Surf at Your own Risk
  

Far from the beaches of Hawaii, big wave surfers McNamara and Mamala were the first surfers to ride an Alaskan Glacier Tsunami. Waves sheer ice faces of over 400 feet calved away from Child’s Glacier, crashing into the waters below and setting off left- and right-breaking waves that peel across a pebble-bottom river bank for more than 300 yards, offering rides of up to one minute long. Surfers wait up to several hours in icy water for a glacier to calve. When it splits off, it produces a deafining eruption of water, with chunks of ice exploding into the air, producing a 20-25 foot wave. The surfers then chase down the wave on their jet ski and attempt to ride with out being injured or killed by ice and rock debris. The forecast for surfing these bizarre waves looks good for awhile, with global warming contributing to a massive increase in glacial calving. Child’s Glacier is located on the Copper River, in South-Central Alaska, located near the town of Cordova, Alaska. 

 More on Glacier SurfingTidal Bore Surfing  Another cool wave riding obsession in Alaska, reffered to as tidal bore surfing is becoming more popular. Tidal bore is the wave that forms in front of an incoming tide, in some rivers, severely effected by the alignment of the sun and new moon during the early spring. A Tidal bore can travel i excess of 20 mph. The surf at the tidal bore produced at Turnagain arm of Upper Cook Inlet, in Alaska, can be 6 feet high and breaking at 12.5 mph.

PR: wait…  I: wait…  L: wait…  LD: wait…  I: wait… wait…  C: wait…  SD: wait…