The ultimate novelty wave in the world is a tidal bore that surges up the Turnagain River Arm in Anchorage, Alaska. This was the scene for Ben Gravy, self-proclaimed ‘semi-pro’ surfer and YouTube phenom, when he arrived to surf in Alaska, the final state in his lifetime goal to surf a wave In each of the 50 states in the U.S.

The Power of Positivity

For those who don't know Ben, tune in to a few episodes of his daily YouTube vlog to instantly get a sense of who he is and what he stands for. Ben has posted a daily vlog episode for the past three and a half years. Every episode highlights Ben's unrelenting enthusiasm and commitment to surfing regardless of conditions, and demonstrates his power of positivity towards everything.

Ben Gravy is stoked. He is as stoked to surf a two-foot day with onshore winds as he is to capture head high or better barrels. His enthusiasm has no bounds. Few are the days when he does a surf check and decides it’s not worth paddling out to his 70,000 YouTube audience’s entertainment. His frothing decision to surf everyday trumps anything else on his calendar and he’s driven to inspire his viewers, ‘Nub Nation’ as he calls his audience, to go surfing.

Beyond his perpetual stoke, Ben exudes relentless positivity in everything he does. His firm belief is that projecting positivity into the universe brings positive returns.

Addiction to Recovery: Ben Gravy’s Dark Years

Ben didn't always have a positive disposition. In fact, there were plenty of years of darkness that led Ben down a path that looked vastly different from the world he lives in today.

Ben was an outstanding surfer in his early teens, growing up on the south shore of New Jersey. His family made the commitment to move from their home in Pennsylvania to live at the shore full time to pursue his surfing potential. Gravy picked up his first sponsor at age 14 and was immediately whisked into the dream-like lifestyle of tropical surf trips, contests, and photo shoots. The dream was real.

However, the reality of the dream began to creep in as Ben's performance began to slip and his sponsors focused on new, young talent. It is a hard lesson for a teenager to learn and a difficult reality to face, but it became clear to Ben that becoming a pro surfer was not to be in his immediate future. Facing this new outlook took a toll on Ben's commitment to surfing and accelerated a new found interest in partying. His short stint as a pro exposed him to the party life of late nights and excessive drinking. As Ben says, it appealed to his genetic disposition for substance abuse and alcoholism that ran throughout his family.

Ben became a drinker. He excelled at it. He packed on pounds while chugged funnels of beer and thought less and less about surfing. These were dark days. Ben spiraled out of control, drinking to get drunk every night with encouragement from his girlfriend and peers. His parents witnessed this acceleration first- hand and pleaded with him to stop. Nothing worked.

The drinking accelerated some bad decisions. As Ben and his brothers grew up near the founders of Jackass, they saw an opportunity to mimic the strange and wild success the show was having. So, the Gravy brothers enrolled in stunt school and started their YouTube careers getting drunk and filming stunts.

Things came to an abrupt end when Ben and brother Hob staged a stunt in their backyard where Ben jumped from a moving car, flew through the air, and karate kicked his way through a sheetrock wall. Unfortunately, the impact against the wall ruptured Ben’s patellar tendon in his left leg. As the young, former pro surfer lay on the ground screaming and clutching his knee with his leg bent 45 degrees, Hob ran into the frame in a panic. Their days of doing stunts were over.

The prognosis wasn't good. A doctor told Ben that he could be at risk for amputation. Ben was told he most definitely would never be able to surf again. That’s when Ben hit rock bottom. He had nowhere left to go.

Ben dedicated his days to rehabilitation. Eventually, against the odds, he made a full recovery. Ben feels he was given a lucky second chance and an opportunity to build a new outlook on life. On Christmas morning, he pledged to his burgeoning YouTube audience that he would live a sober life from that day forward and document his sobriety in a daily, living vlog.

Ben Gravy: A Positive Role Model for ‘Nub Nation’ YouTube Viewers and Surfers is Born

The vlog gained popularity while Ben found a new niche riding novelty waves throughout his travels. Waves that no one would even consider became Ben's obsession. He became the novelty surf guy and became as stoked riding ankle high waves or peeling over a rocky shelf as he was surfing perfect head high offshore days. He drove down to Cape May, New Jersey with a plan to surf the ferry boat wake bringing travelers to Lewes, Maryland. Ben posted a POV video that night that was shared by Stab Magazine. It instantly went viral. Ben became launched as an overnight celebrity and was well on his way to a new career as a novelty wave hunter by morning. To this day, he thanks STAB Magazine for his success.

