FORKS, Wash — Former North Shore Kaua‘i residents Darren Greeno and Leah Hornaday are the owners and operators of the West End Surf shop in a town that’s known as the “Logging Capital of the World.” The couple moved to
FORKS, Wash — Former North Shore Kaua‘i residents Darren Greeno and Leah Hornaday are the owners and operators of the West End Surf shop in a town that’s known as the “Logging Capital of the World.” The couple moved to Forks on the Pacific coast of Washington state just over six months ago and are finding success in serving the local surfing community and surfers visiting from Seattle, Oregon and other surfing areas in the Pacific Northwest.
Kaua‘i surfers would find Washington ocean waters a tad chilly at about 50 degrees on any given day. Huge waves generated by storms off Alaska also limit surfing outside of summer months on the Pacific Coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Prevailing winds are also onshore, unlike Kaua‘i’s offshore tradewinds.
Hawai‘i residents who have relocated to the Pacific Northwest have dropped in over the past summer, including a couple from Hanapepe, a former Princeville resident now living in Coos Bay, Ore., a Kapa‘a student studying in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho and the couple’s friend Sheri Sarri of Kilauea, who heads up the Kaua‘i chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.
Visitors from Maui and the Big Island also did some shopping.
The couple are also importers of Kaua‘i-made surfboards. Their stock includes boards from Mark Sausen of Kilauea-based Papa Sau Surfboards, from legendary Princeville-based surfboard shaper Dick Brewer and from surfboard shaper Randy Sleigh.
Next to the racks of surfboards are a selection of black full-length hooded wet suits, most a cumbersome, but essential, five millimeters thick.
The couple opened the doors of the shop in early June and live next door to the surf shop about a block off U.S. Highway 101. The buildings previously belonged to members of a local pioneer family, the Petersons.
“Both of us have worked in surf retail, and surfing has been our life and lifestyle for a period of time,” Greeno said regarding his move to Forks.
“We had all kinds of ideas about opening a retail store, but when we saw the old Peterson store it was the perfect situation for us — a retail store and a home together.”
The surfboard shop owners’ business plan revolves around the growing popularity of surfing and skateboarding on the West End of the Olympic Peninsula, and the lack of youth-oriented clothing shops in the area.
The nearest McDonalds is over 60 miles away and the closest major shopping mall about two hours down Highway 101 towards Seattle. Driving south of the town there is not another traffic light for about 100 miles.
The West End area includes sections of the Olympic National Park.
The park’s Hoh Rain Forest and the Forks region are noted as the rainiest area in the continental United States, a place where rainfall is measured in feet, rather than inches.
“More people in Forks have surfboards than you think,” said Greeno, who grew up in waveless Spokane near Eastern Washington University where a number of Kaua‘i students attend college. He traveled west to learn to surf in the Forks area about 10 years ago before moving to Kaua‘i.
As do many surfers in the Pacific Northwest, Greeno also enjoys snowboarding in winter months.
“We were drawn back from Kaua‘i by the beauty of the area, the mountains and the ocean — you can’t ask for more than that,” Greeno said when asked why the couple left balmy Hawai‘i.
He said the rugged, wilderness coastal environment was also a draw. “The feel that you have to hike to go surf, the outdoor wilderness aspect, is unique.”
The high cost of housing and day-to-day life in Hawai‘i also drew the couple back to Washington state. A similar retail property on Kaua‘i would cost easily over $1 million. The logging industry has been in decline in Forks since the Spotted Owl habitat cutbacks in available forest land over the past 20 years or so. Real estate prices are relatively low for a location that’s just miles from the scenic Pacific Coast.
“We started looking around other places…we looked across Hawai‘i and Puget Sound with its easy access to the coast” but chose Forks, he said.
Greeno and Hornaday said it will take a lot of effort to create their own livelihood in Forks, but a labor that will be well worth it.