The Great Lakes

Upon researching surfing in the Great Lakes one thing becomes immediately and glaringly apparent. They’re huge. And that’s what makes surfing the Great Lakes possible, the sheer size of them.
The Great Lakes are the largest fresh water system on Earth, and contain more coastline than the East and West Coasts combined. Lake Michigan is the second largest Great Lake with 1180 cubic miles of water. It is 118 miles wide, 307 long, and is 925 feet deep at its deepest point.
    Heavy seas are not uncommon to the Great Lakes, and in 1975 the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk on Lake Superior in 30-foot seas. The Great Lakes are rumored to have been first surfed in the early 1900s, but it was in the 1960s that the first significant groups of surfers arrived. Today it is estimated that there are between 1,500 and 2,000 Great Lake surfers.

What Makes the Waves: Waves on the Great Lakes are produced like ocean waves, just on a much smaller scale. Most are produced by enormous cold fronts that push across the lakes in the winter, bringing with them strong winds and the possibility for rideable surf. Waves can also be generated by low or high-pressure systems that create winds which blow across the lakes. Just about any kind of significant weather system has the potential to produce waves on the lakes, just so long as it brings lots of wind.
    Because of the size of the storm systems that create waves on the lakes, and the limited size of the lakes themselves, the storms that create waves are usually on top of the coastline. This means that if there are waves, there will probably be onshore winds. Occasionally however, the wind will lie down or turn offshore to create ideal conditions. Even if the wind doesn’t cooperate, Lake Michigan, as well as the other lakes, offers a wide variety of points, coves, piers, and jetties to block the wind. Surfing around a point or inside a cove not only blocks the wind, but filters the swell that wraps in. Around a point the swell periods are longer, and much of the shorter interval wind chop doesn’t make it down the point.
    According to Third Coast Surf Shop owner, located in New Buffalo, Michigan, Ryan Gerard, winds of 15 knots or more sustained for a minimum of 6 hrs will push in some kind of rideable surf. “The most amount of fetch we ever get on Lake Michigan is 150 to 200 miles,” Gerard said. “When a cold front pushes in and the wind turns out of the north at 30 knots it can build the waves from zero to six feet in literally just a few hours.” The direction from which the wind blows is not that important because no matter what direction the wind blows from it will create waves somewhere on the lakes due to the curvature of the coastlines.  
    Due to the relatively small size of the lakes, swell intervals are generally very short. “I’d say the wave periods at the spots we surf are generally around five to six seconds, up to nine to ten seconds,” Gerard said. Compared to the average ground swell intervals of 14 seconds.

Time to Go: Fall through spring has the most consistent waves, although there are waves through the summer, albeit less consistent and smaller. Fall is the best time to catch waves on the lake because the water is still relatively warm, and the big cold fronts are just starting to roll in. Throughout fall, winter, and spring the waves on the lake are relatively consistent, providing rideable surf more days than not. The summer months are much less reliable, with two to three week flat spells a common occurrence.
    According to Gerard, the ideal swell for southern Lake Michigan would be a big northwest wind blowing between 30 and 40 knots for at least 12 hours. At the right spot, such a swell can produce legitimate head high waves. During a good winter this kind of swell could happen up to a dozen times.

Water: Obviously, the water can be extremely cold in Lake Michigan, although it can reach as high as 80 degrees in the summer. During the winter months the water can easily dip into the low 30s. Thus, the dedicated lake surfer must be equipped with a full arsenal of modern wetsuits, ranging from short john, to 6/5/4 with thick gloves, booties, and hood, which must be worn for at least six months out of the year.
    Because there is no salt in the water there is decreased buoyancy for objects in the water, surfers and surfboards included. Reportedly, it is harder to paddle into waves in fresh water, harder to do turns, and the hold-downs are heavier.
    
Where to Go: Michigan’s upper peninsula offers the best setups for surfing in the Great Lakes. It has a rugged coastline, is sparsely populated, and contains many excellent surf spots, which include countless points and rock reefs. On the upper peninsula it is possible to surf three different lakes on a single swell, chasing the swell as the winds shift.
    Other popular surfing areas include Sheboygan, Wisconsin and New Buffalo, Michigan, both of which are on southern Lake Michigan and have mostly sand bottom beach breaks. These spots require any kind of north wind to have surf.

Locals: Besides the potential for waves and adventure, the best thing about surfing in Lake Michigan might be the surfers themselves. The locals are well known for having an aloha spirit and an unfettered stoke for surfing that is hard to find elsewhere.
Gerard said that surfing in the Great Lakes is what surfing in California must have been like 50 years ago. Crowds are not a factor. There is a real sense of adventure and ruggedness in the lake surfing experience, which is sometimes lacking at the easier to access spots on the east and west coasts.
Surfing in Lake Michigan is not about catching the biggest and best waves in the world. Surfing in Lake Michigan is about the surfing experience itself. The pure joy of going surfing, the adventure -- the stoke. And, in the end, isn’t that what surfing is really about?