Surf's Up on Lake Michigan, and It's Not for Sissies

Who said California is the epicenter of surfing in the continental United States?

Not the hardy wave riders photographer Joe Gee captured with his camera lens on Lake Michigan on Halloween. And for that matter, who says the surfing season is over on Lake Michigan?

Wait, you didn’t know there’s a surfing season on the Great Lakes in the quickly-turning-cold Upper Midwest?

Oh, yes, there is, and it’s not for sissies or amateurs.

Nick Brown, 18, a student at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, about an hour’s drive to the Lake Michigan’s eastern coast, told the Muskegon Chronicle/MLive the billowing Lake Michigan crests are more challenging than those rolling in from the ocean.

Brown was riding 15-feet high waves produced by wind gusts with some buddies Thursday, and said the adrenaline rush was unlike any he’s ever encountered. He learned to surf at age 10.

“When the wave comes, you ride it and it’s just an adrenalin rush,” Brown said. “I haven’t ever (ridden) waves like that. … They were coming in sets of two at a time. In the ocean, they come in one at a time.”

Surfers have a limited opportunity to ride the crests of Lake Michigan’s high breakers. Wind conditions have to be just right, as they were Thursday and on Halloween.

“The north to northwest wind is the surfing wind on Lake Michigan,” Brown said. “As the wind turns northwesterly, it brings the highest waves onshore to Michigan’s coastline.”

Master ‘Peaceful’ Waters First

Beginners should master “peaceful” waters before tackling Lake Michigan’s waves, Brown said, explaining they require a different approach and technique because the waves have steep drops.

Cold waters scare away some surfers, but the Wet Mitten Surf & Shop in Grand Haven does a brisk business with the hardiest among the wave jockeys.

“Fall is really the best season ... for surfing in Michigan,” the store’s owner, Ben McNeil, told the newspaper. “But if you’re really serious about surfing in Michigan, you have to have a lot of wetsuit gear. You have to try to stay warm.”

Among the hardy is Dan Frifeldt, 60, a Spring Lakes blueberry farmer who began surfing when he was 12. He has mastered the Pacific waves of Hawaii and the West Coast, and has surfed on the East Coast as well. For him, there’s nothing better than riding the north swells near Grand Haven and the south swells at Muskegon State Park.

“It’s a hidden gem,” he says.

Frifeldt says he will brave the cold, face the danger and ride Lake Michigan’s billowing crests until ice begins to cover the lake.

That’s crazy talk, right?

“Obviously I’m crazy,” he said, “but I’m not sure surfing has anything to do with it.”

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Screenshot and video by photographer Joe Gee via YouTube.