Mike McCune surfing Alaska in a winter blizzard.
Heavy freezing spray warnings come up in marine weather forecasts when the weatherman predicts the spray from waves will be freezing on boats at sea. Well, boats weren’t the only things encountering heavy freezing spray today on Cook Inlet in South central Alaska.
Mike McCune and Gart Curtis were surfing a heavy shore break near the village of Ninilchik in what the weatherman would certainly qualify as heavy freezing spray conditions. I haven’t edited the photos yet, but couldn’t wait to share this single shot of Mike surfing a vengeful looking wave with chunks of ice strewn across a frozen beach in the foreground. It looks like he’s really close to the beach. And that’s because he is, honestly my heart skipped a beat a few seconds afer this shot when the wave swallowed him as it crushed onto the steep ice covered incline of the beach.
Air temps were just below 10ºF. Winds were around 10-20mph and snow was blowing in all direction. More shots to come. In the meantime, if you want more, visit SurfAlaska.net for more alaska surfing photos.
Standing out on the snow covered beach yesterday looking for the surfers I was there to photograph I had time to think about how strange it was. There I am in a near white out, the normally dark grey beach is white with fresh snow, looking out towards the rumbling surf I can barely make out the surfers in their black wetsuits. The sky was dark with heavy snow clouds, the waves were still messy from a nearby storm. Every once in a while I’d look back up the beach towards the cars and another black shape with a big white object would emerge from the greyness heading my way, every patch of skin covered up except a little red face. The surf wasn’t really very good, but after a slow fall season there were a handful of eager Alaskan surfers out there trying to see the sets coming through the blowing snow.
It is incredibly inspiring and enjoyable to photograph unique subjects like this. Standing out there stomping my feet to keep the blood flowing I couldn’t stop smiling thinking about it, surfers and a snowstorm, what a contrast. Though winter is our surf season, it’s not that often that we get the pleasure of surfing during a heavy snow. I was glad to be able to get out and photograph in the few short hours we had before the sun dipped back below the mountains.
One of the best things about surfing in Alaska is the great spirit out on the water. Some would say it’s because misery loves company. Whatever it is, we make quick friendships sitting out there in the water, freezing together as we wait for that perfect swell. It might be just because there are so few of us that we band together due to a preservation instinct. I think there is also an element that comes when you are in the water shaking with hypothermia, you definitely hope that anyone around is your friend, and will help you get out of your wetsuit if you are too cold to open the zipper yourself. We still call each other when the waves are firing, and try desperately to get at least one other person to share the experience with us. I must say though, I’ve heard rumors of crowds in one surfing spot in southeast Alaska.
For a few winters I’ve been throwing the camera in the car on my way to the beach, and until last winter that’s mostly where it stayed. It’s difficult to surf and photograph on the same trip to the beach. If I go surfing first, then my hands are numb, my body shaking, and the only thing on my mind is a hot shower. If I photograph first, then I get too cold standing on the beach and the last thing I want to do when I’m that cold is jump in the water. So needless to say, a lot of amazing surf sessions passed undocumented. This last winter though, I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I was finding myself out in the water on picture perfect days wishing I was on the beach with the camera. It can just be so overwhelmingly dramatic surfing here sometimes that I had to do something about it. So this winter I started leaving the surfboard on the car and just photographing. I think it paid off, though I missed some great waves, I’ve got photos to show how nice they were. And I’ve got some happy surfing buddies. Sure they missed my company in the water, but nobody minds seeing a photo of themselves getting barreled outside the ice pack with snow covered mountains in the background. (Thanks to Donna Rae Faulkner for the photo of me photographing surfers on the icy beach)
This last winter offered some great surfing photo opportunities with lot’s of ice on the beaches and some really nice waves. I spent most of the best surf days standing on the beach bundled up wearing a fur hat with holding frozen cameras. These photo shoots are not particularly technically challenging, it is mostly about being there at the right time and knowing the subject. The photographic challenges mostly involve keeping the cameras warm enough to operate and having enough batteries to make it through a good session. Mostly when I’m photographing surfing in Alaska I try to focus on what makes this special. People are surfing gorgeous green waves the world-round, so what makes Alaska so special? I try and show those elements that make surfing in Alaska unique – ice, snow covered mountains, snowy beaches, uncrowded breaks . . .
