La Push, WA

[ALPENTOLIC]

My friend has a house at La Push. Anyone know of any other beaches in the area like hoebuck and cresent (havent been to either) that are a bit more begginer friendly? do they only work at certain angles ? I surfed La Push its sick its just that some of the bros aren't exactly pros and the beach is pretty steep and unforgiving.

Any and all info is much apprecieated.

Thanks

[ill-advised strategy]

2nding the info request

[Bud]

I certainly don't have a ton of knowledge about those spots, but here's my two cents. Crescent Beach is a fickle place, as is everything in the Strait...if the swell isn't coming outta the nw, it'll be flat. Hobuck has some outer rocks beyond the break that knock the swell down a fair bit smaller than what the NOAA forecast might shows, so if the forecast is for 4-5ft it will likely be unsurfably small at Hobuck except during the couple hours or so near the peak of high tide...could be rather dull, could be good for your buddies though if they are noobs. I haven't surfed LaPush in the summer but I made the mistake of going out there in the late fall one year....humbling experience for sure. If you go to LaPush and opt to hike to one of the nearby beaches instead of the break right in front of the resort watch out for submerged rocks, it's not all sandy beach and there are some fin-wrecking rocks.

[ill-advised strategy]

thanks dude

[surfgator]

Try surfing on the north end of the beach in La Push for smaller, more forgiving waves. 2nd beach (or is it 3rd?) can also be fun. Especially if your friend has a house right in the area. Also, sometimes Rialto Beach (across the river to the north) can be an option but the beach there is also pretty steeply-sloped making for some slamma-jamma. It does take a different swell angle window than 1st beach in La Push so it's worth a look sometimes. I second Bud's description of Hobuck. Hobuck is very beginner friendly-- too beginner friendly in mid-summer. Further south from La Push there are lots of options but not too many of the Hoh and Quinault breaks are protected from wind. These tribes are also a little bit particular regarding allowing non-tribe members on their beaches (especially the Quinaults). This time of year it is very rare to find surfable waves on the north coast of WA (i.e. Crescent Beach).

Anybody scoring good waves over the last couple months? I've been out of the water for awhile.

[Bud]

Try surfing on the north end of the beach in La Push for smaller, more forgiving waves.

true true...when i was there, the only spot i could catch waves without getting pummeled was towards the north end, the south end was definitely bigger.

i was out at westport this weekend...it was small, waist-high with occasional chest-high...mushy with a north wind that chopped things up except for peaks closest to the jetty...still lots of fun though to be back home in WA for a couple days and surfing with my buddies.

[surfgator]

Bud,
Hopefully the crowds weren't too thick at Westport for you. I'm still discouraged by that place after an incident I had there earlier this year.

It looks as if there may be a straits potential late Friday and/or early Saturday. The best surf I ever had was last spring/early summer during a push into the straits. It was a weekday, but it would have been worth calling in sick or even losing a job over.

Sorry, I hate to re-hash old shit like this, because it looks like I'm bragging, but it's all I've got at the moment and its helping me massage my pruned, decrepit, emasculated stoke.

[hop]

holy poo I've never seeen the Elwha like that, even after checking it a million times....

[ALPENTOLIC]

Thanks for the info fellas. Probably gonna head to oswald this weekend looking like 8.5 and long periods!! like 16 seconds, should be a good time. I need to hit la bush on a better day, seemed like it was closing out really quickly and the waves were breaking really quick. By the way that Elwha thread looked real sick, I want to hit that up sometime. Anyone ever go hit up tofino, I got a buddy with a spot up there too...

[ill-advised strategy]

I live 10 mins or so from that elwha spot. If it gets like that again I'll for sure post something here.

[Bud]

I live 10 mins or so from that elwha spot. If it gets like that again I'll for sure post something here.

...or just PM a select few so that its not a total circus out there

[Ottime]

8.5@16seconds???

I think you are reading it wrong. Or at least the information is wrong.

