Surf's up in Sheboygan
The first time I saw it, I did a double take. On my noon run, which took me past the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, lakeshore on a wind-whipped, late-November day, I spotted first one, then two, then three surfers battling the wind and waves. I stopped to watch the first Midwest surfers I'd ever seen. Two of the surfers were waiting for waves, but the first was rail-riding a 5-footer almost to the shoreline before another wave wiped him out.
My wife and I moved to Sheboygan County in 1979, but we both grew up on Lake Michigan, some 40 miles to the north in Two Rivers. Playing in and around Lake Michigan was a ritual. While attending Washington High School in the 1970s, one of my buddies recalled seeing winter surfers in Sheboygan. Most of us passed it off as an urban legend, not believing any sane person would be playing in 34-degree water during early winter snowstorms. After all, we've been on that shoreline as Alberta clippers blew in. It was great fun running along the shoreline dodging the 8-foot rollers until your feet were soaked, then biking home with feet so cold it stung. Nah, no one would surf Lake Michigan in winter. That would be crazy.
But that late-November day in 1979 confirmed for me that surfing was alive in Sheboygan. I stopped to watch the surfers for some time until I got chilled. On other trips to the lakeshore, I would periodically stop and talk to this very colorful and hearty bunch.
Great Lakes surfing is a fringe, if not extreme, sport. Generally, the best conditions are the stormiest, windiest days when an eastern wind whips the waves into large curls of equal frequency. Many claim the best surfing months are October, November, December and then March after the icebergs melt. And it is generally agreed that a good northeast wind from an Alberta clipper can produce perfect surfing conditions.
Due to the extreme nature of winter surfing, hypothermia is always a threat. The rule of thumb is to quit when your feet start going numb. Many winter sports enthusiasts deal with bitter cold conditions, whether they snowshoe or cross-country ski. But surfing can literally submerge the practitioner in an icy mash of nearly frozen and wind-whipped waters.
On a late August day in 1990 dubbed "Ugly Monday," the Sheboygan surf was up with good 8- to 10-foot curls roiling along North Pier. Some surfers noticed two kids playing on the pier, which isn't a good place to be with strong winds driving large waves over the jetty.
Pioneer Sheboygan surfer Larry Williams happened to be surfing with his 10-year-old son that day. He relaxed on a park bench, having completed his last run but keeping an eye on the kids.
Suddenly, before his eyes, a huge wave knocked the kids into the water. Williams dropped his board and ran down the jetty trying to locate them. Large waves smashed into Williams who hung on for his life. He was able to grab both kids as tumultuous waves hammered them. They finally made their way to the shoreline where rescue workers were waiting.
In recognition of his valor, Williams received the second-highest lifesaving decoration in the United States, the Silver Lifesaving Award from the U.S. Coast Guard. This incident is vividly recounted in William Povletich's new book Some Like it Cold: A Sheboygan Surfin' Safari. (See book review on page XX.)
Lake Michigan has real riptides and undertows that are evil enough to scare, if not drown, the unsuspecting any time of year. Three lives have been lost on the Sheboygan shoreline this year. One child was swept away in a kayak, another died in an unfortunate boating incident, and a teenage swimmer drowned last month.
In July, two scuba divers were exploring a boat wreck in 55 feet of water. They surfaced and were soon caught in an undertow that swept them away from their boat. They abandoned their tanks and tried swimming a mile to shore. For the next 10 hours they battled the severe currents, finally making it to shore shortly before midnight. They survived but were hospitalized with hypothermia.
Amazingly, there are no Sheboygan surfer fatalities on record.
Teak Phippen has been part of the Sheboygan surf scene for over 20 years and is the owner of the Weather Station Cafe, which is ground zero for the local surfer crowd. Phippen remembers one November day when the waves were curling and he was eager for one last ride. His feet were tingling as he paddled out to grab the perfect wave. It took longer than normal before he "jumped in" for a good ride. By the time he exited the water, he could no longer feel his feet.
"I felt like a peg-legged pirate hopping on stumps trying to get back to the car," he laughed. Most surf outings are an hour or two, with the heartiest surfers able to last more than three hours with their black neoprene wet suits absorbing the bright winter sun's rays.
Phippen said he was recently in California when a fellow surfer asked him, "Why would you want to surf the Great Lakes?" He replied, "It's the only surfing we have in Sheboygan. There are beautiful beaches and the best breaks in the Great Lakes."
The following day, Phippen ran into the same surfer. "Do you like, jump off of icebergs to catch waves?" he asked. To the other surfer's amazement, Phippen replied, "Yes, I have."
