Notes From Oregon: A Road Trip To Joubertina Away From Paradise – Featured Blog

For example, I drive from Oregon to Washington 5 days a week, where I work in a different state with different tax codes, regulations and laws. It’s only 22 kilometers, but the distance is significant.

At the same time, surfing in Oregon has forced me to be prepared, which has not historically been my strong suit.

The closest thing to a ‘local break’ I’ve got is 1 hour and 35 minutes away, about as far as the drive from P.E. to Joubertina, where I did my driver’s license 15 years ago after failing it twice in Humansdorp.

I’m still not a great driver, but I like driving.

That helps.

This morning, I packed the car at 5 a.m.

There was a cruel wind brushing leaves down Jarrett Street and ice on the lawn outside my house. I assessed my gear and tried to figure out what was missing. Board, suit, leash, fins, booties, fin key, water, food, towels (plural), extra contact lenses, extra jersey, extra socks.

It was all there, but something felt absent. Something important.

I headed across the Fremont Bridge, towards the coastal freeway, with Downtown Portland on one side and the industrial railway yard on the other. The moon cut a smile into the sky above me, while the city lights shimmered across the Willamette River. In the distance, Mount Hood etched its profile into the red dawn, showing off its striking, snowcapped peak that always looks photoshopped onto the horizon.

In some ways, Portland reminds me of Port Elizabeth, how the industrial roots overlap current development, which seems to be a never-ending process. The city is in constant transition, preserving the old while forging ahead.

It’s important to find these common threads when you’re living in another country. That’s where surfing has been a lifeline over the last four years, adding familiarity to all the new routines and adjustments.

It’s mostly a longboarding wave that gets really crowded when it’s good and pretty hollow with the right swell angle.

This particular day was about one and a half feet and tormented by a howling cross-shore that would have made my kiteboarding friends lose themselves. The water was brown and clumps of seaweed draped the rocky shoreline. There were three other people out, all wearing hoods, gloves, and boots. That is what being prepared for 12 degree water looks like.

I had 4/3, no booties, no hoodie, and no clue.

It also happens to be located on the Pacific Ring of Fire. There are tsunami evacuation route signs dotted along the narrow highways, which give you a nice apocalyptic reminder of the danger that lurks beyond the rips, the sharks, and the freezing water.

Whilst driving here, between stopping to admire another empty lineup, you’re always creating a roadmap to higher ground, making sure everyone knows what to do if the Big One strikes.

This is yet another small distance that represents a big change.

A few people have told me different horror stories that range from having their tires slashed to witnessing fistfights in the water, to seeing deranged locals casting headless chickens into the water to scare people away.

I experienced a taste of this when I asked a group of guys watching the point what the tide was doing, and was told that it was none of my fucking business.

I knew the tide was dropping; I just wanted to make conversation.

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With the exception of the incident at the point, surfers in Northern Oregon are incredibly friendly, helpful, and forthcoming. There’s a growing surf community in Portland, along with a handful of board shapers and surf shops. I think it’s accepted that everyone willing to brave the conditions deserves respect. The vibe in the water is friendly and chilled, so long as you remember your manners.  

Anyways, this morning I arrived at the Short Sands parking lot just after 7 and was relieved not to be the first car there.

There were already a handful of people out and others getting ready on the beach.

There are three main peaks; a left that runs off the south wall, a split-peak in the middle, and a right-hand point that hugs the north on the north side of the bay. It’s the most popular spot around here and almost-always fun.

This particular was a fun, but challenging 4-5 feet. It had been massive all week and although the swell had dropped, there was still plenty of energy in the water. The long paddle out was a mini-marathon and every duck dive felt like getting slapped by a frozen salmon fillet.

After an hour, I came in for a bit of brekkie and was invited to stand around a fire someone had started on the beach.  

I managed 3 sessions before my arms and legs stopped cooperating. Packing up and leaving to drive back home is always a bitter-sweet point in the day, but part of what makes this coastline so special is its remoteness.

I never did figure out what was missing. It was probably nothing.

I always want to be a thousand places at the same time, so it always feels like I’m missing something.

I often miss the simplicity of a session at Humewood, parking at Saddles and running down the rocky steps behind Happy Valley. Or pulling up at the harbor above Fence, and paddling out to 20 faces I know by name. Or shooting the shit with people at Pipe, while trying to figure out if a drive to the reserve is worth it.

Those are nice things to think about.

The waves I get here and memories are what sustain from week to week when I’m missing the ocean. And the same thing applies to P.E. and St. Francis (where my folks live full-time now), when I go home for visits.

No matter what you’re doing, time is always precious. 

Little known spots from Kenya , through Tanzania up into Somalia will have firing right, and all the left points from Angola into Congo and Gabon will be going off their pips. A few lil islands off the coast under the bulge will also be pumping. And then there’s the right sand points of Ghana….