First, he scoured maps seeking novelty waves in and around New Jersey. Next, he explored the surrounding states and began to find his rhythm.

When Gravy found himself surfing his 10th or 11th state, the idea of surfing a wave in all 50 of the continental United States came up in conversation. It was a fresh idea, but Ben wasn’t ready to make a serious commitment.

Next, a trip to the Great Lakes ensued. His fame grew. Before long, Ben found he had surfed 26 states. The goal began to feel real. A trip out west boosted his novelty wave and state count well into the low 40’s.

“Who’s Gonna Book You on GMA When You Surf All 50?” : Alaska

Ben surfed waves in 45 states when I finally turned to him and asked "So who's gonna book you on Good Morning America when you surf all 50?" The question quickly pivoted to an epic brainstorming session that resulted in a commitment to make a documentary to tell the Ben Gravy story.

Ben poetically saved Alaska for last. The last frontier would be his final state to conquer. The State of Alaska hosts the mother of all novelty waves: the Turnagain River Arm in Anchorage. This would be his final stop.

The Turnagain River Arm consists of a bay within a huge tidal range that is fed by the incoming tide twice daily. The leading edge of the high tide forms a waist high wall of white water that breaks for 20 miles when the conditions are right. The best tidal bore surfable waves occur on the full and new moon when the tide is highest. However, it is the shifting contour of the silty bottom that shapes the wave and, ultimately, causes it to break.

For tidal bore surfers, the hours leading up to the tidal bore high tide are filled with anticipation and anxiety as surfers must lay out their plans for a section to ride. If you miss the wave and you won't get another chance until the next day. Knowing how the wave works and becoming intimately familiar with its personality is a full time job for these surfers that borders on obsession.

No one understands this obsession more than the band of bore tide surfers known as TA Surf.

This is Stoke: TA Surf, a Tidal Bore Surf Community

For Ben’s documentary, we contacted TA Surf before our arrival to get a better understanding of what to expect. They were hired as guides for this final wave. With only three full moon tides to get the shots needed for the documentary, and only one wave per day, we couldn’t afford the time to figure things out on our own.

The TA Surf crew consists of seven Lake Tahoe natives who came to Alaska to chase their deep powder dreams, only to find a surfing obsession that rivaled their love for the steepest and deepest terrain in North America.The crew consists of men and women, ranging in age from mid 20's to early 40's, who live together in a co-op household with the shared objective to ride the bore every day. Everyone at the TA Surf house rides the wave daily under all conditions. For them, it is beyond an obsession. It borders on a unique religion that congregates around the tidal schedule. If a rider stops surfing the wave or falls out of love with the bore, they are summarily kicked out of the house.

The TA Surf house is located at Bird Point - the starting point of the most rideable section of the bore. The house is small so there aren't enough bedrooms to accommodate everyone. Instead, the TA crew are on a rotation for the sleepable areas which include two interior bedrooms, an outdoor trampoline, and the back seats of their converted Ford van and Suburban. Each week, the rotation keeps everything fair and equitable.

Meals, chores and odd jobs are shared. Trips to town are once a week to buy groceries, fill trucks with gas, and run errands. The TA Surf household income is pooled and expenses are prioritized to be paid from a shared account. Rent gets paid first, then surf equipment purchases and repairs, then food. Any money left over goes to the winter surf trip savings account.

How To Surf a Tidal Bore

The members of the TA Surf crew have a unique surf culture in Anchorage. Their daily ritual includes familiar characteristics of a typical coastal surf scene. There's the pre-surf parking lot banter from regulars that begins 30 to 45 minutes before the bore becomes visible. Surfers take in the mountain and glacier views in every direction as they slip into wetsuits and discuss plans where they hope to ride. The weather is always a variable. Winds dominate the scene on any given day creating either on-shore or offshore conditions on the tidal bore wave.