The California surfer replied, "I'm definitely surfing Sheboygan, dude!"
Another longtime area surfer is attorney John Howell. Howell got his first board in the early 1960s when he plunked down $79 at a Racine hardware store. "I liked the board, but didn't know what I was going to do with it. So I finally tried surfing it," he said.
Howell grew up on the Racine lakefront and has played along the lake his entire life. "Television wasn't great in the '60s and my mom wouldn't let us kids play in the house all day. In winter we would jump from iceberg to iceberg and sometimes fall in. So winter surfing wasn't a big stretch for me."
Unlike some surfers, Howell is an accomplished athlete in other sports as well. He's skied 33 Birkebeiners, run marathons and completed other endurance events. "A perfect winter day is cross-country skiing the Kettle Moraine in a morning snowstorm, then surfing Sheboygan in the afternoon," Howell said.
While most surfers are not hard-core athletes, most work out regularly. Paddleboarding, biking, hiking, running and weight lifting gets this gang ready for big waves. Without exception, each is a strong swimmer to have any chance out in the water.
Surfing itself is an endurance sport. "It's great core exercise," argues Tom Lawn, of Plymouth, Wisconsin. "You work out almost every muscle in the body, from swimming out to catch waves, to balancing on the board and shooting curls. I'm exhausted after 90 minutes of good surfing."
And if anyone knows how physically demanding an activity can be, its Lawn, an age group finisher of many Birkies and Ironman triathlons.
Freshwater surfing is widely known to be technically more difficult than ocean surfing. The wave frequency on the Great Lakes is faster, forcing the surfer to react quicker to grab a wave or dodge rough waves. It's also much harder to float given that freshwater doesn't provide the buoyancy of saltwater. Nevermind the fact that the best waves come to Sheboygan between November and March, which weeds out the weak.
Still, Great Lakes surfing has its advantages. The only shark bite in Sheboygan comes in the form of an alcoholic beverage.
As with other sports, proper equipment is critical, with the wetsuit being the most important. Most surfers trust 6 mm neoprene - the thickest commonly available suit. Dry suits are considered too clumsy. The longboard is the traditional pick for Great Lakes surfers. These boards are 8 feet and longer, typically 10 feet or 11 feet. They are either hollow core or filled with foam.
Amongst younger surfers, the "Fish" is more popular. This modified shortboard has a V-groove resembling a fishtail, is somewhat wider and 5 to 8 feet long, making it more maneuverable. Think of a Fish as a sports car, and a longboard as a Cadillac. The longboard floats atop and through most waves, while the Fish plays along the surface. In either case, the boards aren't cheap, ranging in price from $1,000 to over $3,000.
Paddleboards are long, stable surfboards. Standing upright, a long paddle is used to propel the board or they can be surfed like a conventional surfboard. They are well balanced and most can bring them into play without training or lessons. There is a growing paddleboard race scene in many coastal areas including the Great Lakes.
While still a counterculture sport, the increased visibility of Great Lakes surfing has led to better freshwater board design. Walk on Water Surfboards, a West Bend, Wisconsin-based company, produces boards specifically for freshwater surfing. The company's environmentally correct hollow core surfboards, paddleboards and bodyboards are branded as a Midwest product with the image of a cow riding a surfboard printed on each of them.
There is significant economic impact for the city of Sheboygan, also. Thousands of participants and tourists visit Sheboygan for the annual Corona Dairyland Classic hosted by Larry "Longboard" Williams and his twin brother Lee "Water Flea" Williams. The event is set for September 3-5 this year. And Expedition Outdoor Supply (EOS), an outdoor sports retailer located in Sheboygan, sells and rents surfboards, paddleboards and wetsuits.
"The surf side of our business has picked up considerably the last couple years as Sheboygan has gained fame as a surfing location," EOS co-owner Greg Hering said. "Besides good surf and kayak sales, paddleboarding has been very strong. Almost anyone can use them immediately and get terrific aerobic exercise. We have an informal group that meets in the harbor for a weekly workout."
Sheboygan Tourism Director Amy Gutierrez believes the potential is huge. "The Williams Brothers really make this thing happen," she said. "The Sheboygan surfing scene is growing in a positive way."
Several recent movies have highlighted Sheboygan surfing, including "Step in Liquid" and "Unsalted." The latter documentary focuses on the adventure and adrenaline rush of surfing inland lakes.
Sheboygan has almost five miles of Lake Michigan beach. There are at least seven good surf breaks, with some claiming as many as 22 breaks. Most of the best breaks are along the Sheboygan city lakefront, including North Pier, South Pier and Blue Harbor. The direction of the wind determines the best break for consistent wave size and frequency.
