We didn't sail. The wind never materialized beyond about 8-10 mph. Worse, our forecast doesn't look great for the remainder of our stay. So yeah, I'm sweating a bit. Not that I haven't been skunked before while on assignment for WindSurfing mag. I'm just especially anxious because after meeting most all of AK's active (and semi-active) windsurfers last night at a BBQ, and after watching the bore tide roll in earlier in the day, there's a real-deal story here, and the idea of not getting good photos to showcase things is especially tough to swallow.
Today was good. Actually, it was epic. Sure, there were bears, Bald Eagles, river rafting, giant King salmon, "combat" fly fishing, Moose burgers and even a rather exclusive tour of a place called "Man-land". But the real highlight? We finally got photos of windsurfing in Alaska. And as far as we can tell, they're rather unique ones.
Bittersweet – in a word, that explains yesterday. We saw icebergs, glaciers, otters and the longest tunnel in the U.S. We caught (and ate) shrimp, sipped on glacier margaritas, explored a shipwreck, got on the local Anchorage news -- all while touring the Prince William Sound from a 55' boat, fully loaded with our windsurfing gear. Sadly, the gear didn't get used much. The wind never materialized, but that didn't stop us from throwing Rob Warwick overboard with his 104-liter board for some photo ops.
Wind! We got wind! It wasn't epic. It didn't last long. It wasn't even the favored wind direction. But finally, we were windsurfing on the Turnagain Arm. Even better, local sailors Dave Seifert and Dan Kiland joined us, rigging their "big" 5.2-meter sails. This all went down around noon, and frankly it was one of the more epic sessions I've ever had, despite the fact I was barely planing. Photographer Eric Sanford caught everything on film, and what he captured opened some big doors to pushing ahead with this article as it was originally conceived.
