Iceman surfing in Alaska at sunrise.

Finally back at it here on SurfAlaska.net. Thanks for your patience, and welcome to all the new followers.

We just had a couple nice days of surf in Homer, Alaska over the weekend. I managed to catch some photos and some waves. After a pretty long dry spell for me, I was mostly catching waves, but I was sure to create some new content to bring SurfAlaska back out of the flat spell too. Here are a few shots from a session yesterday morning at sunrise. Mike tells us the best waves were before sunrise and before the moon set. I wasn’t there, so we’ll just have to take his word for it. Judging by this morning’s session, I’ll believe him!

Enjoy!

Iceman heading out for a sunrise surf session in Alaska.

Mike McCune surfing Alaska.

Matt James surfing Alaska.

Mike McCune surfing Alaska.

Sunrise surf waves. You can just see Iceman ridingthe second-out wave.

Mike McCune walking out of a winter surf paradise.

Mike McCune Surfing a Cook Inlet winter storm as it breaks on an icy Ninilchik, Alaska beach.

Mike had been watching the weather, maybe a little too closely. The waves in Homer were suffering from a 30mph onshore wind but the buoys and weather stations had him thinking that something might be going on up the road 40 miles at the mouth of the Ninilchik River or Deep Creek. It was such a gnarly winter blizzarding day that I could not say no to this invite. With the conditions what they were it was a pretty easy decision to leave the wetsuit behind and bring the fur hat and camera bag instead.  Gart Curtis and I met Mike at his house and up the road through the blowing snow we went.

This trip, unlike some other recent wave hunts, did not disappoint. I could ramble on about the day for a while, but time is very short. My bags are packed and I’m heading to Prince William Sound for 5 days on a photo project. Of course I’ll keep an eye out for waves.

The photos are a bit ‘flat’. It was snowing hard, and blowing in circles limiting visibility pretty badly, the light was poor, but the subject was great.

 

Gart Curtis and Mike McCune walking a path through the ice to the waves on Cook Inlet, Alaska.

Mike McCune surfing a Cook Inlet winter wave in Ninilchik, Alaska.

Alaskan surfer Mike McCune trying to find his way amongst the chunks of ice on the beach in a snow storm.

Mike McCune sits on a chunk of ice as he waits for Gart to scramble his way up the icy beach.

Alaskan surfer, Gart Curtis, covers his face from the wind as he jumps between chunks of ice. Mike McCune can be seen in the field of snow ahead.

The surf was overhead, the snow was about knee high. Gart Curtis trudges back to the truck during a winter surf session in Alaska.

The surf session started at Deep Creek. Mike and Gart drifted north in the current about a quarter mile to the mouth of the creek. By the time we got back up to the ‘put-in’ the tide had risen several feet and the waves were crashing into the ice chunks. We decided to head for the Ninilchik River in hopes that the waves would be breaking at least a few feet off the beach.

Alaskan surfer, Mike McCune, scopes the break as Gart slips down the icy sloap into the surf.

Gart Curtis surfing an icy gray Cook Inlet, Alaska wave.

Mike McCune drops in on a set wave breaking just a few feet off the ice.

Alaska surf kayaker, Randy Kellar contemplating his chances of getting outside the break without getting crushed in the ice.

I was wondering what would happen when Mike and Gart decided to come back to land. The rising tide and increasing swell size had the waves crashing over the steep icy incline into the field of ice chunks. Here's Mike riding the ocean powered water slide up into an awaiting ice linebacker.

Despite losing a fin and finding a large hole in his board from the exit battle, Mike is all smiles and ice at the end of the session.

Jake Beaudoin walking into a timeless surfing scene, Yakutat, Alaska.

As you probably figured out, this is the third post reporting on a 7 day surfing trip to Yakutat, Alaska. Part 2 was the story for Sept 28th. Something happened between that day and October 1st. Or, what I mean is nothing happened, with the camera that is. I know there was plenty of surfing, and along with it plenty of rain– so the photographer left his camera in the tent and caught up on some surf.  This was good, because on the first morning in October we were excited to see our first and only sunrise for the week. The six days of waiting for a glimpse of the mountains and a chance at some classic Yakutat surf photos finally paid off. No complaints though, waiting out the rain clouds is not bad when it means surfing for 6hrs a day, and when the pay off looks like this.

So, we started this day off with a hike to our regular spot – Pt Carrew. The waves were decent and glassy with a stunning backdrop of the Saint Elias Range. Later in the day we bumped into some visiting California shredders in Yakuat with the good folks from Alaska Brewing and the Coastal Code program. Growing up and learning to surf in Alaska exclusively I honestly was pretty impressed. I didn’t realize shoulder high beach break had so much potential.  To finish the day off there was a very sweet surf session at Snappers. I showed up a bit late with the camera, but judging by the grins on the boys’ faces it was pretty good.

Keith Bell and Dan Stafford starting their day off right with a sunrise surf at Pt Carrew, Yakutat, Alaska.

Glassy morning surf at Pt Carrew with the Saint Elias Range backdrop, Yakutat, Alaska.

Jake Beaudoin surfing Pt Carrew, Yakutat, Alaska.

Clear skies, sunshine, snow covered mountains, and the call of some lonely surf, Yakutat, Alaska.

A lull in the surf, but the scenery was going off- 12,000ft glacier encrusted faces.

