Cold Water Therapy by Remy Brand

Take yourself back a few weeks ago, before Covid-19 had truly exploded…

That's when two of my best mates and I decided to embark on the trip of a lifetime. I had chosen Alaska as our destination after my Google search of “Can you surf in Alaska” proved successful. We quickly booked flights, a surf charter and packed some 6mm wetties.

Our overwhelming excitement for surfing in such a remote part of the earth was quickly replaced by anxiety and fear as our charter endured ‘the worst storm’ captain Mike had ever experienced. We were battered by 30-foot waves and cyclonic winds which crippled all of us with sea sickness on our first night. 

Funnily enough (or not) day 2, 3 and 4 presented absolutely no swell. I remember pulling into a fjord, almost 8km’s down into the thing and anchoring up. Pointing over to a bunch of rocks and some ripples, Mike swore that there was going to be a 6-foot wave forming there by the next day. To say we were sceptical was an understatement.

We woke the next morning to what I can only describe as the most beautiful sight I’ve ever experienced. 4-6 foot offshore, barreling lefts broke down a point exactly where Mike had predicted. Around the bend, situated amongst a giant mountain was a right-hander that produced slabbing waves like backdoor on the sets and superbank-like rides on the smaller ones. Over the next few 12 days or so, we surfed 6-8 hours every day until our bodies could no longer take the cold. We even managed to surf (and name) waves that had never been ridden.

Exhausted but highly content from surfing such perfect novelty waves, we arrived back to civilisation where our phones would suddenly light up with notifications of a global pandemic.

 

@remybrand