The Scuttlefish

“I’ve seen frozen waves before around these parts, but not nearly as hollow as these.” — Photographer Mike Bromley

Above, a slushy point break in Nova Scotia goes completely unridden. There have been a few photo essays buzzing around of “slurpee waves,” but photographer Mike Bromley found this nearly frozen Canadian point break and, well, we’ve never seen anything like it.

A slushy New England peeler. Photo by Brian Nevins from his photo essay Frozen Peelers.

It is oh so irksome for a surfer to know that they can look but not ride. Earlier this week we featured Brian Nevins’ photo essay, Frozen Peelers, a selection of photographs of frozen, icy and ice-filled New England waves.  These waves, though technology would permit us to ride them for perhaps an hour at best, cannot be ridden. At least not with a surfboard. Perhaps someone could try a bobsled. Now there’s a feature film.

It must be colder than cold, but what a view it must be from beneath that lip. Nantucket, MA. Photo: Jonathan Nimerfroh

Nantucket sees some very powerful and largely unridden wintertime swell. It’s no wonder why.

And this might just be the most frozen wave of them all, entering a shipping channel beside a snow-capped jetty. Photo: James Katsipis

It looks like just meters ahead of that head-high wobbly peak is frozen solid, and I bet you could take a toboggan down its face and across the ice, with a paddle maybe.

Then again, maybe it’s just as well that we enjoy their beauty from afar. Photo: Brian Nevins

See more of Mike Bromley’s and James Katsipis’ slushy surf photographs on Surfer and read Jonathan Nimerfroh’s account of pulling up to ‘slurpee barrels’ on the beach in Nantucket. — OJB