We may have had swell that size about 8 years ago during the summer. But that is rather large swell - it would break about 15' on the face in open water.

Perhaps that is brewing from that 973mb off AK, but that seems doubtful. I was figuring that may send us a 5-6'@13sec, but it is not sustained enough for a 16sec.

Most web surf forecast sites are full of shit. Magicseaweed is a perfecrt example.

OTOH, if you are expecting a 8@16 in the PNW, I need to wax up some of my guns. Never a bad thing.

[ALPENTOLIC]

yea, thought that looked a bit fishy. I am over magicsea weed. oregon surf check is a bit better they say 7 ft

[ill-advised strategy]

so I guess there's like, a lot of you that live here too?

wtf there isn't shit for skiing

[ALPENTOLIC]

it does seem like the majority of the snow people are in the mid. I guess it makes sense cause thats where TGR formed. I would never move anywhere other than the cascades.

[Ottime]

I'm not up that way. SC,CA. I believe hop is over seas, but from that area. I've poked around the peninsula years ago looking for surf. Just ate shrooms and hiked in the rain forest instead,... I think.

Back to the swell, tho - looks like a 4.8@14 should be hitting SF area around Saturday morning from the AK storm. Just guessing, but I'd expect a bit more size up there, hitting Friday morning. Probably coming from about 280 degrees. So 7ft faces sounds about right, perhaps bigger.

Keep an eye out for a South on the weekend. We are expecting head high plus Thursday eve through Saturday. Might even get a few DOH Friday night.

[hop]

I'm not up that way. SC,CA. I believe hop is over seas, but from that area. I've poked around the peninsula years ago looking for surf. Just ate shrooms and hiked in the rain forest instead,... I think.

Back to the swell, tho - looks like a 4.8@14 should be hitting SF area around Saturday morning from the AK storm. Just guessing, but I'd expect a bit more size up there, hitting Friday morning. Probably coming from about 280 degrees. So 7ft faces sounds about right, perhaps bigger.

Keep an eye out for a South on the weekend. We are expecting head high plus Thursday eve through Saturday. Might even get a few DOH Friday night.

Historically I've been Glacier/B'ham/SJI based, but I've definitely spent some time stomping around the peninsula.

[ill-advised strategy]

I feel foolish to have paddled out into la push today and lucky to be mostly ok.

there were, just...so many trees in the god damned water. Whole giant trees, shit-tons of smaller but still way sketchy big ass chunks of wood.... totally unorganized, nonsensical large choppy crazy closeout waves. I shouldn't have gone out there. I got the living shit beat out of me, what a huge mistake. I had to sit there and look at it for more than an hour just to get the sack to go out. I was pretty much terrified the whole time I was in the water.

I came in and had a good conversation with someone who knows surfing the way I know skiing and he kind of said "yeah guy, that's why we're all drinking beer on the beach, it's nasty as hell today. We couldn't believe you went for that one, holy shit".

I'm an idiot. I don't know what I was thinking. I just wanted to do something today. This is serious stuff, going out there alone was a mistake, fuck.

Fucking surfing in Washington is like skiing at a ski area that has 2 runs: 1 tiny beginner run and Corbet's Couloir. No waves at all in the strait and fucking frightening as hell on the coast. Bored of 1 foot, hey why don't you try some 9 foot with floating trees everywhere. Don't like pond-flat, ok come get slammed into the rockbeach. Nope, nothing in between, either grandpa's iowa duck pond conditions or giant walls of closeout. Great.

[Platinum Pete]

I feel foolish to have paddled out into la push today and lucky to be mostly ok.

there were, just...so many trees in the god damned water. Whole giant trees, shit-tons of smaller but still way sketchy big ass chunks of wood.... totally unorganized, nonsensical large choppy crazy closeout waves. I shouldn't have gone out there. I got the living shit beat out of me, what a huge mistake. I had to sit there and look at it for more than an hour just to get the sack to go out. I was pretty much terrified the whole time I was in the water.

