'We wanna surf with other people. We know it’s hard to surf here. You’re in colder water, the currents are really strong,' Freddie Muñoz says. “If you plan on getting some really good waves, you have to be able to work with other people.”
There are few places in the world where world-class waves meet unobstructed views of a temperate rainforest. For Freddie Muñoz, that’s just a small part of what makes surfing in Yakutat so special.
“You kind of need almost, you know, local information, local knowledge,” Muñoz said. “If you plan on getting some really good waves, you have to be able to work with other people.” “It’s just really amazing to see how these kids are just, it’s so intuitive. And they just naturally are just really good at surfing,” Muñoz said. “You know, they’ve looked at the ocean as a way of putting food on their table. And now you can look at the ocean and see it as a form of play.”The younger generation getting more involved in the surf community is due in large part to Yakutat’s annual surf camp, which will celebrate its fourth year this summer.
Although learning to surf was challenging at first, Bulard says there’s nothing like the calming feeling of riding a wave.