Surfing in Interesting Climes: Fresh Water
L ake Michigan Surf Trip, Fall '01, pg 2
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Rick Boss gets a ride while I watch from my board
10/14/01 Later on Sunday. After my surf near Grand Haven jetty, I went back to the motel and got on the phone to try to seek help from the locals. I finally reached Rick Boss of the GLSA. I arranged to meet Rick, Eric Holt, Bo, and maybe Matt at Muskegon.
When you drive to these lake beaches in the fall, it really seems like you're coming to the ocean. There's spray in the air, only it isn't salty. The road along the river is well decorated with reds and oranges, making the dunes a calico color.
Coming to the lake in Muskegon I saw lines of somewhat organized swell coming in to a long jetty, with the standard red lighthouse.
Muskegon lighthouse, sand fence
Met the guys, Eric and Rick and put my board together and put my gear on. A third lake surfer, Bo (or Beau) joined us later. We ran across the beach which is very wide in Muskegon. The surf looked to be about waist to chest high, rather short period and pretty much onshore, but perfectly respectable. The faces were shielded from the wind and clean. There seemed to be makeable shoulders and even nose riding opportunities.
I later learned that a friend of theirs was taking pictures. They were taken from the pier.
Rick and Eric paddle out
Rick's long ride takes him toward shore
I get up on a right and make a turn
Bo heads out to the shoulder
Surfing on lake waves takes a little getting used to. Maybe the weight of the water is less, or because of the bouyancy, but it seems like the waves don't have the punch of ocean waves, even wind wake Atlantic waves. They were forming before the wind and reforming, so it took some effort to catch up to them before they went into the backoff cycle before the reform. Once you got in one, you could get a long ride by not straying too far out to the shoulder.
Inviting waves, and only a lake's width of fetch
Eric was eager to show off his lake surfing skill, and caught a bunch in a row. He gave some tips that helped. Both he and Rick had a quick spin and takeoff move, which was their secret. Finally I started scoring by paddling to the left, then going right. A left right was also possible, but I didn't use it so much. I found that with a quick takeoff, a quick walk up and trim, then a well timed cutback, I could gain some glide keep it going. In other words, the timing wasn't easy.
There's nothing like paddling out and blasting through the face of a lake wave. It's so refreshing, like diving into a pool! The water bathes your eyes, and you're in no desperation to spit it out. The temperature was reasonable, in the 50s. I had my 4/3 wetsuit, and was warm.
After about an hour of hard work, I was tired and went in to take a few pictures.
Eric Holt in Lake Michigan's afternoon sun
Eric heads for the dunes
Rick locked himself out of his van but he eventually got in. Then we had some soup in a bread bowl at a conveniently nearby bar. I met five or six GL surfers and they told me of the varied surf possibilities north and south. The best one sounded like at the north end of Lake Michigan. Given a southwesterly, a very real possibility all year, the north end would get waves from a 500 mile fetch. I'll have to check that out next time.
The only down part of the day was that I was sorry to miss the kite fly day in Grand Haven.