Besides Sheboygan, there are scattered surf breaks across lakes Michigan and Superior. Active surf communities are flourishing in Duluth, Minnesota; Chicago; Grand Haven, Ohio; Milwaukee; and Port Colborne, Ontario, among other locales.
Lake Superior's surf history goes back to the 1920s, when a young Tom Blake started surfing near his home in Washburn, Wisconsin. Blake left for California at age 17. This innovative lad is credited for developing the modern day hollow core surfboard and using it to win the first Pacific Coast Championship in 1928.
Then as now, Great Lakes surfers share a sense of community and respect for the water. Out of necessity, they're able to read lake conditions and watch out for one another. It's not unusual to find them sitting around a beach bonfire, downing their favorite cold beverages after a good day of surfing.
And the number of Great Lakes surfers is believed to be growing, if not into a mainstream sport. The Sheboygan surf community is estimated to have between 30 and 100 dedicated members, with younger wave riding enthusiasts joining in greater numbers. The scene is larger still if you count paddleboarders, kiteboarders and sailboarders. Most of the younger surfers are skateboarders and snowboarders.
The burgeoning popularity of Sheboygan and Great Lakes surfing has caused some growing pains, though. Recent movies, books and other media have glamorized Sheboygan surfers and given much of the credit to the Williams brothers. The Williamses are considered the patriarchs of modern day Midwest surfing by helping develop some of the first competitions, including Sheboygan's Corona Dairyland Classic and other events in Michigan, Illinois, New York and Ohio.
Some surfers are concerned the recent media attention will encourage outsiders to move in. But most couldn't care less.
"It's great that some of our local guys are getting their due respect," Phippen said. "What's important to me is keeping the surf community together. Surfing is about getting out there and catching waves. That's the soul, beauty and art of the sport. It's not about books or movies."
Howell added, "Larry Williams is a great spokesman and the Sheboygan ambassador for Great Lakes surfing. I just hope it doesn't get too crowded out there. When moms start dropping their kids off at the beach and steal my waves, I'll start complaining."
Tongue planted firmly in cheek, Howell said, "Kids can be a bother, but I'll still surf until sharks or jellyfish show up."
Good waves can be had throughout the year, but the best swells start building in early September. That's when the eastern winds start screaming over the harbor, bringing with it 8-foot waves barreling along the "Elbow" at North Pier. When that happens, it's no longer a surprise to see surfboards on the beach ready to go.
My wife and I moved to Sheboygan County in 1979, but we both grew up on Lake Michigan, some 40 miles to the north in Two Rivers. Playing in and around Lake Michigan was a ritual. While attending Washington High School in the 1970s, one of my buddies recalled seeing winter surfers in Sheboygan. Most of us passed it off as an urban legend, not believing any sane person would be playing in 34-degree water during early winter snowstorms. After all, we've been on that shoreline as Alberta clippers blew in. It was great fun running along the shoreline dodging the 8-foot rollers until your feet were soaked, then biking home with feet so cold it stung. Nah, no one would surf Lake Michigan in winter. That would be crazy.
But that late-November day in 1979 confirmed for me that surfing was alive in Sheboygan. I stopped to watch the surfers for some time until I got chilled. On other trips to the lakeshore, I would periodically stop and talk to this very colorful and hearty bunch.
Great Lakes surfing is a fringe, if not extreme, sport. Generally, the best conditions are the stormiest, windiest days when an eastern wind whips the waves into large curls of equal frequency. Many claim the best surfing months are October, November, December and then March after the icebergs melt. And it is generally agreed that a good northeast wind from an Alberta clipper can produce perfect surfing conditions.
Due to the extreme nature of winter surfing, hypothermia is always a threat. The rule of thumb is to quit when your feet start going numb. Many winter sports enthusiasts deal with bitter cold conditions, whether they snowshoe or cross-country ski. But surfing can literally submerge the practitioner in an icy mash of nearly frozen and wind-whipped waters.
On a late August day in 1990 dubbed "Ugly Monday," the Sheboygan surf was up with good 8- to 10-foot curls roiling along North Pier. Some surfers noticed two kids playing on the pier, which isn't a good place to be with strong winds driving large waves over the jetty.
Pioneer Sheboygan surfer Larry Williams happened to be surfing with his 10-year-old son that day. He relaxed on a park bench, having completed his last run but keeping an eye on the kids.
Suddenly, before his eyes, a huge wave knocked the kids into the water. Williams dropped his board and ran down the jetty trying to locate them. Large waves smashed into Williams who hung on for his life. He was able to grab both kids as tumultuous waves hammered them. They finally made their way to the shoreline where rescue workers were waiting.