California surfer Chris Del Moro doing his thing beneath Mt St Elias, Yakutat, Alaska.

Chris Del Moro surfing Yakutat, Alaska.

Matt Kinney displaying his 'This is surf stoke' billboard after a dreamy session at Snappers, Yakutat, Alaska.

Rainbow at Snappers surf beach. Yakutat, Alaska

Day 2: Looking back through the photo files from 9/28/08 there’s nothing for the morning session, must have been rainy and the camera was left behind.  I think we surfed Pt Carrew at first light. Back to camp for a tanner crab lunch, cheers Iceman! It’s not so bad camping in the rainforest when you’ve got all you can eat crab legs after a long morning surf session.

The schedule for our Yakutat surfing trip was pretty strict, rarely in the seven days did we waiver from the following routine:  Wake up at 7am, crawl out of the tents into a drizzle and light the fire. Eat breakfast while stoking up the fire. Moan about crawling into a cold wet wetsuit so early, get over it because the surf is firing, grab your board and hike/run the beach to Pt Carrew for the morning session. Three to four hours later back at camp for lunch and maybe a short nap. Around 3 or 4pm back to the water for the evening session until dark. Once it was too dark to surf, it was time to eat again. Get that fire stoked high and try and forget about the rain till an early bed time around 9pm.  Replay, replay, replay.

Below are some photos from our first full day which gave us a rare and precious glimpse of the sun during the evening session at Snappers. The pot of gold was all you can surf glassy sucking up head high washing machines. Everyone got their share.

Matt Kinney putting away the crab legs in a craze between surf sessions.

Keith Bell navigates the driftwood approach at Snappers. Surfing Yakutat, Alaska.

Iceman applies the wax before surfing at Snappers, Yakutat, Alaska.

Mike McCune dropping into a glassy backlit beach break barrel while surfing Yakutat, Alaska.

Iceman on the nose surfing Yakutat, Alaska.

Mike McCune riding between the lines, Yakutat, Alaska.

Iceman scoring another glassy face at Snappers, Yakutat, Alaska.

Rainbow just before sunrise at Snappers surf beach, Yakutat, Alaska.

Matt Kinney heading back out for another surf session at Snappers, Yakutat, Alaska.

Iceman walking out of the sunset after surfing Snappers, Yakutat, Alaska

Iceman and his reflection go for a walk with their surfboard on the beach. Yakutat, Alaska.

Jake Beaudoin shares a little moment of surf stoke after a great session at Snappers, Yakutat, Alaska.

Back at the campfire Jake begins the long wait for dawn patrol. Yakutat, Alaska.

Jake Beaudoin surfing Yakutat, Alaska beneath the towering Saint Elias Mountains.

If you search online for information about surfing in Alaska you’ll quickly find that Yakutat is by far the most documented location. It seems that this is a case of magazines and newspapers following each others lead, if there is a published story about surfing in Alaska, it’s probably about Yakutat. There are a few good reasons for Yakutat’s rise to fame in the Alaskan surf scene.  First it is undoubtedly the most popular Alaskan surf destination, and for good reason. You can fly there easily from Seattle, Washington or Anchorage, Alaska with Alaska Airlines. The tickets aren’t outrageous and the big jets landing there makes the travel logistics easy.  Yakutat is also home to the Icy Waves surf shop owned and operated by a really great local guy Jack Endicott.  It’s not just relatively easy to get to, Yakutat also has relatively consistent surf. Compared with Homer, it’s incredibly consistent! Yakutat also has a comparably long surf history for Alaskan standards.

Outsiders aren’t the only ones that make surf trips to Yakutat. A mixed group of surfers and myself from the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage area have made two trips down there in the last couple years. Spring and fall have the best surfing waves we are told, so we had one late May to early June trip and this year we spent the end of September and into October there.

This post is part one of a report on the most recent Yakutat surf expedition.

Surfing Yakutat – Getting there in photos:

Mike McCune heading for the jet at the Anchorage Airport.

Jake with his fancy black trash bag carryon waiting to board in Anchorage.

True Alaskan style scenery on our flight from Anchorage to Juneau.

Pay attention to this sign on approach to Juneau. It can be a little exciting.

We are heading to our own form of disneyland.

Every surfer has their face plastered to the window as we approach Yakutat, Alaska. Good news we see a surfable swell hitting the beaches.

Iceman leaves the jet in Yakutat, Alaska.Surfboards at baggage claim in Yakutat.

Surfing magazine with Alaska Airlines, some light reading while we wait for our boards and bags.

Surfboards at baggage claim in Yakutat.

Our piles of gear and surfboard bags fill half the airport terminal.

First stop in Yakutat - Icy waves surf shop.

Icy Waves surf shop door signage. This must be the right place.

Jack has a surprisingly good selection of boards and other stuff at his shop.

I heart surfing Yakutat tshirts.

Matt Kinney trying on some shades. I

Checking out the rental boards at Icy Waves surf shop. They are there in the wood shed, behind the wood splitter.

Rainforest sized puddles on the road to a surf break.

Ok, we made it to Yakutat. Next post I promise I’ll show more Alaska surfing photos. The forecast is looking pretty bleak around Kachemak Bay for the next few days so I might just find some time to keep working on this sooner than later.

Reminder: If you have any surfing alaska stories and/or photos you’d like to share let me know.