Photo: Jamie O’Brien // YouTube
Alaska would be far from the first place you’d think of as a surf destination — if it weren’t for the fact that YouTubers keep on going there. Ben Gravy found picture-perfect surf there in 2023. Another time, Gravy was joined by skimboarder Blair Conklin to try to surf in a perfect circle around an Alaskan islet. Jamie O’Brien has also frequented the northern-most state, surfing tidal bores to try to land the mythical 20-minute wave. However, despite the treadmill of influencers making their way in and out of Alaska, in all that time they still don’t seem to have done one thing: shortboarding. It was an omission O’Brien attempted to correct in his latest video.
The moment came from video revisiting JOB’s last visit to Alaska (presumably because he’s focusing more on impending fatherhood right now than groveling for waves). In it, the Pipe veteran can be seen waxing up an unbelievably short craft for the conditions we’ve come to expect from a tidal bore. “We got the shortboard out today,” he explained to camera. “It’s time to get a little fun. Instead of riding a soft-top, we’re going to just try and ride a fun twin-fin, made for small little weird waves.”
He appeared bullish, and who are we to argue with a novelty wave veteran. However, that optimism was not without some caveats. “I just really hope that I can get up on it,” he added. “I think I can. I just hope I can carry the speed I want to carry on this board. I’ve never shortboarded a tidal bore, besides the one in China, and that wave was maybe four times the size of this one. Either way, if I get up on this, it’ll be fun.”
It was a bold move, for certain. See how it pays off in the video below.
