Gallery: Timmy Reyes Slays A Fickle Beast In The PNW

Want to know a funny thing about the American west coast? For some odd reason, most surfers (myself included) will never venture north of Marin County — just above San Francisco — in pursuit of waves. I don’t know how or why this imaginary line exists, but I’m inclined to say that Point Reyes is the cutoff for most Californian surf-hunters. Beyond that point, through the northern third of California plus all of Oregon and Washington, is nearly 1,000 miles of semi-remote coastline. 

And if you’re trying to tell me there aren’t at least 100 good setups along those (nearly) 1,000 miles of coast, I’ll kick you in the shin three times. 

But the truth is, thanks to jobs, families, lack of resources, but primarily a lack of gonads, most of us will take the easy, crowded surf we know over a cold, adventurous long-shot any day of the week.

This explains why Timmy Reyes and his pals spend so much time up in the Pacific Northwest — the supply/demand tube ratio is off the charts!

Those who follow Timmy on Instagram know he’s not the average Huntington Beach pro. Rather than perfecting his air revs at the pier or striking practice missions to Costa Rica, Timmy has been actively avoiding crowded surf locales and instead focusing his time, energy, and resources on more desolate regions in pursuit of tubes. Despite having to wear a 5-4-3 + boots, gloves, and a hood at most of these spots, he’s succeeding by all accounts.

So when one of Timmy’s best friends and photographers, Russell Holliday, sent me the above gallery of an oversized PNW rivermouth, I was hardly surprised. This session is the exact reason Timmy has spent the last few years dialing in that ~1,000 mile coastline. 

Without having him give too much away (as not to break the PNW bro-code), I asked Russell for some details about the day. Here’s what he could tell me:

Stab: Are the waves up here consistently this good?
Russell Holliday: Definitely not. This was after a really heavy rain, which I think is why the sandbar was so pronounced. We honestly just checked the rivermouth on a whim, with no real expectations that it would be breaking like this, but it definitely over-produced. 

Were the boys paddling or stepping-off?
It was definitely paddle-able, because it had sort of a roll-in before hitting the inside bar and running all the way through. The main reason we used skis was because of the shark factor. As you can see in the photo (below) you have a mix of seals and dead salmon floating out of the river which means it’s sharky as hell.

Yeeaaaaaah, about that…. Photo: Holliday.

Fair play, and it looks like everybody was getting sick ones. Who are the other guys besides Timmy?
It’s crazy to watch Timmy surf waves like that — you really see how talented of a barrel rider he is. Tony Perez was navigating it on his backhand so well, while Jonathan Grubbs was willing to pull into any wave that rolled through. He definitely paid the price on a few.

And what about the board? It’s looks like they’re all on the same stick.
The guys were taking turns doing steps-offs on Timmy’s board, which had a broken fin box, so we figured we’d just stay out until the fins snapped off [laughs]. They packed some huge closeouts but were making almost every wave. Somehow the board survived. 

Any other interesting moments?
Jonathan and I got caught inside on one and ended up flipping the ski trying to make it over a wave. I watched Jonathan get ejected over the handlebars as I rolled off the back of the sled, and my waterhousing pegged me in the side of the head (luckily I was wearing a helmet!). We both were able to flip the ski over and jump on before the next wave hit us. It was a wild day but totally worth it.