Surfers from all over are traveling to Alaska's Turnagain Arm to catch the country’s longest wave. “We’re pretty lucky that we get to measure our waves in terms of miles,” said Pete Beachy. 'You can get a whole month’s worth of board time in one wave.”
Twice a day, the normally calm waters of the Turnagain Arm surge upwards, creating a wave known as a tidal bore, a rare tidal phenomenon that surfers like Pete Beachy can ride for a very long time.
“It is tough to learn, but once you learn how to catch the wave, you’re able to be on the wave for minutes,” Beachy said. “A lot of places, you catch a wave and you stand up for a few seconds and then you kick out. So in terms of time on the wave, you can get a whole month’s worth of board time in one wave.”
Joe Sullivan came from Hawaii with his daughter Pueo to surf the bore tide. He’s been here for two weeks, and said it’s like nothing he’s ever done before. In other places, the longest waves he’d surfed were under a minute. But here, at Turnagain Arm, the ride can last five to 15 minutes, and if you paddle out far enough, it can be up to an hour.
For Sullivan, it means his Alaska itinerary revolves around catching the wave every time it breaks, twice a day. He lives what he calls “mini days.” “I’m excited,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of you only having one chance. You don’t have a whole lot of time to learn the wave.”As the group stepped into the water, Beachy warned them about one of the dangers of surfing in the area: the mud flats. The mud is like quicksand, and the tide rises extremely fast.
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