Surf's up in Yakutat.

[Blue_In_AK]

From the Anchorage Daily News. This is a cool story, and the photos at the website are outstanding.

http://www.adn.com/outdoors/story/613509.html

It was the last Saturday in November, and snow was falling in Anchorage. In Nome it was minus 20. In Southeast Alaska, however, the sun was shining, a rainbow arced the sky, and some of the best surfers in the world were frolicking in the waves off Yakutat.

Not just any waves either. These were gnarly 15- to 20-foot Aleutian swells, quite possibly the biggest waves ever surfed in Alaska. So says Australia-born adventure surfer and movie-maker Tony Harrington, who captured the moment on film.

<snip>

The waves improved on Thanksgiving, but time was running out. On Nov. 29, the day before the group was scheduled to leave, a buoy about 50 miles southwest provided good news: A wave 23 feet high was headed toward Yakutat. Others were nearly as big. Best of all, they were expected to arrive in the middle of Yakutat's brief five-hour window of daylight.

"Then all of a sudden the tide changed, rideable waves appeared before our eyes and the only 20 minutes of sun of the entire trip cast the most incredible rainbows we had ever witnessed," Harrington said.

Sterling and Gabiera had a ball.

"They were certainly the biggest waves ever surfed in Alaska, and they were ridden with style and finesse," said Harrington (who's posted multiple images of the day on his Web site, at www.wheresharro.com).

Endicott agrees with both statements. "It was really, really cool," he said.

Many more photos of this trip at his website. They're really good.

[Suich]

1. Those photos are fantastic!

It never dawned on me that there was any surfing in Alaska!

Thanks for posting this!

:)

[puerco-bellies]

2. Blue in Alaska indeed..

The farthest north I've ever surfed was Santa Cruz last December and the water was so freaking cold. How those guys could stand Bering Sea water temps is beyond me. Cool pictures, and article though.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Actually, it's the Gulf of Alaska,

but cold nonetheless. :) They must have had the world's best dry suits.

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. And to think poor Santa went all the way to Hawaii to surf.

...when he could have just taken a short reindeer flight to the Alaska coast.