Evanston Windsurfing Club Braves 'Gnarly' Waves

Waves at Greenwood Street Beach in Evanston were up to 11 feet high on Tuesday, when a small craft advisory was issued by the National Weather Service due to 40 mph winds in the area. Water levels were about a foot above average and the highest since 1998.

But that didn’t stop several members of the Evanston Windsurfing Association from playing hooky from their jobs to take on those massive waves.

The Evanston Review followed the adventures of Gregory Page, a 58-year-old Evanston man and other members of the Association, who find fun in an activity most would never dream of participating in on a day like Tuesday.

“The wind is really, really strong and the waves are some of the biggest I’ve seen in 10 years,” said Page. “It’s really fun out there. I’ve been sailing 20 years, and this is my favorite place in the world.”

Page says days like Tuesday, while dangerous, need to be taken advantage of.

“The problem with windsurfing in Chicago is you don’t get a lot of days. In Hawaii, they’ll sail 20 days a month, but here you might get 20 days a year,” he said.

Bob Bechstein, president of the Evanston Windsurfing Association, said it’s often a surprise to people from other parts of the world that Lake Michigan can even produce the size of the waves it does.

“When you mention that we have waves on Lake Michigan to people around the world, they don’t believe you,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Well it’s a lake. How can you get waves that big?’ Well, when you see conditions like this and you see the equipment we break, you see how much power there is.”

Bechstein called Tuesday’s conditions “gnarly,” but that once you’re used to them, it’s not that bad.

“It takes experience to be comfortable in this kind of stuff,” he said.

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