good places to surf in Oregon

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

I am looking for some good places to surf up there.  Are there any fairly easy  waves with well developed form and not too much wind.   Sorta like San diego is ?  My wife want to move there  but I can't see giving up surfing as long as I not on a walker .

[surf4food]

Never surfed up there but this might help.
http://www.surfline.com/travel/index.cfm?id=2138

[JP4]

Hmmmm... while there are places that can have very good days, those days tend to be fewer and farther between than what you're probably used too. Hopeful Pono will chime in here as I think he's surfed both states quite a bit.
I definitely get some really fun days on the Oregon coast, but probably more days that are pretty crappy. About half the year the weather and wind conditions are just too adverse to have consistently good conditions, especially on the north coast. If you are a kiteboarder or wave sailor, you'll likely get far more good days on those toys than surfing as it blows hard out of the North for a good portion of the year. Water temps are are generally low 50's though we did get a stretch of low 60's last summer. It was warm enough to make me buy a 2mm full suit and go sans booties for a while. Usually a 4/3 and booties would be standard attire.
On the plus side, it's absolutely gorgeous all the way up and down the coast with seafood as good as you can get anywhere. Also, while there are a few places that get crowded, it's not too hard to find some waves to yourself. There's only one spot with any reputation for hostile locals.
I think it's all about expectations and I find if I go to the beach to just enjoy the whole experience then I'm not disappointed if the surfing sucks, and sometimes it's actually really good.
JP


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[JP4]

Small glassy spring day on the central Oregon coast.

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[JP4]

Pirated picture of Pacific City. It's rarely this good, but it can happen.
JP

[wrybread]

Naming spots on the internet is a sin, but there's *tons* of great surf in Oregon. And most of it is awesomely uncrowded. I think a roadtrip is in order? Drive up the 5 and cross over to the coast at Portland and drive down hitting all the spots. Its paradise up there once you get the right wetsuit...

[p06781]

Nice waves yesterday in the Cannon Beach area! 

[SUP Leave]

Crowds are never going to be an issue here in the Pac NW, the sharks eat 1 out of 8 surfers here. Plus the aggro locals of Seaside Point.

The rest of the story is:

Being a SUP guy is going to help you a lot. You only need a hood in the winter time. Any 4/3 and booties will probably get you through every season, but a 3/2 in the summer is perfectly reasonable. Any semblance of a crowd can be mitigated with 10 paddle strokes north or south of the pack. If you are trying to surf every day, then you are going out in some pretty miserable weather, but it rarely lasts too long up here.

I was just in San Diego last month, and I would say most of the beach breaks there are shaped a lot like the Pac NW. I surfed in Pac Beach in SD, and our beach breaks here in the same time frame had a lot more juice than those in SD. I got back here and surfed the next day and even though the wave heights were the same, the speed and power were noticeable. Point breaks are rare and remember that the farther north you go the tide changes get pretty severe.

I like a lot of the Oregon Coast, very pretty, rugged and lots of fun stuff to do for someone who likes outside. However, you only get to wear your sandals 3-4 months out of the year.

For surfing purposes - central to south coast is the play IMO. If you are a fisherman, central coast puts you in striking distance of many salmon and steelhead rivers. Some of the coast towns are down and out a bit, they look great in the summer time but winter can be a little gloomy. There are bright spots, mostly where retired folks are. I would make a drive of it in summer and then in November to get the vibe of the place you are going to live. Of course if getting drunk in a bar is something you enjoy then maybe the winters are not so bad.

[PonoBill]

Personally I think the Oregon coast is made for SUP, and SUP is made for the Oregon coast. Let the prone guys bob like teabags in every crappy one turn california shorebreak. The Oregon coast has innumerable point breaks and sandbars and more than a few great reef breaks. the only problem is that you need local knowledge to get the best of it.  The swell tends to come from at least two directions. The folks that study it score pretty much whenever they want to, the ones that just automatically go to one or two locations, as if they were the only place there could be surf, will do a lot worse. But in every case a crowded day in Oregon is ten to fifteen people in the water, and half of them will be clueless and harmless.

I hung up my 4/5 fullsuit with hood when I went from prone to SUP. A 4/3 is plenty, and most times you'll see me in a 2/3 shorty. Really. Of course I have that Orca advantage, but a good pair of booties and a fast wiggle back onto the board is all you need to stay comfortable. Just don't linger in the water. I stick with bigger boards--my 10'4" Foote is the goto--and just stand up and paddle all the time. I never sit. Keeps me warm and I get a zillion waves per session. In the rare spot with a well defined and critical pocket I might take out the 8'8" L41, but it's a bit masochistic, the 10'4" is easy money and always works--better than a heavy wetsuit is simply staying dry.

[southwesterly]

Naming spots on the internet is a sin,

Seaside... They deserve it.

http://www.seasideor.com/surfing/

[PonoBill]

Yes, for sure. Bunch of wankers. Well, not all of them, but a lot of them. I surf Seaside at least once pretty much every year. Don't care about the chuckleheads. There's one guy who tells me he's going to kick my ass every year. Hasn't done it.

