboard and wetsuit at home...

Not wanting to be tempted by...

Sheltered coves...

Spokes on the leesides of capes...

Or inlets within bays...

Which would require checking...

Had I done so.

SW WIND 5 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FOOT. SW SWELL 14 FT AT 14 SECONDS.

The Oregon coast took a beating this week...

Wind gusts above one hundred miles an hour...

Coastal flooding exceeding the 1996 flood...

30 foot plus storm surf battering the shore...

The largest Sitka Spruce snaps after 750 years...

I'm heading down tomorrow...

Not for surf, I'm pretty sure.

S WIND 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 8 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

Generally not a good sign when the wind waves are bigger than the swell...

Last winter we lost some beginner surfers who paddled out in big conditions...

Hopefully no one will take it into their heads to paddle out on Monday...

S WIND 55 TO 65 KT WITH GUSTS TO 75 KT...COMBINED SEAS 39 FT.