Kowabunga dude! Who needs the Banzai Pipeline or North Beach when you've got … The Great Lakes?
No way you say? Way!
A recent article, "Hanging Ten on the Great Lakes." on Toronto-based Metro.com says that surfing on HOMES is getting to be, if not big business, at least significant business. Significant enough to attract a Florida surfing equipment franchise, Ron Jon Surf shop to take on existing surf shops in beautiful downtown Toronto and elsewhere. They plan to license half a dozen shops around the lakes.
What may be the most intriguing aspect of this sport is that it's mostly a winter activity.
One authority, Vince Deur, points out that Great Lakes surfers have to act fast to get a chance at the best conditions. He is quoted as saying that a good September surfing day can produce warm air and water with good waves.
He said that surfers have to get hooked on the good times first, before they are willing to put up with the bad.
The best waves come in the winter time, when onshore winds hit 40 knots, waves are 20 feet tall and icicles hang off your wetsuit. Some people say that surfing waves don't happen on the Great Lakes. They do, even on the shallow western basin of shallow Lake Erie.
If your fishing afternoon has ever been interrupted by one of those sudden Lake Erie thunderstorms or sailed against six to seven-foot waves kicked up by wind from the direction of Detroit you know. If the wind is from the right direction to create a long "fetch," the waves can get big.
The "fetch" is the distance over open water that the wind blows and is perhaps the most important part of what determines wave size.
All this is presented in a documentary released last year called "Unsalted: A Great Lakes Experience." Deur directed the movie, which shows the action of a team of California surfers who visit the Great Lakes for some winter action.
You can check out "Unsalted" and see a couple of trailers at www.unsalted.tv.
Even more surprising, perhaps, is that this isn't new. Surfing on the Great Lakes has been going on for the past 40 years. Remember the "surfing craze" of the mid-60's? Apparently it wasn't all going on on the west coast. That's just where the movie business was located that publicized the activity.
Boardsports is described as a longtime surf supplier in Toronto. Manager Kyle Gordon says they can hardly keep surfboards in stock, especially since the release of "Unsalted."
Gordon points out one advantage Great Lakes surfing has over ocean surfing is that you don't have to worry about sharks
There are those mayflies, though.