Big, stormy, winter surf crashing in Kachemak Bay, Alaska

It was big. It was messy. It was blowing on shore and breaking a half mile offshore. It was fun. The well known and easily accessed beaches here in Homer, Alaska don’t handle a big stormy swell like today’s very well. The set waves were breaking way offshore and the current and foam piles were vicious inside. We were pretty much limited to sitting outside trying to pick off one of those mobbing set waves that would crank up out there.  How big was it? I’m not really sure, but the set waves seemed like they were pushing ten feet on the face. Though they never had a chance to break top to bottom because of the gradually inclining beach that would ware them down before they jacked up and crushed it inside on the bar.

Maybe some of the other guys can tell us how big they were?

Big enough to be exciting just to sit out there amongst them, I can tell you that much. Homer might get waves this big a few times a winter.  Getting outside was a challenge. Fortunately I was out with a 6’2″ little wafer and could duck-dive my way out relatively easy. Some poor guys with bigger boards were never actually able to get outside the aggressive shore break.

Air temps in the mid 20′s F, a little bit of blowing snow and a gorgeous sunset.  Thanks to Amanda for sticking it out with my camera to shoot some photos of the mayhem.  You think surfing in this climate is cold, try standing on the beach taking photos!

Jake Bell runs out for a stormy Alaskan surf session

Ben Reynolds walks back up stream.

The waiting room. Alaskan surfers looking for a break in the pounding shore break.

Mike McCune walking back upstream at sunset.

Gart Curtis runs towards some gnarly winter storm surf in Alaska.

BARREN ISLANDS AND KAMISHAK BAY WATERS
400 PM AKST SAT NOV 29 2008

...STORM WARNING THROUGH SUNDAY...
...HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY WARNING THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT...
.TONIGHT...W WIND 50 KT. SEAS 16 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY.
.SUN...NW WIND 50 KT. SEAS 16 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY.
.SUN NIGHT...NW WIND 40 KT DIMINISHING TO 25 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS
14 FT. HEAVY FREEZING SPRAY.

We had some fun storm surf in Homer, Alaska today. Air temps were around 25F and it was blowing roughly 25mph onshore. That was all just fine and I was having a great surf until around 4pm when we started losing daylight fast the wind picked up even more and little icy precipitation started falling. The problem was the flying ice crystals were getting blown into our eyes making it painful to look offshore. Let me just say it wasn’t a good day to not be paying close attention to where you were at in the lineup.

According to the forecast something juicy is brewing up for tomorrow. Hopefully we won’t have so much wind locally.

I shot a bunch of photos today, but haven’t edited (or even downloaded) them yet. Stay tuned. The shot above is from January 2007 when the conditions were much like today.

NWS Marine Weather can be seen here

Jesus surfing in Alaska. (Jake Bell on ice)

November 10th, 2008 there was nothing except wind in Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Twenty miles up the road in Anchor Point there was wind, waves, and ice! Big chunks of ice were drifting out of the Anchor River into the lineup.

Anchor point is a surf destination that never fails to surprise. Usually we find ourselves battling a 2-5mph current running down the beach. This day the current wasn’t particularly bad so Jake Bell mixed it up with a little ice surfing. Later Jake Beaudoin walked up the Anchor River a little ways, jumped on a big piece of ice and rode it out towards the break.

I am yet to edit through all the photos from this day but I wanted to post a few that caught my eye on first glance.

Jake Bell surfing ice in Anchor Point, Alaska.

Jake Bell surfing ice in Anchor Point, Alaska

Jake Beaudoin riding ice out to the surf break. Anchor Point, Alaska

The ice wasn’t the only strange thing going on around the mouth of the Anchor River. The river current and odd shaped bottom were making for some crazy wave peaks. And topping it all off, there was a rainbow out over Cook Inlet for a few minutes.

It wasn’t all just a freak show though. There was some nice surfing going on, and topping it all off, a rainbow formed out over Cook Inlet for a few minutes just before I put the camera away and joined in the adventure.

The Anchor Point tongue wave

Mike McCune surfing Anchor Point, Alaska

Jake Beaudoin surfing (ripping) with a rainbow on Cook Inlet, Alaska

Perfect little lines on a snowy November.

If only they were three times their size. Jake went out and rode a few on this snowy day. I got halfway into my wetsuit, but on closer inspection couldn’t get excited enough to finish that chore so I took a few photos and came back to work.

Jake Beaudoin surfing Alaska on a snowy day.

Jake Beaudoin waiting for the set on a snowy winter day in Alaska.

Tim Bowler surfing Alaska

No surf for a few days now. One of the symptoms of no surf disease is a strong desire for waves. This can lead to the destructive habit of looking through surfing photos which ony worsens the condition.

Back to November 2nd for me. Those were the goold old days. Misery loves company, so take a look at a few more surf photos from that day with me.

Mike McCune surfing Alaska

Ty Gates surfing Alaska

Jake Beaudoin getting what we call a wet barrel.