I came in and had a good conversation with someone who knows surfing the way I know skiing and he kind of said "yeah guy, that's why we're all drinking beer on the beach, it's nasty as hell today. We couldn't believe you went for that one, holy shit".

I'm an idiot. I don't know what I was thinking. I just wanted to do something today. This is serious stuff, going out there alone was a mistake, fuck.

Fucking surfing in Washington is like skiing at a ski area that has 2 runs: 1 tiny beginner run and Corbet's Couloir. No waves at all in the strait and fucking frightening as hell on the coast. Bored of 1 foot, hey why don't you try some 9 foot with floating trees everywhere. Don't like pond-flat, ok come get slammed into the rockbeach. Nope, nothing in between, either grandpa's iowa duck pond conditions or giant walls of closeout. Great.

There is a lot more variety south of you. I know it sucks to travel to surf when you live in a surf spot...

[Bud]

just be patient.....keep on exploring and you'll find there are spots in the NW that are decent when the open beachbreak is disorganized shit and the swell is coming in at the wrong direction for the strait to work....but i ain't spillin' the beans...you gotta snoop around for yourself but we are getting close to the time of year when mellow surfing conditions get fewer and further apart.

your story reminds me of something that happened to me about five years ago... my first trip to La Push and the waves were huge, thick, mean f'ers...I was content to practice popups in the whitewater, but there was a lull in the swell and my girlfriend just starts paddling for the horizon without thinking about what she was gonna do if she actually made it to the outside...I followed behind yelling for her to turn around, but she didn't hear me. I caught up with her once we were both outside and I said 'now what are you going to do?'....and it kind of dawned on her that in order to get back to shore she was going to be dealing with one of those head-high beasties coming our way. She paddled for a wave and got drilled...held under long enough she said she nearly took a gulp of seawater instead of air and both her contact lenses got knocked out of her eyes. I managed to get to her and got her back on her board and she belly rode the next wall of whitewater to shore....its taken years for her to get over that experience and even though she can now catch waves on the outside pretty regularly, she's spooked of anything much larger than chest-high.

Any of the surfers you chatted with talking about sharkies? I was in the lineup at Hobuck a few weekends ago and had three dorsal fins break the surface of the water within ten feet of me...they were pretty small, so i kept surfing, but it was a little spooky....the next morning there was a dead shark on the beach with bite marks from a bigger shark on it.

[ill-advised strategy]

yeah sharks were mentioned for sure. nobody had seen anything but there was kind of a feel that it was a matter of time

crescent was outstanding today. just outstanding.

[Platinum Pete]

Any of the surfers you chatted with talking about sharkies? I was in the lineup at Hobuck a few weekends ago and had three dorsal fins break the surface of the water within ten feet of me...they were pretty small, so i kept surfing, but it was a little spooky....the next morning there was a dead shark on the beach with bite marks from a bigger shark on it.

Those were probably salmon sharks - cousins to the whitey and often mistaken for very young whites. It's their time of year to be out - and also crossover time for the big whites to be around looking for pinnipeds. They are fueling for a commute to warmer pupping waters, at least the females are. Not much to worry about, butt a big shark out in the water is super duper freaky - especially in murk water.

[ALPENTOLIC]

Yea I heard La Push was nasty that week. I was in the strait in a 50 troller it was live as fuck 10fters the bow was punching through!! Surfed twins and elwah... pretty small although there was a nice break off twins a few hundred yards out... I think those are just porposes we saw a load of them in the strait

[Ed el Loco]

Found this guy at hobuck beach last weekend. He was less than 2.5 feet long but them teeth look nastier than some pitbulls I have seen. The next day we found a squid that was bigger, 3 feet? I only get out there once or twice a year but the swell was the biggest cleanest break I have ever seen there. I was in a kayak and my skills suck so I got beat.

[ALPENTOLIC]

little toe chistler. pretty gnar looking tho.