Oswald State Park/Short Sands Reviews and Ratings

“Shorts Sands (Shorties) is an interesting place. Definitely the most 'popular' break on the north Oregon coast (if not the entire state,) Shorties is probably where most people go to "learn" to surf in Oregon (and SW Washington) due to its close proximity to Portland, Oregon's most populous city.

In the fleeting Oregon summer or any time the weather is 1/2-way decent (which is more often than the common misconception,) the place is an absolute zoo starting around 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. The small parking lots are full as droves of softtop-schlepping hipsters from Portland file down the old growth forest trail to the beach with coolers full of Pabst, selfie sticks, frisbees and guitars. The place is a Portlandia episode waiting to be filmed.

That said, even during the warmer months/days, if you're a trooper and can manage dawn patrol, you can usually catch the place almost entirely deserted for an hour or two in the early morning. (The parking lot is 'open' at 6:00, but I've never been ticketed for pulling in at 5:00-5:30).

Summer months are generally weak for Oregon surf anyways, so the small waves and friendly 'scene' at Shorties makes it look like some sort of Hipster Beach Blanket Bingo.

Come Fall and Winter though, this place takes on an entirely different vibe. The best months for quality are October and November. The sandbars from the multiple creek outflows are groomed and have yet to be pummeled by the heavy-duty NW winter swells, and Shorties is capable of spitting barrels and long uninterrupted lines when those conditions line up just right.

Typically, the worst thing about Shorties isn't the droves of kooks. When the waves are good they tend to flounder about in the whitewash, well out of the way of any firing lines. The Seaside crews that dominate The Point typically don't surf here, or if they do, the a$$hole meter is dialed back considerably.

No, the worst thing about Shorties are the blow-in California surfers that roll up with their bros and 20 chippy-thrusters strapped to the roof. It doesn't take long to spot them: most of them riding something by ...Lost or Al Merrick and sporting Hurley wetsuits with any color other than black. You can hear the forced California-drawls and observe the spastic shredding better left to Mission Beach or Blacks or Steamer Lane. The only real conflicts I've ever seen in the water at Shorties had some Cal bros involved.

Fortunately the bros don't typically know when to catch Shorties going off so the local and semi-local (Portland) surfers usually get the lion's share of quality surf there. With multiple, shifting peaks there's almost always enough waves to go around when its good.”

OR Surfer from UNITED STATES - 22 May 2015