Washington or Oregon

I have not lived up there, but I have a couple close friends that lived and went to dive school up in Seattle. They did say that the trip to the beach was not that bad and that sometimes swell would travel pretty far down the "Straight of Juan De fuca" so they said they had some interesting times in the water up there, but from a surfing standpoint, Gold Beach is the call. Depends on your career though and which of those you would prefer, but all in all, you will be in the water much more living there, even with a busy work schedule. Its way easier to sneak off to the beach at lunch one day, or on your weekends etc. There is swell up there ALL THE TIME, so you really don't even need to plan for seasonal surf. On MOST given days, there will be waves up there. After college, getting deep into a career its way harder to plan a 2 hour drive, time to surf and 2 hours back especially if you are always in an "on-call" scenario. In Oregon, you could pop in and out of the water every 20-30 minutes, glance at your phone and get back out there.

I don't know the ins and outs of firefighting, but if you want to make surfing a big part of your life and if the pay is the same etc, I think living right by the beach is a no brainer.

But hey, if you are a city guy and want to be closer to Seattle, do your thing. You will just have to drive for waves.

 

you workn for USFS?

 

Mark Healey, I think, on a Slab Reef in Oregon.


Gold Beach

 

Id go Oregon, just personal preference

 

Winter for sure. They get POUNDED by surf up there in the winter time. Summer time is more reasonable, but plenty consistent. Tons of long period ground swell and that part of Oregon looks pretty open with no blockage so the Southern Hemis will make their way up there.

Some winters, that place can get HUGE. Like Mavericks huge, but you just gotta pick the days that fit your needs the best... There is nothing like hitting the as$-end of those NW swells in the winter on the west coast. The waves become more manageable, the weather is usually beautiful and you will get a few solid days of head high stuff. So, its not like its TOH beach break all season, but its as consistent as it gets out there in the winter time. So, even if you are calling Oregon your home base while you travel, it would still be a pretty sweet place to come back to.

And man, you will be working hard, but you will get some breaks. You can't work yourself to death. What better way to clear your head than talking a light stroll down to the water and surfing.

 

el nino winter coming in 8 months? xxl for days I think

 

I have property on Washington coast which I will be relocating to permanently in the next several months.

With that being said, when it comes to surf...Oregon wins, hands down. The weather and the varied coastline makes the entire state a veritable goldmine of surf. Washington, on the other hand, is usually wet, drizzly and dreary with a constant barrage of unsurfable swell during the winter.

The WA coastline from the Oregon border up to Indian territory in the Olympic National Forest is nothing but wild beach break, with only one town offering a safe haven of somewhat consistent surf. From the Olympics to Neah Bay, there are some reefs and coves, but are still wild and almost impossible to access. Serious work.

Yes, the Strait is holding, but totally hit-n-miss. Unless you live there, the "Skunked-to-Score" ration is 50 to 1. It's super dependent on swell direction and period, the swell window can be extremely small, and almost all of the breaks are on Private, well-guarded property. Even more serious work.

You can almost always find a wave to surf on a daily basis in Oregon...not so in Washington.

The downside? Sharks. BIG ones. Washington never really seems to get 'em. Surfers in Oregon seem to get chased out frequently. I'm pretty sure Gold Beach is one of those spots.

 

Seattle is far as **** from the beach, so is bend.... but the upside is both states are unbelievable, and your job will allow you to see some pretty epic stuff. Where ever you choose, dive in head first and enjoy every bit of it, never know where life will take you

 

I've never surfed WA, but I live about 70 miles from the northern Oregon coast and get out pretty regularly- a good month I'll be out at least 6 times. I'd agree with most of the previous comments- I'm not really familiar with Gold Beach but the spots I surf (mainly from around Tillamook up to the WA border) are fairly consistent and definitely get big and pounding in the winter. The water rarely warms up to the mid-50's (any time of year,) there's plenty of great whites, and there's always a noob or 2 getting plucked up by the Coast Guard and even experienced guys getting slammed on the reef breaks near the infamous Point.

