Surf Alaska!

Just a little something from the archive for a flat Sunday afternoon.

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.

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

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.