From: JB
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
Subject: Northcoast Surfing
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 1996
I thought that I would never be able to pursue surfing/bodyboarding, a sport I fell in love with, again. Recently, I discovered that I can pursue my California hobby once again. I found out that several spots on the Washington coast are just as good if not even better than the California coast for surfing/bodyboarding.
To give some examples, if the swell is coming in at 260 degrees, the waves all along the Strait of Juan De Fuca have an average height of 3 to 6 feet. For Westport, the heights are anywhere from 4 to 12 feet. There are two issues I can see that make the north coast less popular for surfing/bodyboarding: water temperature and dangers posed by the logs that end up in the ocean.
However, don’t get discouraged. There are ways to work around these two problems. The cold water temperature problem is easily remedied if a full wetsuit (for warmth, the minimum rating for the wetsuit’s thickness should be a 4/3) and booties are worn. Even though the surf along the Washington coast is powerful enough to throw tree logs at a person, logs aren’t ever present in some areas. Four areas where getting crushed by logs isn’t a concern are: Westport, Long Beach, Elwha Indian Reservation along the Strait of Juan De Fuca, and Cape Flattery. Try, surfing/bodyboarding at one of these areas I suggested. I promise, you’ll have a blast.
