Surfing Northwest
Wave-catchers are on the boards at Westhaven State Park

By Vanessa Ho
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

WESTPORT -- Growing up in California, I always idolized surfers. To me, they were sleek loners on the sea, able to carve water, skim whitecaps and command their own loping vocabulary. They talked about "riding a tube" and "catching a wave," as if a wave were some elusive, mind-blowing virus I had to have.

On a recent morning, I caught my first wave in Westport, a depressed fishing town that has become the surf capital of Washington. The main beach, Westhaven State Park, draws thousands of people every year, but unlike Hawaii or Southern California, surfing here is uniquely Northwest.

The average water temperature ranges from 40 to almost 60 degrees, making a full wetsuit essential year-round. Enormous changes in the tide and wind create gritty, unstable conditions. Waves go from small in the summer to overhead in the winter.

Despite the chill and ruggedness, surfing has found a toehold and grown considerably. Last month, the annual Northwest Longboard Classic drew 230 contestants, compared to 54 when it began nine years ago. For years, Westport boasted only one surf shop; now there are three.

I rented a board and wetsuit from the oldest shop, a small, quirky, laid-back venue packed with boards, suits, faded postcards on the wall and old longboards suspended from the ceiling. A sign outside announces "Cowabunga!" and "Tap the Source," and the store is simply called The Surf Shop.

Ian Kapostins, a bronzed, goateed, 32-year-old surfing instructor, began my lesson by dissolving any notion I had of becoming a daredevil rider.

"Do you mind getting clocked in the head?" he said.

He wanted to know if I preferred being hit by a soft, spongy board or the more popular hard one. Beginning surfers, I soon learned, are easily slammed with their own boards, hence the choice in rentals.

We set off for Westhaven, which offers three main places to surf: The cove, the jetty and "the groins," a series of rock fingers behind the Islander Motel.

As a northeasterly wind blew, Kapostins used the sand as a chalkboard and patiently explained the mechanics of surfing: How to spot currents, find the best waves, understand wind, time swell sets, paddle out, hop on a board, balance, triangulate, avoid fights with other surfers and recover when you bite it.

"It's about economy of motion," he emphasized. "Because you can't possibly beat the ocean with your own physical strength. The strongest man in the world couldn't punch his way through the waves. You use finesse and insight, so you save your energy for one thing, and that's to catch a wave."

Kapostins usually teaches one or two people at a time, and at the end of his lecture, I was psyched and started squeezing into my wetsuit. It was a size extra-small and too tight. Feeling like the Michelin Man in turquoise neoprene, I heard Kapostins say, "By the way, the zipper goes in the back."

Because of the volatile conditions, Westport surfers tend to be hardy and dedicated to their sport.

"It's tough getting good surf here, unless you invest a lot of time hanging out and waiting," Kapostins said. "It'll be 20 degrees out with a 30-mile wind, and there are guys who will paddle out in the snow, in the dark, to check out the waves."

Al Perlee, owner of The Surf Shop, describes it as "wilderness surfing," where the surf changes dramatically with the seasons. In the summer, when crowds are big, waves are fairly small.

But in the winter, "they can be big enough to break large boats into small pieces that would fit into your bathroom," he says.

That's part of the beauty of surfing. "If you want juice -- pure, raw juice -- fall is your season. If you want warmth and ease, summer is your season," Perlee says.

A former Stanford University defensive lineman, Perlee, 46, is somewhat of Westport's surfing guru. Burly and intense, he surfed in Southern California when he was 9, then surfed Santa Cruz a bit farther north and moved here when the crowds got to him.

Ten years ago he opened his store, where he now watches over younger surfers, dispenses good vibes and tells excellent stories. Like this one:

"Last night, I was walking across the sand, and I'm looking down and I see a small toad mushroom. I'm like, I'm 46 years old, I've been at the beach my whole life, and I have never seen a mushroom growing out of dry sand. So I see it, I reach down and I pick it. Later, I tell my daughter that I saw this mushroom growing in the sand, and that I picked it, and she's like, 'Well, why did you pick it?' Here was the only mushroom I'd ever seen growing out of dry sand, and I picked it!"

The surfing community tends to be close-knit, with a strain of tension against "nonlocals" -- despite the fact that many surfers aren't from Westport. Many are in their 20s and 30s, snowboard in the winter and work the ski passes, hitting the beaches only when ski season is over.

"You can forget about everything when you're in the water," says 21-year-old Allen Ricciardi, a Port Orchard college student and snowboarder. Ricciardi says he surfs every weekend during the summer.

"It's addicting," he says. He describes how he used to get up at 6 a.m., drive two hours to surf and go to work in Bremerton at 4 p.m.

"When the surf's up, you just want to forget everything and try your best to get in the water."

For Perlee, surfing is sensuous tranquility.

"You'll be out there in the water," he says, "and your senses are bombarded by the beauty of the ocean, and the sun glistening on the water, and the seagulls riding along the crest of the waves."

I didn't see any gulls near me, but that's probably because my head was often submerged in bracingly chilly water.

Repeatedly, I pounced onto the board and wiped out, despite puny waves and Herculean efforts.

Every time I crashed, Kapostins would offer encouragement, and ask, "So what happened there?"

I would forget to twist my body or bend my knees. Or I stood up too late, too far forward, too far back, or just barely managed an ungainly squat. Hanging 10 was hard work. I was getting cold and tired.

But one time, I actually stood, the board glided toward shore and I breathed in the salt mist -- and for a second or two, I understood the loping cadence of surfers.

The following Westport shops sell and rent wetsuits and surfboards, and offer surfing lessons. Call for prices.

• The Surf Shop, 207 N. Montesano St., (360) 268-0992. Open everyday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Catalyst Surf Shop, 105 N. Montesano St., (360) 268-9283. Open Friday-Monday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m.

• North Coast Surf Co., 321 Dock St., (360) 268-9140. Summer hours, expected to continue through mid-September, are: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (Customers should call to confirm hours.)