When it comes to the search for the perfect wave, Alaska might not be the first place that a surfer would look.
But in recent years the community of Yakutat has developed a reputation as the premier surf spot in Alaska. Now a group of surfers in the small coastal town is hosting what may be the first surf camp of its kind in Alaska.
Over the past four years, Britta Tonnesen has been making regular visits to Yakutat for work. When she visited the first time she had no idea that the community is known as the surf capital of Alaska.
“Now every time I come, I rent a surfboard and a wetsuit and just go paddle around,” Tonnesen says.
That’s how she got to know Jack Endicott, owner of the local surf shop Icy Waves.
“Last summer I told him that I was joining this non-profit called SheJumps, which is an outdoor education non-profit for women and girls and that a dream was to get a surf clinic going.”
Endicott and Tonnesen ran with the idea. Now SheJumps is offering an instructional clinic for women over the next three days in Yakutat. The lessons will be taught by pro-surfer Jason “Ratboy” Collins and his wife Katie Collins, who purchased a house in Yakutat last year.
“Jack thinks it’s the first clinic of its kind in Alaska, and it happens to be all women. We had ten women sign on.”
Endicott says there are about a dozen local surfers in Yakutat. He says the community also draws surfers from the around the world looking for adventure.
“This is a really friendly break,” Endicott says. “Everybody, for the most part, are glad that you came. They don’t mind having people out there surf with them. It’s a neat thing. When the waves are good they’re really good.”
Endicott says that Icy Waves has never offered lessons, but he hopes that SheJumps will continue to offer more camps in the future. He has stocked up on beginner boards just in case.