Saturday, January 10, 2004

Reflections: Flying Over The Path of Swells

Our flight to Osaka takes a great circle path. This is generally the reverse of the direction of the storms and also the swell directions. The flight takes along the coast of Oregon then on to Alaska, a bit south of Anchorage then right over the Aleutian islands. It always boggles my mind that the most direct direction takes us so far up north. Of course, this time, more than any time else, I have swells and waves in mind. On my B777 flight there was a monitor screen on my seat that showed current location throughout the flight so it was also very helpful, and also the map was by now very familiar one of the gulf that I read every day. I brought several surfing magazines to read, but I am keepting them for the way back.

From the 32000 ft in the sky, it is always sunny but below the entire Alaskan gulf was covered with cloud (and I know there is some storm developing) so I could not see the ocean surface.

I am already looking forward to get back and surf again soon. There was a strong head-wind of 150 mph up at the altitude so the way back should be swift if it keeps up.

This morning, I posted a Japanese surfing message board if there are any surfers showing the way to me, I am waiting to hear.





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