(photos: Zak Noyle via Transworld)
For a few years now, Oregon’s become the buzz with several surf rags as Northern California surfers drift northwards, looking for unexploited waves to exploit. Well, the cat is officially out of the bag with regard to Oregon’s other big gnarly wave: Yeti. Here’s a little history of Yeti from Oregon Surfrider Field Coordinator, Charlie Plybon:

Many moons ago, before the age of fins and leashes, before the neo-neoprene movement, a man named Scott Blackman traveled north along Highway 101 on a blustery fall day on the Oregon coast. The swell was pumping and Scott was seeking some shelter from the storm, maybe a small harbor or cove softening the wind and massive swell, always with an eye to the ocean for the next greatest wave. What Scott saw that day was an unimaginable wave, defying laws of physics, the slab that appeared before him was something even the best animator couldn’t fathom in a Pixar hurricane. The slab grew from a submerged reef that some 30+ years later would first be surfed and named “Scott’s (Yeti) Reef” in Mr. Blackman’s honor. Scott stopped for years, photographing the wave from as many angles as possible. In the late 90s and into 2000 some of the locals would begin to notice the possibility of this wave, but it would take some extra speed, maybe tow-in was the answer. And so it was, in October 2006 when the wave was finally approached and surfed, local tow surfers Ollie Richardson and Dan Hasselschwert owned it the most. Though Oregon is known for the Nelscott Reef contest, wich attracted quite the crowd this year, I decided to watch the locals not invited to the contest riding their monster slab.

Click on individual pics to see this cold water Teahupoo.