‘It was like a freight train’: Surfers catch wave in Turnagain Arm

See our favorite photos from Thursday evening’s bore tide.

By Emily Mesner
Updated: August 5, 2023 Published: August 5, 2023

Surfers ride the bore tide in Turnagain Arm as the force of the wave knocks Chris Brown, not pictured, into the water and sends his board behind him on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A handful of surfers paddled out into Turnagain Arm’s muddy waters Thursday evening in hopes of catching a large bore tide.

“It was like a freight train,” said first-time surfer Chris Brown after he scrambled up the arm’s edge and walked back to his parked car.

The tide was louder, more intense and created a bigger wave than Brown had anticipated –– it even ripped one of his shoes off.

His surfing partner, Jess Malouf, ended up missing the wave and was able to grab it from the water.

“That’s about as lucky as it gets,” said Bird Creek resident Monte Bosak as he sat next to his yellow board and chatted with the pair as they walked by.

Bore tides are found in areas that have favorable topography and extreme tides. In Turnagain Arm, it can reach heights of up to 10 feet.

See some of our favorite photos below.

Jess Malouf catches up with Chris Brown along the Seward Highway after they surfed the bore tide in Turnagain Arm on Thursday. Malouf laughs as she tells him she found his missing shoe. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People gather at a pull off along the Seward Highway and take photos as surfers ride the Turnagain Arm bore tide. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Chris Brown and Jess Malouf paddle down Turnagain Arm to catch the incoming bore tide near Bird Creek. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Chris Brown and Jess Malouf drop in to Turnagain Arm as they paddle out to surf the bore tide. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People gather at a pull off along the Seward Highway to watch people surf Turnagain Arm’s bore tide. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A man steadies himself as the current carries him in shortly after a big bore tide passed. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A man lets the current take him down Turnagain Arm as he waits to surf the bore tide. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Chris Brown and Jess Malouf look for a place along Turnagain Arm to drop in to surf the incoming bore tide. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Chris Brown hangs onto his board as he rides the bore tide in Turnagain Arm on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Emily Mesner

Emily Mesner is a multimedia journalist for the Anchorage Daily News. She previously worked for the National Park Service at Denali National Park and Preserve and the Western Arctic National Parklands in Kotzebue, at the Cordova Times and at the Jackson Citizen Patriot in Jackson, Michigan.

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