[red_tx]

Yes, for sure. Bunch of wankers. Well, not all of them, but a lot of them. I surf Seaside at least once pretty much every year. Don't care about the chuckleheads. There's one guy who tells me he's going to kick my ass every year. Hasn't done it.

+ 1 to Pono thoughts on Seaside wankers.

Outside, if you come further south say between Cannon beach and Lincoln City, maybe to a place with an acronym "PC", I have standies and what not you could borrow.

JP speaks the truth about it being hit and miss. 

-let me know
red

[PonoBill]

Before you move anywhere you need to spend a little time there. It sounds like you haven't. Oregon is a fabulous place, but it's not for everyone. Very unusual geography makes it the way it is. It will always be lightly populated, it's just how the land works. People expect the Southern Oregon coast to be like california, and it would be, if California had coastal mountains that start right behind the beach. What California calls coastal mountains we call foothills. So there's not much flat land on the coast to build any kind of town upon. That big upthrust of damp marine air means rain, and lots of it. There are some great towns on the Oregon coast, but it ain't San Diego. Culture shock alone might be tough. Be sure to spend time in the winter anyplace you are considering.

I love the Oregon Coast but I wouldn't live there. Had a beach cabin in Manzanita for 35 years. Fantastic town, but in the winter you can roll a bowling ball down Laneda and not hit anyone. Everyone is inside, considering sawing on their wrists in a nice warm tub.

I live in Hood River, which IMHO is the finest place in the world to live. And I get the hell out of here in the winter. Lots of people don't, and they love the skiing and winter sports on the mountain. That's nice, but there's a winter inversion phenomenon here the locals call "nothing". The grey starts at the roof of the Gorge, and looks like nothing. You look at nothing for more than a few weeks and it can start to feel like the twilight zone.

[covesurfer]

I live in Hood River, which IMHO is the finest place in the world to live. And I get the hell out of here in the winter. Lots of people don't, and they love the skiing and winter sports on the mountain. That's nice, but there's a winter inversion phenomenon here the locals call "nothing". The grey starts at the roof of the Gorge, and looks like nothing. You look at nothing for more than a few weeks and it can start to feel like the twilight zone.

Another name for it is the 'cloud of doom'.

[SUP Sports ®]

People expect the Southern Oregon coast to be like california, and it would be, if California had coastal mountains that start right behind the beach. What California calls coastal mountains we call foothills. So there's not much flat land on the coast to build any kind of town upon.

Not really true...in our region we do have a high coastal range close to the beach...and, our Santa Ynez Range has peaks that are significantly higher than the Southern Oregon Coast range peaks...

Principal summits in the Santa Ynez range include Peak 4864, (4,864 ft)...Divide Peak, 4,707 ft (1,435 m), La Cumbre Peak, 3,985 ft (1,215 m) (above Santa Barbara), and Santa Ynez Peak, 4,298 ft (1,310 m).

Bone Mountain   3,547 ft   1,081 m   Coos
Kenyon Mountain 3,300 ft  1,006 m  Coos
Buzzard Rock   3,051 ft   930 m   Douglas
Bear Mountain   3,031 ft   924 m   Douglas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Oregon_Coast_Range

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Ynez_Mountains

The mountains parallel the Channel Islands to the south, another east-west trending range, a geologic extension of the Santa Monica Mountains; the two ranges are about thirty miles apart. Principal summits in the Santa Ynez range include Divide Peak, 4,707 ft (1,435 m), La Cumbre Peak, 3,985 ft (1,215 m) (above Santa Barbara), and Santa Ynez Peak, 4,298 ft (1,310 m). There are several important passes, including Gaviota Pass in the western portion of the range, through which runs U.S. Highway 101 via the Gaviota Tunnel; and San Marcos Pass near Santa Barbara, through which runs California State Route 154 capped by the magnificent Cold Spring Canyon Arch Bridge near the summit.

The highest point, an unnamed and unmarked crest colloquially called Peak 4864, (4,864 ft) is located right above the eastern terminus of the range, near Lake Casitas and Matilija Canyon.

There definitely is a sub-tropical "banana belt" on the Oregon coast below Cape Blanco...the westernmost point in the continental US...
Brookings, OR gets 191 sunny days per year...78 in of rain...it is different than Manzanita, with 135 sunny days per year...121 inches of rain per year...


The portion of the Oregon Coast region south of Port Orford is known as "Oregon's Banana Belt" because of its mild climate in relation to the rest of the coast. The largest communities in this region are Brookings-Harbor and Gold Beach.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_belt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings_effect

I've spent quite a bit of time on the South Oregon Coast...surfing and windsurfing...went to college a little below the border...my best friends from college all live on the Oregon Coast...etc...there are micro-climates...