Surf Forecast  Westport - The Cove

Westport - The Cove surfspot characteristics

More about Westport - The Cove surfspot

Westport is just about the only reliable, publicly-accessible surf spot on Washington’s Pacific shoreline — thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers. Two long rock jetties flank the entrance to Grays Harbor interrupting a long stretch of featureless coast. There are three major spots. When the wind blows out of the south, locals move inside the jetty to The Cove, where the wind will be offshore and the waves manicured into clean walls. A-frames hammer the sand with board-snapping intensity when it fires and prefers lower tides best. All areas get crowded. Smile and take your turn. Across the channel, there’s good beach break on the leeward side of the north jetty on S winds. Conditions at the Cove and Groins change dramatically with tide swings. Perfect waves can yield to raging rips or surfless bumps in the course of an hour.

Beware of dangerous rips and currents. Strong timber-industry presence in the Grays Harbor area brings likelihood of pollution. To get to the Cove and the Jetty go to Westhaven State Park. Parking is no problem at either Westport or Ocean Shores, but getting there is, since there are no straight lines to these sandbar peninsulas.