In my opinion Oregon surf is the best open secret in North American surfing locales. In the winter on weekdays you can paddle out at the most well-known breaks and have it to yourself. It's a super mellow vibe for the most part. I grew up surfing in SoCal, and even though the water is warmer and the waves a bit more consistent they can have it. The surf in Oregon is great; just don't tell anyone

www.outofstepnw.blogspot.com

 

tre - props to you if you're gonna get into forest FF. Certain vocations like that take a nutball to do it and you seem like a certain assortment of nuts. Only thing I wonder is if they'll have spit hoods your size up in the PNW. There are lots of Nordic folk up there of a taller brand and your hood might not be form fitting The other thing I worry about for you are the DUI laws on skateboards while holding a surfboard and backpack. I'm not certain, but think they may be stiffer in OR than elsewhere.

I've spent a decent amount of time up in WA/OR so far in 2014 after not having been out that way in over 5 years. I love it there in all ways. You'll see landforms and wildlife you may not find anywhere else. The architecture (if you're in a denser than rural area) is picturesque usually and even the layout of roads and towns ties everything together with the environment. People are strange when you're a stranger, but the rate of intelligence is very high usually. Lots of down to earth people who may not have the edge you do coming from the east but will be able to tolerate it and perhaps bring out the best in you. Could be a great move for you and if you're looking for positive change with nothing to lose then go for it.

WA is tougher surf-wise as the local vets here have said. Mind you, NWsquid and kidrock and mattybrews and others are some awesome brahs that have been very, very helpful to me over PMs during my trips. If you're respectful and appreciative to them I'm sure they'll be willing to help you too. What you sacrifice with surf access in WA, you gain in several other areas - city life, lakes, plenty of bay seashore that isn't breaking, lots of cool suburbs, cultural aspects, and TONS of unreal gradients to skate that are also top-notch surfaces. My sessions in Seattle on the pave have been breakthrough for my Carver riding and have exceeded what I've experienced in CA and AZ which are both unreal for all kinds of surfskating.

They aren't kidding when they say it's hit or miss in WA for surf. You have to either be charging when a swell is so big and from the right direction with the right wind that everyone for hundreds of miles is scoring, or you have to time it near-perfect with tide and ALL other conditions. Only in ME have I had to time a session with such precision to tidal volume. The access issue can't be talked about enough. The problem with WA I think is that you have to be committal to a single break or area due to layout. Specifically, you're either hitting WP, LP, Neah, or further down the SJF towards PA. It's not like any of those are 10 minutes away from the next closest one - more like 90 minutes to 3 hours. So, if you scout out one spot to be working in educated fashion only to arrive and get skunked, you don't have a backup plan within reach.

Consider that I've put 5x the effort to scoring in WA than OR, but have scored 2x better in OR. With Oregon, you are less in the midst of a metropolis like SeaTac, although Portland is pretty cool in lots of ways too. I may even go so far as to say OR and Portland area as well as the coast are much better looking than WA and Seattle, at least in landform and basic structure (Seattle has way too many awesome city parts to discount). Oregon is more river towns when you go inland and there's definitely a more rural/homey feel. Portland to Seaside is 90 minutes. Seaside as a town blows away WP and WA really has nothing close for a surf town.

When kidrock says there is surf just about every day of the year in OR, he means there is good surf most any day you paddle out. Good surf at least, and great surf frequently. The crowd factor is much like he says also, as far as I have seen (which is much, much, much less than him), and you can't beat not having to deal with big crowds. This is regarding congestion in the lineup rather than localism, which is another deal. If you end up living there, then in due time you'll be a local knowing your personality.

Oregon bro. Surf aside, driving on Route 26 is enough Zen to convince you it's the place to be.

Again, there are several cats here that live out there or have at least spent a lot more time that way than I have and can correct me for any inaccuracies stated.

 

Spot on Emass- have you been out here again since our last PM exchange?

 

No I haven't brah, maybe next week though!

 

Right on man- happy hunting if you make it out.

 

Same to you bud, looks like I may have to pull the trigger since I'm seeing the word FLAT for 6 days straight after tomorrow here on the EC. Love the $139 direct one-way to and from PDX when booked in advance. If I wasn't able to swing it based on commitments it's not a tough loss to cut with the change fee. Looks much better now out there than in a few days when I'd arrive, but can't say I've had to deal with seeing the word FLAT for a while now so anything beats that.