Finally! After several months without a single surf session, I woke this morning to a strong west wind that put some messy, but precious, swells on the beach in my hometown. The weather patterns in the summer here prevent waves from building where we need them, so despite the allure of surfing when the air is above freezing we rarely get the chance in my hometown. Come fall, the weather patterns change and out come the surfboards.
The photo above is actually from a couple years ago. Move the snow line up the mountains a thousand feet and that’s what it was like at the surf break today. I can’t show you exactly because I left the camera in the car. The waves weren’t particularly photogenic and the potential images are not nearly as exciting as the mid-winter shots. Don’t get me wrong, the scenery is still stunning with 4,000ft mountains rising out of the ocean and fresh snow on their peaks. But, I have to work this balance between surfing and photographing. When the waves are poor and the weather not extreme I figure surfing has a bigger reward than taking some mediocre photos.
If you want the real winter surfing see this post and photos of winter surfing in Alaska. Or you can go straight to an online gallery of Alaska surf photos.
UPDATE 11/27/08: I’ve launched a little hobby blog for sharing more session reports, location info, photos and stories about surfing in Alaska. Check it out here – www.SurfAlaska.net
Comments
4 responses to “Alaska surf season has begun”
awesome pictures homer alaska rocks and so do all the people that live see you out on the water
Hey everyone. I have surfed in Maine, New Hampshire, California, and Maui. Dying to get down to Homer in the next month (coming from Fairbanks). Couldn’t find any business looking through the yellow pages that rents boards/suits. Anyone know where I could rent these items? Thanks!
Hi Ashley – The only two places I know of for surf gear in Alaska are Icy Waves in Yakutat and Cold Salt in Sitka. Neither of which is very conveniently located for a Kenai Peninsula surf trip.
I’ve got a surf board you can use (8’6″) but my other suit is a 4/3 that would be bearable for another couple weeks but by November it would be pretty cold. Unless you are totally desperate like myself . . . I used that old suit for several years and just endured the hypothermic shakes.
We’ve had about 5 more days with waves since this post. Though, I was down in Yakutat for a week and could have missed some. It’s mostly pretty inconsistent here so don’t just trust you’ll have surf if you come for a few days. We might have surf 5 days a week, or none, just depends on weather systems in Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Alaska.
Call or email me if you have more questions.
I’ve just started reviving an old website idea to share info and photos about surfing in Alaska, check it out – http://SurfAlaska.net
Hey Scott great images as always. My Friends Stu has the Cover of the Surfers Journal your article was in. It is one of the Set ups we surf off the World Heritage Wilderness in the SW of out Island. I saw that he was also interviewed by this lot… http://www.contrastmag.com.au/issue6/magazine.htm
might be a mag for you to check out in the Dark months in Homer!
Hope the swell pours in for you guys this winter