In recognition of his valor, Williams received the second-highest lifesaving decoration in the United States, the Silver Lifesaving Award from the U.S. Coast Guard. This incident is vividly recounted in William Povletich's new book Some Like it Cold: A Sheboygan Surfin' Safari. (See book review on page XX.)
Lake Michigan has real riptides and undertows that are evil enough to scare, if not drown, the unsuspecting any time of year. Three lives have been lost on the Sheboygan shoreline this year. One child was swept away in a kayak, another died in an unfortunate boating incident, and a teenage swimmer drowned last month.
In July, two scuba divers were exploring a boat wreck in 55 feet of water. They surfaced and were soon caught in an undertow that swept them away from their boat. They abandoned their tanks and tried swimming a mile to shore. For the next 10 hours they battled the severe currents, finally making it to shore shortly before midnight. They survived but were hospitalized with hypothermia.
Amazingly, there are no Sheboygan surfer fatalities on record.
Teak Phippen has been part of the Sheboygan surf scene for over 20 years and is the owner of the Weather Station Cafe, which is ground zero for the local surfer crowd. Phippen remembers one November day when the waves were curling and he was eager for one last ride. His feet were tingling as he paddled out to grab the perfect wave. It took longer than normal before he "jumped in" for a good ride. By the time he exited the water, he could no longer feel his feet.
"I felt like a peg-legged pirate hopping on stumps trying to get back to the car," he laughed. Most surf outings are an hour or two, with the heartiest surfers able to last more than three hours with their black neoprene wet suits absorbing the bright winter sun's rays.
Phippen said he was recently in California when a fellow surfer asked him, "Why would you want to surf the Great Lakes?" He replied, "It's the only surfing we have in Sheboygan. There are beautiful beaches and the best breaks in the Great Lakes."
The following day, Phippen ran into the same surfer. "Do you like, jump off of icebergs to catch waves?" he asked. To the other surfer's amazement, Phippen replied, "Yes, I have."
The California surfer replied, "I'm definitely surfing Sheboygan, dude!"
Another longtime area surfer is attorney John Howell. Howell got his first board in the early 1960s when he plunked down $79 at a Racine hardware store. "I liked the board, but didn't know what I was going to do with it. So I finally tried surfing it," he said.
Howell grew up on the Racine lakefront and has played along the lake his entire life. "Television wasn't great in the '60s and my mom wouldn't let us kids play in the house all day. In winter we would jump from iceberg to iceberg and sometimes fall in. So winter surfing wasn't a big stretch for me."
Unlike some surfers, Howell is an accomplished athlete in other sports as well. He's skied 33 Birkebeiners, run marathons and completed other endurance events. "A perfect winter day is cross-country skiing the Kettle Moraine in a morning snowstorm, then surfing Sheboygan in the afternoon," Howell said.
While most surfers are not hard-core athletes, most work out regularly. Paddleboarding, biking, hiking, running and weight lifting gets this gang ready for big waves. Without exception, each is a strong swimmer to have any chance out in the water.
Surfing itself is an endurance sport. "It's great core exercise," argues Tom Lawn, of Plymouth, Wisconsin. "You work out almost every muscle in the body, from swimming out to catch waves, to balancing on the board and shooting curls. I'm exhausted after 90 minutes of good surfing."
And if anyone knows how physically demanding an activity can be, its Lawn, an age group finisher of many Birkies and Ironman triathlons.
Freshwater surfing is widely known to be technically more difficult than ocean surfing. The wave frequency on the Great Lakes is faster, forcing the surfer to react quicker to grab a wave or dodge rough waves. It's also much harder to float given that freshwater doesn't provide the buoyancy of saltwater. Nevermind the fact that the best waves come to Sheboygan between November and March, which weeds out the weak.
Still, Great Lakes surfing has its advantages. The only shark bite in Sheboygan comes in the form of an alcoholic beverage.
As with other sports, proper equipment is critical, with the wetsuit being the most important. Most surfers trust 6 mm neoprene - the thickest commonly available suit. Dry suits are considered too clumsy. The longboard is the traditional pick for Great Lakes surfers. These boards are 8 feet and longer, typically 10 feet or 11 feet. They are either hollow core or filled with foam.
Amongst younger surfers, the "Fish" is more popular. This modified shortboard has a V-groove resembling a fishtail, is somewhat wider and 5 to 8 feet long, making it more maneuverable. Think of a Fish as a sports car, and a longboard as a Cadillac. The longboard floats atop and through most waves, while the Fish plays along the surface. In either case, the boards aren't cheap, ranging in price from $1,000 to over $3,000.
