Coldwater Culture

A complete guide to this winter's best gifts all your friends and family, in all price ranges!

Both cheers of support and loud laughter were heard throughout Pacific City this past weekend as surfers and spectators gathered on the beach to root on the participants in the annual Cape Kiwanda Longboard Classic. This year marks the 25th running of the beloved community event.
Started in 1998 by Bob and Michelle Ledbetter, the contest has grown to become a staple of the NW surf community. It not only attracts surfers throughout Oregon, but this year saw people from Canada, California, Washington and even Hawaii make the pilgrimage.

Welcome to the team Justin Buford! Justin has been a part of the shop since we opened in 2010. He was a true local grom who would spend his days skateboarding in our parking lot and washing rental wetsuits when he wasn’t in school. His family lived just up the street and his step-dad is one of the best surfers in town. His brother-in-law comes from the legendary South County Surf family the Ledbetters. Surfing is who and what Justin is, it’s in his blood. 

It felt a lot like home, Ireland. I suppose in a bizarre way it is, as my ancestors planted their roots in county Sligo on the North West coast of the country in the early 1700's after immigrating from Scotland. Ireland has been at the top of my travel list since long before I found out there was surf there. I formed images in my head of what the landscape would look like from seeing pictures, videos and hearing stories of infamous rocky basalt point breaks and shallow heaving slabs. Every image I had crafted fell short in comparison to seeing it all in person for the first time.

Houdini was the ultimate escape artist of his time, and it’s pretty obvious that this was the reasoning behind the naming of the Firewire Houdini; a board built with large, powerful barrels in mind, as well as the act of disappearing into those barrels and then escaping while still standing. So will the Firewire Houdini have you escaping the best barrels of your life, or will you suffer the same fate as the namesake with a fatal punch in the gut when you paddle out into some bombing lineup?

“You’ve got to pay to play” or something along those lines, is what we tell ourselves whenever a board is broken during a session. When you get comfortable enough in waves that require a step-up board like Lost’s Sabo-Taj model, the likelihood of snapping it is pretty high. Extra glassing offered from many shapers can help, but it still takes just one bad wipeout or mistimed positioning to kiss your favorite PU board goodbye. So when Lib-Tech took its “dang difficult to ding” technology and combined it with Lost Surfboard’s slab hunting Sabo-Taj, could a board be born that finally holds up to heavy conditions? Let’s find out…. 

Over the last five years, I’ve used two O’Neill Psycho Tech wetsuits from Moment Surf Co and I couldn’t be happier with their quality. Compared to the other wetsuits I’ve tried over the years, the Psycho Tech is not only warmer but also more flexible. Paddling feels unrestricted! Getting the wetsuit on and off does not feel like a major battle. 

What a weekend! Thank you to everyone who competed, volunteered, sponsored, or just came to watch the 24th Cape Kiwanda Longboard Classic. To say we couldn’t do it without you is an understatement. You are what this event is. It’s almost impossible to put into words how your loyalty and commitment has shaped what this event has become. For it to flourish and grow in such a meaningful way to so many people, is all because of you!