Riding the edge of Alaska

Beachy surfing in the Turnagain Arm bore near Girdwood, Alaska. — Kerry Tasker/The New York Times

ON a cold, windy, wet summer evening recently, Pete Beachy giggled as he peered into his binoculars and prepared to do something even he admitted can seem very, very stupid.

“There she is,” he muttered. “That’s a wave.”