Missing Links: Global Warming Is Good For Surfing
Last night I was watching the new National Geographic Channel mini series "Earth: The Biography" and the topic turned to ice and its role in forming the planet we inhabit today. Not far into the program the host inevitably started talking about how warming temperatures are melting the world's glaciers at an alarming rate. He explained the phenomenon while all-to- familiar pictures of breaking glaciers flashed on the screen.
At the next commercial break a friend, who reads a lot of alternative sports magazines, said he once saw a story about people surfing the waves produced by falling glaciers. He tried to explain how one surfs this way but I just couldn't picture it. (I had some bizarre image of a glacier moving and a surfer jumping on the glacier.) So I performed a YouTube search and found this video.
About a year ago Garrett McNamara and Kealii Mamala surfed a tsunami created by Child's Glacier in South-Central Alaska. The location was scouted by Ryan Casey when he was filming a documentary in Alaska in 1995. After the experience, McNamara having surfed waves all over the world said:
"The heaviest thing I've ever done in my life. It's like the Empire State Building about to come on top of you. I'm glad to be home."
Surfers may not be the only athletes to benefit from global warming. In the near future we may see a resurgence of knuckleball pitchers. Warm, humid air is ideal for this "dying art."