Surfing is a Growing Sport in Oregon

As Oregon moves into the future with new recognition from the surfing world, people need to remember that public access laws mean any person can surf anywhere they like.

Photos: Tim King, oceanskydiver.com, pacificu.edu, mc2.vicnet.net.au, surfline.com, allocine.fr

(SALEM) - I’ll never forget my first surf trip in Oregon. It was a time when the sport was still a fairly recent arrival to this region of the country. It was a cold, wet day and I have to admit that I didn’t even paddle out. But my second attempt at Oregon surfing was better, and as the years went by I swore a couple of times that I’d ridden the best wave of my life, right here where people grow webs between their toes and fingers.

Places like Agate Beach, Gleneden Beach, and other spots on Oregon's central coast can be extremely fun.

In 1986, if two surfers saw each other driving down the coast highway, they stopped. Today, the state has adjusted to the sport at least in part, and surf shops can be found from one end of Oregon to the other. There are even shops in places like Philomath and Portland. Surfing hasn’t missed its mark in the NW, but it has been slower in arriving than in other places where the climate is warmer.

In fact, let’s talk about that for a second. One of the best ingredients for a successful day of surfing in Oregon beyond any doubt, is a good wetsuit with booties. California may have a reputation for plenty of warm sunshine and it is true, but the water there is no bathtub either, the Golden State isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when it comes to water temperature.

All around LA and anywhere north of there, you will see surfers wearing wetsuits for most if not all of the year. Around San Diego, the summer temps are nice and the water does get toasty warm. Then farther south into Mexico, particularly during the summer, and you have fully reached the no need for a wetsuit zone.

The threat behind all this cold water talk is hypothermia, and it can take affect very quickly in Oregon waters 365 days a year. Surfers know all about it, so they prepare.

Every surfing experience involves paddling out through the waves, and that warms a person quickly. Soon the cold is forgotten, at least until the first time you have to crash through a breaking wave. Now your hair is wet and if you're lucky, you won't get a big ice cold rush of water down your back.

The water inside a wetsuit is warmed by the surfer's body temperature. This forms a warm layer of water between your skin and the neoprene wetsuit. When you first get in the water, you feel the full brunt of the cold water, but it usually doesn't last too long. You can keep that warmth by wearing a correctly sized wetsuit and making sure the neck is sealed and tight.

Today's highly effective 4/5 mm suits may account for the huge numbers of former California surfers who now live here. Most really appreciate the break from the craziness of the Caliland, and a little rain does little to dampen the soul.

Nobody owns the beach in Oregon.

California beaches are known for localism. We’re talking about the basic, “This is my beach and you have no right to surf here” line. Oregon has pockets of localism, namely a bunch of cavemen in Seaside who seem to think they own the place.

I know plenty of surfers and photographers who have been hassled there, but the locals there who bother people are just a bunch of bags of hot air living in a fantasy world, and their intentions and actions are often criminal. They spoil the entire spirit of surfing and they are bad examples for kids, many of whom are members of the same ranks.

Having said that, there are plenty of good people around Seaside and the surfers there aren't all bad. They just need to control the ringleaders and the police need to maintain an active role.

I sometimes think they are trying to emulate the negative aspects of Santa Cruz, an age-old surfing place where the surfers are seriously broken down into factions. They break into skirmishes during city council meetings...

Localism in surfing is negative and even un-American, yet I have to admit that depending on how you look at it, there are somewhat logical reasons for it, and some would tell you that most people who surf at local breaks are not bothered if they are respectful and know the unspoken rules of surfing.

The bottom line is, California and Hawaii are crowded places where generations of surfers have lived and died. Beefs exist between locals and non-locals, and there is little we can do about it. But there is a chance to keep the badness from setting in when we have a new opportunity, like we have in Oregon.

In California, the explosion of surf culture born from the early 60's music of bands like the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean and Dick Dale and the Deltones, sent thousands of kids from LA's inner valleys swarming to the beach in pursuit of surfboards and two girls for every boy. Local kids became sick of it.

In the late 50's and early 60's, places like Huntington Beach were not exclusive, and real estate was cheap. Kids from places like Van Nuys had hot cars and money, while surfers are usually not impressed with such things.

Kids from the valley crowded the beaches and waves, and they did really uncool things like leaving their garbage on the beach. Tensions grew and to this day, certain breaks in California have a serious pecking order and people who don't live nearby behave correctly when surfing there.

But localism flies in the face of Oregon’s public access law for beaches. Californians in places like Malibu can literally own the beach, people here can't. I guess that closes that case.

