Great Lakes Surfing

hans_aschim

hans_aschim

Active member
I just got in from my second session of surfing this summer. I was in menominee mi on lake michigan and it was sick. 4-5 footers with clean breaks and the best part, no crowd.
 
ha tight, there were some guys on longboards here on lake erie in cleveland about 2 weeks ago when there were 4-5 waves too
 
i have been srufing for like 6-7 years on the lake grand haven mi

i usally surf 10-30 times a summer and 2-5 times a week in the fall

pretty good waves here

check out the movie unsalted

unsalted.tv

i used to work for the guy who made it he is from grand haven
 
oh lake erie sucks? ah ok we had no clue but thanks for clearing it up for us.. i don't think there's been any mention of intentionally swimming in it either?
 
In indiana we don't have great lakes... so we wakesurf behind my dude Alpals boat, and it's sorta amazing.

04fc796f.jpg
 
hey to whoever said lake erie is dirty... not really maybe over on the clevland side but were the islands are like put-in-bay and stuff its real clean.. u can see to the bottom on calm days.. but yeah there are no waves at all.. the only ones are rollers out in the lake and they dont crash on shore untill its like knee deep
 
yah the lake is definitely dirty around cleveland ha, and most days there actually are 'waves' usually around 1-2 feet, but one very windy days they get up to 4-5 feet, and yes they come into shore.
 
there's a killer left hand reef break i found... i get barreled every time i surf there. you gatta dodge the dead carp though, and the rusty razor blades. aids runs rampant on the beach as well. come to think of it, it's really gross. don't go there.
 
nah... that's not a skimboard... it's actually a "Wake surfboard". Made for what i'm doin in the picture. my dude Alpal got it for graduation, and it's pretty fun.
 
waves are measured from the back. a 4-5 ft wave would mean 8ft from the front. I highly doubt waves are of that size off the great lakes (even in lake superior). You guys should check out the movie "unsalted".. this guy tours all the great lakes and films his expedition.
 
waves arent measured from the back homie... everyone from skimmers to pro surfers judge the size of a wave by the face height

each year when big wave surfers hold a comp. to see who's ridden the biggest of the year they measure their height on screen to that of the wave and then determine from there..
 
word. i judge them as i see them, which is from the shore, which is from the front. a litte off topic but i just got back from out of the country and i heard about north korea. damn
 
with a rope. you just use like 10 feet of it, so you're right behing the boat... you get goin a little, then toss the rope into the boat. you're goin like 9 or 10 mph.

alpal kills it on a wakesurfboard.
 
i've seen waves in superior that anyone in thier right mind would fear. i'm talking well over 10 footers and i'm talking about the face of the wave. and waves are measured from the trough to the crest, it makes no difference front or back, it's all the same. surfing in superior is gnarly, the frequncy of the waves are twice that of the ocean, which means when you eat it, as soon as you are done with the tumble cycle, another wave hits you. some of the best surf spots around Marquette are on rock breaks, which is bad news for begginers.

Shelby
 
actually wave measurement differs in two places. the classic measuring system is how shelby described it, trough to crest. however in hawaii they use the hawaiian system, go figure, and the waves are measured by the back of the waves, not sure why,, just know that when they tell you it's a 1 foot day on any of the hawaiian islands the faces are usually 2-3 (it doubles and adds a foot or two, depending on wave height and interval, to create the face height)and thats' pure aleutian swell way more powerful than anything in cali. i've surfed on the greatlakes all my life and worked at a surfshop in my hometown(www.chapter11sports.com) since i was 11. the surf gets good here, the period in between waves is alot shorter, versus 3 foot swell at 7 second intervals, we get 3 foot wind chop at 3 second intervals which makes for a washing machine affect, but fun is what you make of it. i've surfed in every great lake except for ontario and have found fun surf everywhere, lake superior has quite a few of straight up reef breaks, intead of coral, the reefs are made of giant slabs of rock creating peeling waves and actually ride in ride out barrels, watch "unsalted," vince's movie and see joe curren tear the waves apart. since the water is fresh water, there is far less buoyancy so the hold downs last longer and you need more foam under you to keep afloat. sorry for the novel of info but i'm glad to see some people surfing talking on here. alot of people don't know this but all of the great lakes combined shoreline is 11,000 miles, and that is almost twice the length of the whole west coast and east coast combined! that means there's that many opportunities for good breaks, go search and find something sick! now that i live in the ohio river valley i'm away from the mountains or water for the first time in my life and it blows, i might be the only person that lives in downtown cincinnati with 2 surfboards in their closet. i went up to cleveland the other day and went surfing at reno beach, it was pretty fun, nothing to write home about, but anyday surfing works for me. shelby is being modest about wave heights in superior, i had a professor once that worked for NOAA and handled the marine forecast for open water bound ships, wave heights in the middle of lake superior have reached over 40 feet and they say before the invention of buoys god knows how big they got out in the middle. i've seen on shore outside marquette in a place called shelter bay, straight up double overhead tubes with off shore winds(the best wind because it pushes on the face of the wave making it glassy) firing in the middle of winter, ice floating around and all. i have seen great surf on quite a few occasions up there even in the summer you just have to find it. good luck and if you find something sick you should probably picture message me.
 
I live about two minuites awway from superior and it can get pretty incredible out there, like you wouldn't even belive it when we get big waves we get really big waves!
 
ya, a big fuck you to who ever doubts large waves on the great lakes. I was on lake michigan in my 24 foot boat in 10-14 footers near the Manistee islands. It was scary as shit.
 
there was some DOPE surfing in mqt, today, watched like 5-6 guys ridin waves for about 200 yards, waves about 5-6 feet,

real sweet
 
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