We were almost too tired from closing off August with a few straight days of surf to think about another session tonight, but who could resist a scene like this!? Gorgeous sunset surf session on the Homer Spit to welcome September.
This is the essence of surfing in Alaska for me - incredible scenery and sharing waves with friends. Cheers.
Hans Bishop surfing Homer, Alaska
Typically for us Homer, Alaska surfers we can plan on putting our boards away for a summer hibernation from about May till September. Call it El Nino or what you like, but things were a little different this summer. Two things were really different. We now have stand up paddleboards and are stoked to get out surfing even ankle slappers that hit he beaches in the summer doldrums. But, ankle slapper sup surfing aside, Homer was actually blessed with some pretty decent waves this summer too.
There’s a knee high wind swell hitting the Homer Spit today. I’m inside working on the computer to that all too familiar tune of water dripping down the rain gutter just outside my window. I can’t complain though, yesterday evening I paddled my stand up board for about 4 hours and easily caught my subsistence limit of red salmon as the sun set over the calm and rain free waters of Tutka Bay.
Today I’m excited to share a short video documenting a stellar trip to Petrof Glacier earlier this year. It’s high definition so please go fullscreen and let it load for a couple minutes to fully enjoy the 5 minutes of reverie.
If you are looking to score some summer waves in Alaska Kodiak and Yakutat are two well known spots to consider visiting.
In the archives you can find a four part report from a surf trip to Yakutat. Part One, Two, Three, Four. Now it’s Kodiak’s turn. Having been a few years since I’ve surfed Kodiak myself, I reached out for this post to a Surf Alaska follower Caroline Goodman. She was kind enough to share her story and answer a few questions on the surf scene in Kodiak. If you enjoy the interview thank her in the comments, she’s done us all a great favor here.
Mike McCune first time stand up paddlesurfing Alaska!
The surf report between May and September in Homer, Alaska is typically pretty bleak. It’s actually sort of a wonder that we get waves here at all considering that Kachemak Bay is completely sheltered from any open ocean swell. In the Summer this is excruciatingly apparent.
The tide has changed here though, with the launch of the Surf Alaska stand up paddlesurfing division bringing a sudden influx of stand up paddleboards we’re not planning on leaving our wetsuits to dry for 3-4 months this summer. We have a new motto we repeat with great satisfaction as we look out at the shin high wind chop breaking on the Homer Spit – ‘we could surf that’.
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