Yet as I put it down, I know I have personally lived on both sides of the fence, and I have both received the ill treatment of locals, and I have behaved the same way as a local.

My most memorable surfing experience at the age of 14, was riding a head-high wave on the south side of the Seal Beach pier, while my girlfriend was watching no less, and just ripping it up. As I kicked out of the wave, I felt myself going backward, as something, or someone as it turned out, had my leash. Standing in chest-deep water, this guy with a big moustache who had to be around 30, said "Don't you ever do that again" and he punched me right in the mouth, then ordered me out of the water and told me not to come back to the south side of the pier.

Why? Oh, well that's the local's side of the pier, no inner-LA or valley "pukes" allowed, or pay the price. That guy was really bad. Nobody in this state should ever be excused for that kind of behavior.

So because of that treatment that my friends and I received while growing up in Los Angeles, about 25-minutes from the beach, I took to localism once my family finally moved to the beach, five hours north of LA, in Morro Bay, California. I was accepted and given a sweatshirt that said "Morro Bay surf is for locals only" and I wore it with pride, hassling the guys from the local university when they paddled out. It felt good, and that was bad I eventually got over it, and I look back with some degree of embarrassment.

I only bore you with this because it is important to understand that certain behaviors have to either be dealt with or tolerated when a person surfs. The big scene in Point Break where Keanu Reeves gets beaten by moonlighting members of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers isn't all that far off track. Most adults who keep their personal volume down do OK in most places, but I would hate to see it become like Los Angeles or anything close to it.

Still, Oregon law needs to keep abreast of criminal activity from beach locals who think flattening tires and that sort of thing is their right, because it isn't. In fact, it equates to gang activity in some cases.

While the surfers on the north of Oregon scream and yell, others in Pacific City, Lincoln City and the Newport area have excelled in the sport, keeping a good vibe the whole time. A contest in November in fact, showed people on the entire west coast what is possible in terms of weather and swell predictions.

Last November, local surfer John Forse invited 30 of the world’s top pro surfers to Lincoln City for the first Nelscott Reef Tow-In Surfing Contest. It went off without a hitch, 30-foot waves pounding half a mile offshore, beautiful blue water and plenty of sunshine and warm air.

And the spirit of the event, professional and organized, was one that reverberated throughout the entire Oregon beach community. Everyone was talking about it, the beaches were crowded, and the contest organizers even secured the use of two beach front houses for the event's judges and inner circles.

I was fortunate, flying the event in a helicopter, taping surfers who I had only seen in magazines from places like Brazil, California and France. Stan Savage of Hillsboro flew the bird while I shot the contest of a lifetime.

Oregon’s day had arrived, and after many heats and hours of competition, two brothers from Santa Cruz, California emerged as the winners. John Forse says it couldn’t have gone better, and now Oregon is known as having one of the best rideable waves on the earth.

The Nelscott Reef wave is also considered the only world class big wave that breaks within sight of a residential community, not a bad claim.

What makes a good wave in Oregon?

The same factors that make waves good everywhere; including size and direction of the swell generating the wave, the shape of the bottom where that particular wave breaks, and the direction and speed of the wind. Waves can be generated from many spots on the globe, and today’s surfer is often tuned into weather reports like never before via the Internet.

The makeup of the Oregon surfer is as hard to define as it is in any other group of people. There are common denominators though; most care about the environment, many have families, some are professional people and others live to surf and surf to live. The age old stereotype about surfers being stoners is rare, though it isn’t unusual to see a group of friends burning a joint after the sun goes down and the campfires rear up.

As cold as it is, Oregon has for many years been a place where women surf. Large numbers, some good, some learning, some out-surfing any man or boy around. The age of surfers is another growing area, with plenty of men and women in their 70's and 80's surfing regularly in Southern California. You don't see as much of that here, but Oregon does seem to have shortened the rope that keeps it following other places.

And some surfers are found as young as 4 and 5, even here in Oregon.

Some surfers are champions.

Australia looks at surfing as a national sport, sort of like baseball here in the states. While professional surfing has had a slow start in this country, it did take off in the 1980's and along the way has generated billions of dollars, and endless followers.

We should all be glad that the United States caught on and now even the far reaches of the nation, places like Oregon, Washington, and even Alaska, see surfers crossing the sometimes icy sands to paddle out into waves that aren't bad, with few crowds and a lot of ambition. The best slogan I ever heard for surfing was "Good clean fun" and I think we should all work to keep it that way.