It was on a fishing trip a few years back when Rick Erkeneff got his first glimpse of Alaska’s surf.

The halibut excursion he was supposed to take while visiting his parents was cancelled because of a huge swell – 8-to 10-foot waves slamming the coast. So Erkeneff, a 40-year-old Dana Point surfer, decided to check it out.

“As a surfer, you can go mind surfing really quickly,” he said. “I went out to see it – there were just a few miles of empty beach and endless waves.”

So when a contest called for community activists to head up to the frigid region for a surf and ocean awareness trip, he thought he’d give it a shot.

Erkeneff is one of four surfers picked from the West Coast to go on the all-expense paid eco-surf trip starting Sept. 28.

The surfers – joined by well-known surfers such as photographer Joe Curren and Chris Del Moro – will be heading to Yakutat for most of the trip. The area gets no cell phone service, and the town has about 900 people.

“You’re pretty much off the beaten track,” he said.

The trip is sponsored by Surfing Magazine, Alaska Airlines and Alaskan Brewing Co.’s Coastal CODE (Clean Oceans Depend on Everyone), an initiative dedicated to maintaining a healthy Pacific coastline.

Erkeneff has been checking out weather conditions daily, and said the water doesn’t look too cold - about 55 degrees thanks to currents coming in from Japan.

Erkeneff, the chair for Surfrider Foundation’s South County chapter, won the trip after drafting an essay explaining his dedication to the environment.

He hammered out a write-up in about five minutes, and included a photo of himself guiding a group of volunteers wearing Surfrider shirts and holding banners in the Festival of Whales parade in Dana Point.

When he got the call back, he couldn’t believe it.

“I got the call back, and I was like, ‘what’?” he said. “I’ve been dreaming about going on a surf trip to Alaska. I guess I kind of willed it to happen.”

They will have time to surf and play while doing things like a zip-line canopy tour, but much of the trip will be focused on educating the public about Alaska’s ocean issues with beach clean ups and videos.

“There’s a lot of weird stuff that washes up on those beaches,” he said, noting the Pacific Gyre region that has been labeled the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”

This Gyre acts like a gigantic whirlpool spanning thousands of miles across, he said.

“The health of the ocean is all intertwined,” he said. “It’s a huge problem that we’re on the tip of the iceberg. Something like this trip is a way to create awareness of what’s happening in the ocean.”

Erkeneff joined Surfrider Foundation 10 years ago. It wasn’t long before his interest turned into a passion.

“It doesn’t seem like you can do a lot as one person, but as you join together, you can accomplish a lot,” he said. “So if I can inspire some people to try to at least slow down what’s going on, the world that my kids are inheriting will hopefully be a better place.”

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