Forty-seven degree water is cold. The Oregon coasts ocean waves are cold. Oregon itself can be cold.
Get over it and get out in the water — that’s the idea that coach Paul Griffes is trying to convey about the Oregon club sports surfing team.
“The quality of surf in Oregon is excellent,” Griffes said.
Griffes is crazy enough about surfing that he’s trying to revive the once-defunct surfing team and is pitching the idea to people that the sport is alive and well in Oregon. Griffes is another California transplant attending Oregon, and like other Californians, surfing is one passion that just won’t die in him.
“I started surfing 11 years ago,” Griffes said. “I just love it. I did it very regularly when I was in northern California.” Staying true to form, Griffes is again back at the beach once or twice every week perfecting a craft in not-so-picture-perfect conditions.
“It’s very cold,” Griffes said. “The temperature ranges from freezing cold to very cold. I go online, look at the forecast to figure out the conditions, the swells and the wind factor.”
Taking Griffes seriously can be hard at first. Surfing in Oregon?
“There are lots of good places to surf in Oregon,” Griffes said. “Locally, it’s often possible to find good waves right out in Florence.
“We go all over the place,” Griffes said. “With surfing, there are many variables to consider when choosing when and where to surf. Most importantly, we consider wind direction and speed, swell direction and height and tidal fluctuations. So, depending on conditions, we might go to beaches anywherefrom Newport to Coos Bay,or beyond.”
Besides not freezing to death, Griffes hopes to establish an Oregon surfing tradition.
“I want to create a surfing community for
University students,” Griffes said. “We know
that there are plenty of students coming to Oregon
who have had experience surfing, or would
like to get started, but who aren’t aware that
there are other surfers in the area. So we’re organizing the club with an aim toward bringing surfers together.”
Anyone who has ever stepped on an Oregon beach knows the scene can be downright miserable.
“Oregon has world-class waves, on par with anything that you might find in California or Hawaii; the waves are just colder,” Griffes said. “Wet suit technology has improved plenty over the years, so that you can now enjoy high-quality waves in Oregon without getting hypothermia in the process.”
Griffes plans on shaking up the surfing community, or lack thereof, starting with educating surf club members about ocean conditions.
“One of the things that I plan to do this year, as the surf club coach, is to hold training on forecasting,” Griffes said. “I’ve got a few sources, mostly on the web, that I use to select times and places for surfing.”
With ample surfers lurking on campus, bringing the contingency together is the only obstacle.
“We have 15 to 20 people signed up as of now,” Griffes said. “We just need to get people together, try to get people to get in touch with each other.”
So for real surfers, weather isn’t an issue. For real surfers such as Griffes, nothing will stand between them and the ocean they grew up riding on, not even hypothermia.