A nice swell should arrive this weekend

With a slight minus tide and a 10 ft swell this Sunday should provide some fair surfing. We have been under
a high pressure system with a flat very small swell for the last week. This time of year you’ll need at least a
5-4 wet suit with gloves and booties as the water temps will be in the upper 40’s to low 50’s. The next window for Graveyard to really go off will be the first and third weeks of May. The snow is almost gone and the Steelhead are in the river another great spring in Yakutat. Hope you all can get in the water and enjoy what the ocean has to offer. I’ll update when I get a good handle on when the next great swell is coming.

I’m back!

Well after 5 months in New Zealand it is good to be back to Yakutat. This was a very low snow year and all of the roads to the beach are open. We have a quite a few people coming towards the end of April to catch the big tides and get the spring swell. We’ll be open every day except for Sunday and hope to help anyone who wants to get in the water. Let’s all have an awesome summer and hope to see you soon.

Finally our fall surf is arriving

Well it’s been quite a dry spell as far as big waves go, September normally gives us a consistent long period southwest swell, but this year it has been flat as a pancake. Jason Collins and his brother come up to catch a few waves, instead had to settle for catching a few fish. But the patterns they are a change’n. Here’s a look at a nice swell forecast for next Thursday.

At the beginning of the month we had the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute came to Yakutat to produce a commercial promoting fish tacos, with the famous chef Mary Sue Milliken preparing some absolutely awesome fish dishes. After the shoot the crew went to Cannon beach and played in the waves with body boards and SUP’s they were all stoked even though the waves were only knee high. Later the producer Rocky and cameraman Chris decided to make history. Be the first ones to SUP at Harlequin Lake….so after a 20 min hike with a 10’10” Walden, they did indeed make history.

Pretty cool…no pun intended. Till next time keep surf’n.

Beautiful weather for Yakutat for the next week….but no waves.

Well it looks like summer is finally here….after 3 month of cold, clouds and rain, the sun is shining and the photo ops for the mountain scenery are here for the next 5 or 6 days. Unfortunately the only surf game is going to be Stand Up Paddle boards. It looks like we’ll start getting some surf around the 22nd with a 6 to 8 ft SW swell developing during that week. It’s been a fairly slow summer with the fall surf kinda weak. The abbreviated Vans crew came in with the majority of the team opting for the east coast hurricane swell. The swell was small but the fishing was great. I’ll try to get an update on the swell next week…until then keep surfing.

The late summer swell is slowly starting to develop

Well it’s been an unusual summer….cloudy and rainy about every damn day since I retired. Today the sun is shining there is a little clean south west swell and cannon beach is starting to do it’s late summer thing. We are starting to get a few people in to surf and the locals are getting into the water mainly due to the clean waist to shoulder high swell. I have been renting our paddle boards out this year more….I guess the craze has finally reached Yakutat. I haven’t seen any kite boarders yet this year but that’s understandable due to the lack of the westerly sea breezes. The Vans surf crew will be in town the 1st through the 8th of September. It’s always fun to watch the pros at work….they’re pretty awesome. Here’s a shot sent to us by a cruise ship pilot enjoying the clear day we had a few days ago.

The Last Weekend in June looks like fun surfing in Yakutat

Well after looking at the Navy model it looks like we’ll have a pretty decent break at graveyards this next weekend. A 5 to 6 ft west swell combined with a -1.6 low tide at 8am on Saturday should provide anyone here to surf some clean head highs at Graveyard and Babies. With the direction of the swell Boilers and snappers should be fun too. Its been kinda cloudy with an occasional sprinkle for about a week and half and it looks to remain that way for the rest of this week. Oh well it keeps the wicked westerly somewhat under control. Had a few surfers from out of town last…everybody had fun with a nice clean swell and no injuries to speak of. Water temp is in the low 50’s so a 5-4 wetsuit is working well but a 4-3 will do. Well thats about it for the surf report, I’ll get back on when I see something good coming. Keep surfn.

Some nice waves heading for Yakutat next week….

Well I’m free at last! I retired from the National Weather Service last Friday so now I can pay a little more attention to our surf business. It will no longer be a conflict of interest for me to do a little forecasting for surf for the gulf of Alaska. It looks like the 13th of June should produce some fairly nice SW swell for our little surf spot. The Wave Watch III model show around 8 to 10 feet of swell surging into the bay with a -2.5 tide should make Graveyard and Babies go off. Here a look at the model for that day.

Leonards Landing http://www.leonardslanding.com will be offering surfer specials through out the summer with various rates depending on your party size and time you want to come…..it may be worth looking into. Make sure you ask for the surfer special. The camp grounds at Cannon beach seem to be vacant most of the time so thats another option. Another thing is that the ferry is coming 4 times a month this year twice from the north and twice from the south so this may be the best way to come up or down if you have your own board and plenty of time. Be sure to stop by the shop….I’ll probably be standing behind the counter waiting to hear a good story. Til next time…keep surf’n.
Jack @ Icy Waves

Spring has sprung in Yakutat with a great surf weekend in store!

Well it’s been a while since I last posted, but I just had to spread the news that we have an awesome setup coming for the end of the week starting around the 13th. A fairly strong weather front will hit on Tuesday with gale force winds offshore. This will generate a 14 to 18 ft sw swell that should make for a pretty exciting Thursday through Sunday surf session. In combination with the big swell we will have a set of large minus tides that will make the morning surf sessions at Graveyard epic! I will be updating my blog much more often as I will be retiring from my weather job the 3rd of June thus being able to put much more of my energy into the surf scene and our shop. Anyway this weekend will be the best in quite a while for our easy to ride Graveyard break….hope to see you there!

Nice surf for the weekend in Yakutat

Well it’s been a while since I updated my blog….so he we go.  The roads to all of the breaks have.. been open for the last few weeks . We have about 2 inches snow so access is a problem so far, as long as we aren’t dumped on.  It looks like rain the rest of this week with a couple of lows tracking just to the south of us.   Here’s a shot of the wave forecast for friday….it should bring in a nice swell with out a ton of wind which equals good surf.  So come on down and get in the water……….by the way the water temperature is 43 and  our air temps should be in the mid to low 30s.  Banana belt temps for the Alaskan surfers.  Stop by the shop or the house for a chinwag when you get into town its always nice chat with wayfaring surfers.

Icywaves 1st black friday wetsuit sale!

We are clearing out our last years men’s and women’s 654 and 543 wet suits.  I 5 654’s in men’s sizes XS (2 ea), S,  and XLS.  I have 2 5-4-3’s, 1 xcel XL and a Hotline XLS.  In womens we have sizes 4,6,8T,10,12 and 14 these are all Xcel’s.  We are taking $100 off the retail and selling them for $244. All surfboards are 10% off as well as gloves & booties.  This is 1st come 1st deal so email me at jack@icywaves.com  have a great holiday and wishing you all big clean waves.

                                                          Jack