The lineup that forms daily takes on a Y dimension as surfers position themselves up river or down, depending on where they think the wave will be clean and well shaped. Regardless of where the wave is caught, there is only one wave to be ridden each day. When the wave passes, every surfer who rides the wave becomes part of the most epic party wave ever seen.

The ride lasts as long as 5 or 6 minutes from Bird Point to the take out area. Conditions range from smooth and glassy to riddled with wave trains challenging a surfer’s balance similar to a rodeo rider trying to stay on a

bull. No one knows what the wave will do once it starts the run down the channel. The muddy, silty bottom is in constant flux causing the wave to roll or fade depending on water depth. When the wind is light and the channel stays shallow (if you’re lucky), it is possible to get a 20 minute ride down the full length of the channel

Ben Gravy’s 50th State: Turnagain Arm, Alaska

The first day of our tidal bore search was magical. The film crew arrived early to scout the location and plan the metrics of the shoot. The production team from Auxillary Channel stationed three cameras along the embankment, launched two drones into the sky with a car-mounted camera to follow Ben along the bore. There was also a hand held red camera in the parking lot to capture the emotional aftermath.

Ben caught the wave cleanly, way up stream and it held strong for him down the channel, picking up other surfing members from our film team as well as the entire TA Surf crew. The tidal bore moved its way along the channel twisting, turning, and contorting as it rolled over the mud flats below. Near the end of the ride, the face of the wave cleaned up and formed a small but steep A-frame that pulled the riders together shoulder to shoulder. There was an intense exhilaration and relief felt by Ben who, at that very moment beyond excited, having just ticked off the final state in the Union. He had done it.

Ben Gravy had just completed his goal of surfing a wave in all 50 states.

Brian Reardon, the Auxillary Channel’s owner and production manager simply said, "It couldn't have gone better. We nailed every shot."

The positive vibes Ben had been projecting into the universe paid him back in spades.

The Aftermath: “What’s Next, Ben Gravy?”

Ben immediately began receiving calls from surf media to get the scoop on the 50 state story. Interviews were published on Surfline, Magic Seaweed, the Word Surf League including a host of television news networks. Ben's historical accomplishment gained traction as the story became known to mass media. The most common question Ben is asked is, “What's next?"

Having been an avid follower of Ben's vlog for two years, I know that his 50 state challenge was no easy task. It is interesting to me, that after finishing a monumental task like this, the media’s immediate expectation is to follow it up with an even bigger challenge.

Ben Gravy spent a lot of time on the road for this achievement, covering almost every corner of the country. He slogged his way through back woods and brush to remote river banks infested with all kinds of bugs on the hunch that there might be a standing wave that may or may not be rideable. After finding, riding and filming the wave, Ben slogged back up to the road, piled into his van and drove another 10 to 15 hours to do it again. And again and again. He spent countless nights sleeping on the side of the road and parking lots while "living the dream" of his pursuit to surf the 50 states. It is not a feat to be easily replicated. Ben’s commitment to his viewers helped see him through.

So, what's next for Ben Gravy? Hard to tell. But one thing is for certain: Ben will continue to lead by example. He will continue to inspire a new generation of surfers to stay stoked and get in the water… every single day.

Ben will continue to act as a positive role model for his 70,000 (and growing!) viewer audience on ‘Nub Nation’ and he will celebrate his successful, sober, self-directed lifestyle. Most importantly, he will do it maintaining a positive attitude in everything he does.

Perhaps, Ben Gravy is a changed man from his frothing success. But, he continues to find the joy in surfing mediocre waves the rest of us can’t be bothered with. He is a natural entertainer and comfortable in front of the camera. Ben’s great success in promoting his own version of the Truman show with a surfing twist will let the results speak for themselves.

Ben's open and honest dialog with his viewers resonates with surfers and non-surfers alike. He inspires all types of people - from the little surf groms who remind Ben of who he was as a kid to the full grown adults recovering from addiction to find daily inspiration in Ben's words and actions. Ben Gravy shows them all it is never too late to start over and never too late to become the person you want to be.

Thank you for the inspiration Ben Gravy.

Can't wait to see what happens next.