Surfing in Alaska we get to see a lot of unusual things. These waves in Anchor Point a few days ago were cool, really cool, almost frozen, like a salt slurpee. I was mesmerized, in a desperate effort to try and capture this sight, despite the flat light, I shot some video and photos:

Alaskan slush barrel

The slush layer was about 100ft wide, see the dark water outside.

The set waves were about thigh high.

Heavy slush with ice chunks

We thought about trying to surf these, but the size just didn’t look like it was enough to overcome the drag of moving through all that slush and we were actually having a good time just watching! Besides just being alien like, one fascinating thing about a slush layer is that even a 20mph onshore wind can’t disturb the waves underneath. I’m really looking forward to finding these conditions with a head high swell. Can’t wait to see someone surfing down a slush face or getting barreled in a slurpee, probably call that getting slurped I guess.

Santa walking up the beach for another surf in the Cook Inlet storm swell.

It’s become a bit of a tradition to go surfing on Christmas day here in Alaska.  Well, at least for about five of us in Homer anyhow.  Every year we wonder if Santa will show up and what kind of wave slider he’ll be using. Not too surprising then when he did make an appearance for our stormy session at Anchor Point with his ruby slipper as we call it. We’ve seen this one before, seems to be a favorite craft of his.

The surf was pretty decent in Anchor Point (20 miles north of Homer) with about shoulder high sets and a pretty stiff sideshore breeze. The current was brutal though – With some of the largest tides in the world, Cook Inlet moves a lot of water during each tide cycle. A 20ft water depth change every 6hrs is not uncommon.  This session the wind and the tide were double teaming us which made for a bunch of beach walking . . . Jump in, paddle out, try your best to stay in one spot, maybe catch a wave, get out and walk up the beach and try again.  Even Santa couldn’t beat this current. Sort of made me wonder why he didn’t bring the reindeer along, we could have all used some help.

ps. I’ve heard some reports that local surf kayaker Randy Keller was missing on Christmas day, he has since been found and appears to be ok.

Crows and an offshore breeze after sunset. The Aleutian Mountain Range rising in the background .

Hi all.  This is post to let you know about some cool new stuff going on here at Surf Alaska. . .

First things first – After about two weeks of no surf I had a killer 5 hour + surf session today. No photos except a few snaps from the iPhone. Most of the local crew is gone so no models and I had to surf alone for the first 2hrs.

Now check out these new additions to the Surf Alaska website:

1. Shop Surf Alaska – There is now an online shop where you can buy photo prints and the very nice Alaska Essence t-shirt. More to come soon. Here’s your chance to support this labor of love and join the cool crew.
2. Surf Alaska is Twittering. Follow me for surf updates, crappy phone photos, the latest from the site and who knows what else will end up on there. I have an iphone now so it’s pretty easy to update on the road so far you have missed some pretty good content I think.
3. FAQ There is now the beginnings of a Frequently Asked Questions page. I hope it turns into a valuable resource. If you have any questions you think should be in there send them to me! I’ll do my best. If you think you could answer some better, don’t be shy, I don’t consider myself the final authority on all matters.
4. Free photo. For a little celebration, I’m giving away two 8×10 photo prints from the gallery or any image from SurfAlaska.net. The third and seventh people to contact me with their mailing address and favorite photo will be our lucky winners.
5. Resume normal programming. . . Thanks for reading.

Iceman surfing a left during a mid-November session in Alaska.

It’s been blowing snow for the last couple days, 4 inches this morning alone. The storm surf was epic yesterday- So epic that none of us even tried to paddle out after watching a few set waves on the Homer Spit that were about 10ft on the face. If it wasn’t 23ºF and blowing snow at 35mph it might have been a bit more enticing.

This weather makes for a good morning to look through the photos from more favorable surfing circumstances a couple weeks ago. And maybe search online for some cyber-monday winter wetsuit sales!

Mike McCune stuffing the tube on a November morning in Alaska.

I’ve been looking forward to posting a few of these shots from a sunrise surf session in Alaska. Looking through them here on Thanksgiving day brought up thoughts of stuffing – stuffing tubes that is. Some nice walls, some awesome closeouts and a few perfect rides.

Gart Curtis surfing Alaska. Perfect. hmm.

Mike McCune surfing Alaska. I think he was the turkey on this one.

Bob Shavelson surfing Alaska.

Gart Curtis in the sweet spot surfing Alaska.

Mike McCune assumes the horizontal ludicrous speed position to make the section.