At 6:30 a.m. on a cool August morning, Mark Blaine floated on his surfboard many yards out from the beach. He gazed south through the sunny blue air, searching for better waves. Behind him came the sound of heavy breathing and a rush of air and water. Turning around, he saw the whale about 50 yards behind him and the plume of water from the blowhole shooting up against the ocean and sky. The spray rained down in a swirl on the flat ocean surface, and with a swish of the tail, the whale was gone.
Another surfer saw Blaine still staring to the North where the whale had been. “How big was it?” the man asked.
“I don’t know,” Blaine said. “It just swirled!”
Blaine, a University journalism professor, was off the coast of Hubbard Creek, near Port Orford, Ore. Our state, known for its skiing, hiking and camping opportunities, may not be known for its surfing, but those who try it find Oregon surfing a distinctive experience. The water is cold, the swells tall, the wind battering and the wildlife plentiful, but the combination influences a breed of fearless, dedicated surfers.Those who go out into the coastal waters say it’s a passionate experience, a connection between person, water and weather. Jonathan Faulkner, owner of Boardsports in Eugene, has been surfing seriously for about six years and began the sport 14 years ago.
“Surfing is a life-long addiction and pursuit,” he says. “Something I wish I could do every day.”
Blaine finds the vacant beaches and empty waters of the coast one of the most appealing aspects of surfing in Oregon. Compared to California and Hawaii, Oregon’s coast usually feels almost uninhabited and sometimes even eerie, especially in the fog.
Kevin Koenig, a University junior and member of the University Surf Club, finds the same, and says the people he runs into are usually more approachable than down in California, where he is from.
“It’s just a nicer crew up here,” he says.

The emptiness of the beaches and the water appeal to Faulkner the most because he uses the solitude as an opportunity to relax and find inner peace. He surfs on average once a week, but wishes it could be more.
The more interesting company is usually of the animal variety. Blaine’s whale encounter was an awe-inspiring moment.
“When you think about it,” he says, “that’s a big animal.”
And the whale is not alone. Birds fly overhead and seals, sea lions and porpoises all populate the surf along with the humans, who are strangers to the flippered mammals.
Koenig says sea lions often come up to the surfers and float on their backs, looking up at the black-suited people with looks saying, “You’re lost.” Sometimes they like to pop up behind him and startle him.
Of course, not all ocean inhabitants are friendly. Shark attacks happen on the Oregon coast, and all of the surfers in the water have the possibility floating in the backs of their minds. Koenig has never seen a shark, but once saw a small dorsal fin moving around him, which was unsettling. The water is often murky, he said, and sometimes a surfer can’t see his own feet. It leaves one with a “sketched-out” feeling.
Blaine has never encountered a shark either, but admits, “there are times it’s nerve-wracking to think there’s something out there,” and adds that the transition time between light and dark often feels “sharkier.”
The beauty and solitude of the beach and the delight of seeing animals make surfing on the coast fun, but the weather often presents a challenge. For surfers who love the sport, however, the challenge is just part of what makes Oregon surfing great.
The water alone distinguishes Oregon surfing. The most recently recorded temperature in the water off Port Orford was 48 F, according to the National Oceanographic Data Center. In Newport, Ore., it was 47.3 F.
Compare these to famous surfing locales. In Los Angeles, the most current temperature was 58.6 F and in San Diego, 57.9 F. In Honolulu, it was 77.7 F.
The cold temperature of the Pacific Ocean in Oregon can make it dangerous, and without a wetsuit, surfers run serious risk of hypothermia. Wetsuits usually include booties, gloves and hoods as well as the body suit, and keep the surfers warm, comfortable and safe.
The waves are huge and the current is strong. However, Koenig says the rough water creates an adaptability in Oregon surfers that Californians just don’t have. An Oregon surfer usually can’t do the technical tricks their southern counterparts can do, but an Oregon surfer can handle almost any wave conditions presented, he says.
Faulkner says the coast is not strong on consistency. Some days are great to surf and others are terrible. However, part of the fun is trying to be in the right place at the right time.
The same spot on the coast can be impossible to surf one day and the next “it can be just as challenging and just as fun if you get it on a good day,” Faulkner says.
Blaine also understands how tricky it can be to find a place and time for a successful surf. The time between waves, called the period, is the most important, he says. The longer the period, the more powerful the wave.
The height of the swells is also important – too small and they aren’t worth riding, but too big and they can be dangerous.
The wind matters too, and in Oregon the wind can vary a lot, Blaine says. The ideal wind is from offshore, an east wind, which makes the waves stand up taller and be more defined. A west wind, by contrast, will make the waves fall down on themselves. Winds on the coast usually come from the northwest -south winds are harbingers of a storm – so a day with an east wind is special.
“On the Oregon coast, wind is one of the biggest things that kills you,” Blaine says.
The waves’ dependence on wind makes forecasting ocean conditions on sites such as www.oregonsurf.com “a joke,” says Koenig. He has driven the hour out to Florence, Ore., on days when the Internet predicts excellent swells and found a flat, un-surfable ocean.
Adding up the effects of different conditions, wind and waves, adds to the fun of the sport for Blaine. “I love the problem solving of surfing. Just being aware of where you are and what you’re doing.”
Oregon surfing is not for everyone, like the sport is in other places, Koenig says. The only people “who surf up here just absolutely love it,” he says. The conditions are just too
intense and difficult for someone not in love with surfing.
Blaine is one of those. He surfs weekly, under ideal circumstances. He invests the time and the energy in it, because for him surfing is about “the temptation of just one more wave.”
For Faulkner, Oregon surfing is about more than loving a sport. For him, it presents a form of meditation. The surfer can only focus on what is right in front of them, and it clears the mind.
The beauty of surfing is “riding something that’s out of your control,” he says. “It’s very pure.”
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