Paddleboards are long, stable surfboards. Standing upright, a long paddle is used to propel the board or they can be surfed like a conventional surfboard. They are well balanced and most can bring them into play without training or lessons. There is a growing paddleboard race scene in many coastal areas including the Great Lakes.
While still a counterculture sport, the increased visibility of Great Lakes surfing has led to better freshwater board design. Walk on Water Surfboards, a West Bend, Wisconsin-based company, produces boards specifically for freshwater surfing. The company's environmentally correct hollow core surfboards, paddleboards and bodyboards are branded as a Midwest product with the image of a cow riding a surfboard printed on each of them.
There is significant economic impact for the city of Sheboygan, also. Thousands of participants and tourists visit Sheboygan for the annual Corona Dairyland Classic hosted by Larry "Longboard" Williams and his twin brother Lee "Water Flea" Williams. The event is set for September 3-5 this year. And Expedition Outdoor Supply (EOS), an outdoor sports retailer located in Sheboygan, sells and rents surfboards, paddleboards and wetsuits.
"The surf side of our business has picked up considerably the last couple years as Sheboygan has gained fame as a surfing location," EOS co-owner Greg Hering said. "Besides good surf and kayak sales, paddleboarding has been very strong. Almost anyone can use them immediately and get terrific aerobic exercise. We have an informal group that meets in the harbor for a weekly workout."
Sheboygan Tourism Director Amy Gutierrez believes the potential is huge. "The Williams Brothers really make this thing happen," she said. "The Sheboygan surfing scene is growing in a positive way."
Several recent movies have highlighted Sheboygan surfing, including "Step in Liquid" and "Unsalted." The latter documentary focuses on the adventure and adrenaline rush of surfing inland lakes.
Sheboygan has almost five miles of Lake Michigan beach. There are at least seven good surf breaks, with some claiming as many as 22 breaks. Most of the best breaks are along the Sheboygan city lakefront, including North Pier, South Pier and Blue Harbor. The direction of the wind determines the best break for consistent wave size and frequency.
Besides Sheboygan, there are scattered surf breaks across lakes Michigan and Superior. Active surf communities are flourishing in Duluth, Minnesota; Chicago; Grand Haven, Ohio; Milwaukee; and Port Colborne, Ontario, among other locales.
Lake Superior's surf history goes back to the 1920s, when a young Tom Blake started surfing near his home in Washburn, Wisconsin. Blake left for California at age 17. This innovative lad is credited for developing the modern day hollow core surfboard and using it to win the first Pacific Coast Championship in 1928.
Then as now, Great Lakes surfers share a sense of community and respect for the water. Out of necessity, they're able to read lake conditions and watch out for one another. It's not unusual to find them sitting around a beach bonfire, downing their favorite cold beverages after a good day of surfing.
And the number of Great Lakes surfers is believed to be growing, if not into a mainstream sport. The Sheboygan surf community is estimated to have between 30 and 100 dedicated members, with younger wave riding enthusiasts joining in greater numbers. The scene is larger still if you count paddleboarders, kiteboarders and sailboarders. Most of the younger surfers are skateboarders and snowboarders.
The burgeoning popularity of Sheboygan and Great Lakes surfing has caused some growing pains, though. Recent movies, books and other media have glamorized Sheboygan surfers and given much of the credit to the Williams brothers. The Williamses are considered the patriarchs of modern day Midwest surfing by helping develop some of the first competitions, including Sheboygan's Corona Dairyland Classic and other events in Michigan, Illinois, New York and Ohio.
Some surfers are concerned the recent media attention will encourage outsiders to move in. But most couldn't care less.
"It's great that some of our local guys are getting their due respect," Phippen said. "What's important to me is keeping the surf community together. Surfing is about getting out there and catching waves. That's the soul, beauty and art of the sport. It's not about books or movies."
Howell added, "Larry Williams is a great spokesman and the Sheboygan ambassador for Great Lakes surfing. I just hope it doesn't get too crowded out there. When moms start dropping their kids off at the beach and steal my waves, I'll start complaining."
Tongue planted firmly in cheek, Howell said, "Kids can be a bother, but I'll still surf until sharks or jellyfish show up."
Good waves can be had throughout the year, but the best swells start building in early September. That's when the eastern winds start screaming over the harbor, bringing with it 8-foot waves barreling along the "Elbow" at North Pier. When that happens, it's no longer a surprise to see surfboards on the beach ready to go.