On Surfing Storms - The Great Lakes

Ocean surfers are an unfortunate bunch. They’re stuck sitting in lineups, bored out of their minds as they wait for waves. And as those perfect, vagabond waves gracefully arrive, there’s not a trace of the storm that pushed them there.

Lake surfers on the other hand surf inside the storms. Rare are the rays of sunshine and light offshore wind. In abundance, our friendly, midwestern meteorologists deliver news of swell wrapped in storms of rain, wind, snow, and hail.

They don’t do it because they hate us; it’s not their fault lake surfers live in regions with tumultuous weather patterns. Just like it’s not the ocean surfers’ fault they’re handed perfect waves.

But it’s special to surf inside a storm. Not because it’s pleasant but because pleasant isn’t something you need to care about anymore. It’s a marker that no longer exists. When you’re inside a huge body of swirling freshwater coming at you in 6- or 7-second intervals and rain is coming from N to S to E to W, you’re not concerned with how the sun feels on your skin or if the wind is making things a bit brisk.

That part of your brain has shut off.

And is this not what all surfers around the globe say surfing is? The flow state. When your mind slows and your body takes over. Surfing storms is like this. As counterintuitive as it may sound, blistering cold or pelting rain or gale force wind forces us lake surfers into full presence in the storm.

Photo: Matthew Pastick