When Eventyr failed to return home, his wife, Kristin, his mother and a friend combed the beach near Westport on Wednesday night looking for him. He debated whether he should just drift, but found "it was physically making me sick not to do anything." Waves repeatedly struck his face and kept him awake. At times, he huddled on top of his board, trying to warm himself and doze. Nauseous, he tried only to keep lights onshore in view. But he said the big swells made him seasick. Wearing a hooded wetsuit, Eventyr stayed atop his 7-1/2-foot surfboard and tried to reach shore.
The current pulled Eventyr farther and farther north. When the shore proved too difficult for him to reach, Eventyr angled for a jetty but was hammered in quick succession by three "double, overhead" waves, up to 15 feet, that swept him out to sea. "The sea kind of contains you in a different kind of way it just cleanses you on a deep level," said Eventyr, who has been surfing for five years. He knew he shouldn't surf alone, but after some tension with his wife, figured a therapeutic afternoon at the coast was a brighter beacon than safety. "I wasn't quite sure I was going to make it and just kept going, doing the best I could," Eventyr said.Įventyr hadn't been able to find a friend to surf with him after finishing work as a breakfast cook Wednesday at The Evergreen State College. He says he spent 20 harrowing hours clinging to his surfboard before reaching the beach again yesterday.Īfter making his way to help, the surfer recounted his ordeal last night. The 32-year-old Olympia man says that, unable to reach shore against that riptide and high waves, he was swept past the surf line out to sea. The popular, year-round surfing spot near Westport off the Washington coast is known to have a significant ebb current and Wednesday evening it was running at least four knots, according to Coast Guard estimates. Surfer Jens Eventyr says he was just finishing an afternoon riding 4- to 6-foot waves Wednesday at Westhaven State Park when he tried to paddle into shore.
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