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Beyond Nelscott Reef: Oregon mysto spot delivers

(Gig Harbor, WA) November 5, 2010 – When the buoys were forecasted to be 30′ @ 18 seconds with light south east winds and a direct west hit for Lincoln City, Oregon, we knew it was going to be the biggest rideable swell to hit the Northwest coast in the past ten years. This was the swell that Keith Galbraith and I had been waiting for, training for and we knew that South Reef would hold and deliver everything we wanted and then some! This swell was going to be the real deal.

In the days prior the swell, I had many conversations with some of the elite big wave bravadoes, including weather and swell forecast guru, Mark Sponsler from Stormsurf.com who were all predicting this swell would be in the 50′-60′ range with some possible rogue 70′ sets. The thought of waves that big was very exciting but there was one main issue, the south winds and foul weather the day before. Man, the talk of waves that big was being thrown around like the wind we were dealing with. Little did we know, the swell and light wind forecasted for the following day would become a reality and not some overly hyped swell with trashed conditions.

The big question was, should Keith and I own up to our back yard break, ‘South Reef’, that we have been pioneering over the past five years and pray she delivers the beasts that were forecasted while taking a gamble on the wind, or should we bow out and make the run for Mavz one day and Shark Park the next where we thought conditions would be better? It was a tough call but we finally made the decision while driving from Washington to Oregon to take our chances on our local turf and take on South Reef.

Needless to say the drive down with my good friend Christian Gankema from Washington the day before was stormy, windy and raining and was not looking so good. We arrived at Lincoln City after a short 5 hour drive, got a hotel room and hoped for the best. That night our crew got together for dinner at Jason’s house to talk about water safety and the logistics of getting out of the river mouth and thru the massive beach break on our PWC’s. Our other topic of discussion was the concern of left over bump from the heavy winds and rain and a potential very raw swell that developed just over a thousand miles off the coast with 50′ seas.

The following morning brought misty fog, surging masses of white water up to the launch ramp and a very unorganized roaring ocean from the storm the day before. The levels of stress and anxiety were over the top because we did not know what to expect. The good news was that the surf was giant and starting to build while the sets were exploding on the reef. We decided to give the ocean a couple of hours to settle down, let the fog lift and then launch out of the river mouth and straight through the 25′-30′ relentless beach break.

Once past the hectic beach break and out into what seemed like the middle of the ocean, we could see that this was the swell of the decade and was going to be XXL and beyond all day long. Quickly but cautiously, we motored over to South Reef, dropped the rope and wasted no time. I flew into some giant waves right off the bat, set the bar and it was on amongst our crew. The waves I caught were like no other big waves I had ever ridden or experienced. I had never gone as fast as I did or dropped into waves that seemed to keep lifting to the sky while experiencing an endless drop. I had a perfect session and truly rode the biggest waves of my life. I am still buzzing today like a spun out 4 year old on cotton candy. As mother nature would have it, she delivered a straight west swell and a day that will go down in the history books as the biggest and heaviest South Reef ever surfed! This is the day that we finally had the opportunity to put South Reef on the maps, as a legitimate big wave spot not to be taken lightly.

While the Nelscott Reef Big Wave Paddle Event ‘North Reef’ was under way with solid 40′ – 50′ sets and a couple of closeouts, South Reef was all that and even more! It was a sight to see and now we know what South Reef can deliver. We now know it will hold a very big swell and possibly bigger than what we surfed and witnessed. With all the right conditions, swell direction, tide, winds etc. South Reef will one day deliver another monster swell and we plan to be there to experience it once again.
There is even an outer bombie reef a half mile further out known by the local fishermen as ‘Tackle Buster Reef’ that we knew existed and was well in the 60′-70′ range but closing out 600 yards wide. These were the occasional rogue sets every hour or so and this is new territory that we hope to explore and pioneer one day. When we watched these rogue sets exploding on the outside we knew it was just a matter of moments before the monster set from Tibet would reform and come marching in.
The most amazing thing about our session is that we had an empty line up with just two to three teams in the water the entire day. Our crew consisted of long time Oregon tow partner and big wave surfer Keith Galbraith, my good friends Christian Gankema and Craig Spjut and local Oregon big wave surfers Dan Hassleschwert and Ollie Richardson along with Josh Solbach and Tim Andrew. For me personally, this was a monumental tow-in session in my career and one that I will never ever forget. Everything I have experienced and learned in the past ten years of chasing big waves around the globe came full circle.
It was an amazing day shared amongst great friends and a day that will be remembered for the rest of our lives.

“Keep the Dream Alive!”
 Eric Akiskalian/Towsurfer.com