u/Retired_Autist

Did some research I think I get the gist of it, cold and heavy etc. I’m mostly wondering how often does westport actually get fun? Like chest/ head high and relatively clean? That’ll definitely be my closest break. And I’m not asking for specifics but how many good spots like westport are there really? I know of La Push, some left hand points that seem fickle, and not much more. Is there a lot to explore? Looks like there’s potential for some lesser known reefs and a lot of beaches that might occasionally have their day. Can you get away with no hood? I’m prepared for a heavy wetsuit and gloves/ booties but I hate wearing hoods. Also if anyone wants to car pool or something from Tacoma let me know, moving there in early Dec. I’m like a real intermediate, comfortable in head high surf, can definitely do bigger if it’s a break I know and am confortable with, can do all basic maneuvers like cutbacks etc. typically not pretty. Any advice for that area is appreciated thanks!

I’ll get this out of the way, we did run the 2 mile, we lost I think 6 people due to not passing the pt test, it would’ve been more like 10-15 had the system not malfunctioned. Long story short it made everyone’s last lap time 2 mins, which saved a lot of people who barely passed. Run a lot before coming here, I’m very glad I did. People who didn’t were throwing up on our first 2 mile run. Don’t underestimate the pt but don’t be scared of it either, most of us passed. Just push yourself and prepare before coming here. Anyway go ahead ama I’ll try to be as helpful as I can.

I find it a bit fascinating, haven’t really seen this anywhere else and after being here a week I can say for sure I’ve seen it in many different terrible surfers and it seems to be a trend.

At any peak there will be a few surfers who are unbelievably aggressive, they’ll back paddle and paddle battle you all day, drop in on you, call you off waves you’re in position for. Then you see them surf and they can barely stand on the board. Like full on poo stance hands in the air trying to balance, blowing half the waves they catch, bailing boards on clean up sets. Like genuinely shouldn’t even be out there especially at low tide over the shallow rocks. Some are locals some are tourists. I’ve seen it over and over, probably 30-40 different people now.

The thing is the actual local rippers seem pretty chill for the most part, I’ve seen them brush off drop ins and patiently wait for waves many times just to shred the hell out of whatever wave they catch. I did also watch one push over someone who dropped in them but honestly that was very justified, the dude dropped in on someone without looking like 5 times in a row at that point. Overall the aggression seems beginner specific.

Now popoyo is not that aggressive over all, if anything it’s chill for how fucking crowded it is, better vibes than a lot of other crowds. But yeah its just weird as hell to me to see the biggest assholes in the water be the worst surfers, its been the opposite every where else I’ve been.