oregonsurf.com

Zzz

Not much champagne Blower Dec but west has been high and dry since the 2nd week of the year. Did get a lift opening that was the 1st of the year, which took me to some DOH terrain. Played it safe not knowing lines and buddies I was with were either to hung over or not confident enough to join. Found a half pipe like shoot with at least a dozen wall to wall slashes a combo reminiscent of J-Bay X Uluwatu. Unfortunately found some rocks too on exit. Mostly cruised the groom leaning into turns as hard and low as I could practicing stylee hand drag bottom turns. Relaxed vibes, abundant sunshine, big mountain vistas, blue skies, and zero lift lines were quite refreshing from the maddening crowds, winds, and overall gloom in Oregon. As for the front range, from what I hear they are dealing with the same issues N Oregon is but resort wise there's a lot to choose from. As for W Co, heard holidays are busy but otherwise seemed as OG as ever. Even had me looking at real estate and already planning a trip back.

Interesting week no doubt..... sweat pants lurk about took me about a tank a gas away and thank god for those Freddie's fuel rewards cause gas ain't cheap 6 sessions in 5 days. 2 pumping LP West ground swells with conditions strangely on repeat and temps as high as the mid 60s Shoulda packed the sweat pant shorts. Some bars were there and others weren't. Surfed some lefts and surfed some rights (thank god ). Surfed the mid and surfed the shorty and kinda wish I woulda packed the quad fish. Crazy crispy golden hours and toasty mid day delights. Was not expecting a winter like this one

Zzz

Just got back from a solid trip, south of the boarder. Lucked into a legit out-of-season south swell. Surfed a 7'10" fun gun on the big days and a fishy 6'2" on the smaller days. Two sessions a day in warm (for us) water, balmy air temps and glassy green conditions unloading on Baja Norte reefs.

Couple of sessions, paddled out in the dark and had a fun point break to the three of us. Best session was solid head and half + and we surfed a lesser surfed zone. Best wave of the trip, was an early deep take off on a solid set wave. My plan was t go left but the right looked so good I couldn't not go. I knew the right came with consequence. (Get caught inside and it could be a session ender). Anyway, I won't go into too much detail but a local Mexi ripper was about to drop in on me on the end hollow section and I hated to do it but shouted him off and tucked in... Anyway, after that right I was in the bone yard and decided to call it. On the scramble over the reef I watched the rest of the set annihilate the crew. Stoke level might be about 8/10....

Very nice. Sounds like a good time and like you lucked out with a south if it wasn't a strike mish. While I know that spot picks up anything, I seem to remember surfing it really good on a July south swell many years ago. Have also heard that's when it has it's best shape.

Howzit? Any Oregon waves as of late? Bailed for a change of latitude and warmer waters 1st surf trip since Covid and soooo good to be back on Hawaii Always humbled, challenged, and enlightened by the multitude of attributes that come with surfing Hawaii. Solid raw swell, sharp shallow reefs, clean up sets, long paddles, trade winds, competitive crowds, and aloha vibes for days. Great week of waves, pumping swell, epic weather, and kine food. Surfed everyday, sometimes twice on both sides of the island at a handful of different spots. Surfed with crowds and surfed without crowds. Surfed solid OH to fun CH. Surfed one of my favorite right points and was able to collect some decent ones over the course of several sessions. Remined myself what surfing real waves was like and stoked I can still get some at a world class spot! Got to hang out with old friends and also meet some new ones. Have learned so much from the Garden Island over the years and grow wiser every trip. Feeling so blessed to have been welcomed back. Mahalo Kauai!

Nice one, ML. Kauai is such a special place to visit and get waves as well. Is the road open again to tourists past Hanalei?
Last time I was there it was only open to residents and the road was heavily damaged from previous flooding.

Yep it is open now, although I did not make it past Hanalei on this trip. I heard something about needing a permit to go to Ke'e now, not sure if that is true honestly but Haena Beach Park is definitely a go.

Third surf in a couple weeks. Great to be back in the water. Waves are meh, but that's good enough for me at this point.

Don't ever longboard. You'll botch a kick out, tweak your shoulder trying to manhandle the stupidly huge board, and miss the entire winter doing physical therapy. Mexico in October was nice though.

Ah so that's where you have been. Welcome back.

Started where I left off and donned the 5 mill on Sunday. Fun family adventure with our new pup. Last one here just before I left for HI was easily in the top 2 sessions at this spot ever, which I am not going in to detail about cause there were only 2 other heads out and it was going arfff Sunday not so much the same, but paddled out anyway. Felt weird to be back in rubber esp 7mill boots. Bit of a rip and consistent clean up sets. Eventually kind of turned on as the tide changed, but then 5 or 6 frorthers turned up Did not really recognize any of the faces either, but what do I know anymore. One proceeded to rip the bag out of it finding diamonds in the ruff. Was on the wrong board. While the Ghost surfed everything on the island fairly well from CH to OH, its was bogging out on the flat spots even set up as a quad. What was I thinking!?! Rad Dad Rippa is down with a smashed tail and I knew I shoulda brought the fish, but last time warranted something semi HP. Between that and the crowd it turned into kind of a frustrating one. So much for coming back tuned after a week straight of surfing

Rolled back out the other day for mid day push. Small kine LP pulsing and NE winds baited the ole hook and well I bit. On paper spot X or Y shoulda been working, but no same old shitt with this sorry excuse for beach break Hiked down to Charts, watched for about 10 minutes, turned around and hiked right back out. Was weak and crumbly and looked questionable even if I was to go back and get the mid out of my car. Swell was pulsing everywhere else WTF! In hindsight shoulda barged a nearby spot that was easily the most serviceable, one I haven't surfed since fall. Semi consistent with a few out. Oh well vibe usually sucks out there anyways and was still flying high on that Aloha, which the stupid long and dry drive home ended up squashing anyways.

Not much Aloha from ML now that you’re back in da 5/4 and booties. Maybe you didn’t bring back
enough Hawaiian Host chocolate covered Mac nuts for your co workers at the office.

Scored a fun sesh with Channel D at the busiest N. coast spot on Thursday. Surfed through some mild tidal
funk as it filled in and were rewarded with clean CH long period swell that lined up nicely. We were both on
grovers and debating our fin decisions while kitting up on the beach. He made the correct call with NP quads while
I decided on a twin pair of Piggy Backs I’ve never surfed and I purposely left all my other fins at home to cover my excuses for blowing waves and kooky surfing. The fins were fine but a trailer would have helped on some of the more steeper waves. Water temp was quite brisk and after two hours of fun in the sun I walked back to our packs with numb feet. Totally worth calling in a sickie.

Haha I remember those days. Haven't been in an office setting for 2 years though and hopefully wont ever again as long as I keep my current job. Did bring back some for the ohana though as well as some Locals slipas.

I'm down to 5 sets of fins and 4 boards. Only boards I mess with are my SB's, but its mostly a matter of switching from thrust to quad of which been favoring the later. Did have some good sessions on a set of honeycomb YU's in my Ghost on the larger days at the Bay. Good fin in good waves and loosens up boards with longer rail line.

Thought I'd cured Slim of his ridiculously large long board aspirations when tried out my 10'6" Skip Frye a decade or so back.
Doc

Baja report?