Surf Talk Guru

This is the time of year when beginning surfers can get into trouble. Oregon surfing in the summer is a whole different story than Oregon surfing in the fall and winter. In the past, many beginning surfers have paddled out into a big fall or winter swell and haven’t lived to tell about it. As a beginner it’s your responsibility to know how to read the surf forecast and to check conditions thoroughly before attempting to surf Oregon’s waves.

The most important numbers to check when deciding whether to surf or not are the buoy data. The buoy data will give you the wave height, the wave period and the swell direction. The wave period and swell direction are the most important indicators of conditions. A 5 foot swell with a short period of 7 seconds will create smaller surf than a 3 foot swell at 18 seconds. The longer the period, the bigger the waves. Know what your surfing abilities are and don’t go out in anything that’s too big for you to handle.