“Our Puget Sound runs are not top 5 in the world. For this I bet most people would list consistent winds, shuttle service, and maybe even warm water as key criteria. Much of our local stoke consists of a bunch of middle aged dudes trying to get out of work early and avoid parenting responsibilities just to get a couple of hours in 45 degree water in the middle of the winter. (Ed. This describes surfskiers also, but add plenty of seniors and women to the mix) On weekends, we are basically flipping a coin between fresh snow in the mountains and wind at home. While we get lots of windy days, the weather reports are fickle and the best wind can occur anytime of day.

That being said, an epic day anywhere between Federal Way and Edmonds rivals a great day in the Gorge. Particularly at low tide, the swells can be large and well lined up. Moreover, due to several point breaks, the runs are sectional with portions that have steep peaks and other more groomed sections with prolonged knee high rollers. If Rainier or the Olympic mountains are out, the scenery is world class. On stormy days, there is a complete lack of color, just mist shrouded silhouettes of pine trees. It is sublime.

This talk of depth, fetch and wind is fascinating. Puget Sound has a couple of interesting features. Our runs typically are usually northerly in the summer, southerly the rest of the year and sometimes westerly. Each has a different character. The northerlies are rarely >20 mph but the fetch is 100s of miles with late afternoon winds circulating from the ocean through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and then south from the San Juan Islands. On these days, the swells can be nice sized but there is a slow motion feel to them. The glides are controlled and easy to catch but fairly difficult to connect. The shallower sections are almost always the best. Even when it gets to 25 mph, the deeper water sections are not that great. The sunshine and Rainier are highlights. These are perfect beginner runs and are doable at all tide levels.

Southerlies and westerlies are associated with big fall / winter storms and often occur before or after rain. Water depth seems to have much less of an effect on quality of swells. In fact, we usually shoot for the channel where the depth is 400-600 feet. Winds are gusty and temperamental, in contrast to the more consistent northerlies. We hit 40 mph a bunch of times, and 50 at least once last winter. On big days like this, the major challenge to connecting tens of glides is simply staying on the board. For most of our southerly runs, the fetch is 10-20 miles which seems to be sufficient only for days with >20 mph wind (in contrast to the northerlies which are great with ~15 mph or even less). Tide is a major consideration. Low tide is universally awesome. Moderate can be equally fun, but is technical with both on and off shore swell. High tide is to be avoided both because of massive floating logs and a complete loss of wave patterns in the water….(Ed. These comments about tide are not universally true across the whole Sound - not sure whether the logs Blue Crab is talking about are more due to river flows or whether their downwinders were often after heavy rain (in our experience affects log frequency much more), but we do not see this so much in north Puget Sound)“

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