surf tomorrow Nov. 29th at waukegan

[Artem]

Hey does anyone want to surf at waukegan at around 12 or 3? There is a very good surf spot which I can show. I don't want to be all alone out there.

[FSP]

Ive been to that spot a few big days over the years as well as heard back from friends and as good as it looks, never has the shape or power the southend spots have. I really wanted that place to workout but mostly a longboard wave at best. If you can make it down I am sure you will see a big difference where all the best will be laying it down in the best we get. surf season is finally on!!!

[Safe_Cracker]

Artem, I just spent the last 10 days kiting in FL actually have cuts, bruises and blisters ..... My sister in law is driving all my gear up and should be here on the 10th so im taking a break but after that I will hit just about anything.... Polo

[gbleck]

The reef south of the channel was going off. Drove down to check out an epoxy repair over lunch. Nice side to the wind curl.

[FSP]

Its official..surf season has arrived and as big as i ever seen it.

Down on the southend one of our favorite spots had a rip going out against the pier as if you had a 7m in your hand. Not even getting your head wet or having to use your arms whether you wanted to or not, you were on conveyer belt out to sea. What was different this time is once you finished the 60 yards out ride, you were on your own-no kite to run or hide. Really interesting perspective i have not been in for a long time, which was to square off with some triple overhead bombs that had the best on our lake a bit unnerved. Dark moody skies against old factories wasnt weird enough, massive sets on the horizon peaked out, headed straight for us.

1st bomb set caught me off guard in shock as i didnt know whether to paddle further in or out it was so big. luckily I made the right call and headed out to just scrape by. After temping myself long enough it was time to go and i guess the difference from our typical day was this weightlessness and time you would feel as this school bus size entity would pick you up. All the instincts kicked in and hand to the rail, sweet spot stance and dive forward, paid off for my first big bomb drop of the day. No lines to restrict where you want to go. Tookl off right then went left and then back right straight to the lip for a cutback that had my board swinging like a baseball bat from the energy. Big days, you have to charge full on all weight forward to make it back to the lip which means no holding back just commitment.Many big turns and some macked out rinse cycle to the bottom made me appreciate and respect that this crazy lake for big surf.

hope you all paddle out some time to see a really amazing experience and perspective to kiting.

[snowball]

Going to be at the Waukegan spot tommorow. Just enter into the harbour (South of the kiting beach) and go to the rock wall you can see the break from the road. NW winds will make it much cleaner and less current.

It should be going off. Artem and I will be shredding it early afternoon. 12-2 If anyone wants to join.

Just got a new board

[Northerner]

Hit sheboygan for just over one high quality hour right after work. One of the best days I have seen here. Big, thick, head high and a half waves breaking and peeling from the end of the jetty to the shore. Rode my 8 Rally and small surf board and got 3-6 turns on most waves. I guess it was NNE for most of the day and when I got there it was pure north, which made for butter flat water between and on the waves. I mean butter. Wind was very gusty right on shore but once past the shore break it was a delight to be in and grab an end of November session.

West, wish you could have come up, I would have liked to get your comparison of a great Sheboygan North and St Joe. Regardless of how they stack up, you would have been writing a few poems about yesterday here. End of the session was interesting because the very moment the sun went down the wind turned off shore. I was on an outside tack and noticed the angle I was taking. I was riding straight up wind and right to the light house. Turned around, looked at the flags and yep off shore. Waves really cleaned up, and I headed in doing a downwinder to keep my board speed up as the wind had dropped and to enjoy a few minutes of truly clean peelers.

A great Session for sure, Waves are still looking killer this morning, Surfers will be out

[jensmadwind]

ahhh surfing schmurfing this is a kite forum.

Nice to hear you were able to get out after work Andrew. Based on when the wind shifted for us down south I would suspect that the wind in Sheboygan was North most of the afternoon. Guess we will never know because the meter is down, and has been all season. Why can't my tax dollars go to fixing that thing?

I think when the waves are forecasted to be as big as they were then a North would be fun in Brattown. We get the shaft on this side of the lake as far as riding behind jetties goes. It is so nice to be able to ride behind them and take advantage of what they create. In the bitter cold I am reluctant to put myself in a position that forces me to stay out off shore. Which is the case in Sheboygan on a North. Especially trying to exploit the waves to the limit of my ability which usually includes taking a pounding. A pounding I was not willing to take yesterday(due to rib injuries) and a pounding I do not want to take far away from the shoreline. Can't wait to catch it with you again on a warmer weekend in the future, there is no arguing the fact that Sheboygan has the potential to create some of if not the best wave conditions on the western shore.

Ryan, Joe, Sam, Greg and I went to Grant park in Milwaukee and had quite an experience. When we arrived around 10 the wind was still Northeast and the waves were building rapidly. I was first out on my 4.5 and halfway into my first tack I quickly came to the realization that it was the most wind I have been out in on my surfboard. So windy in fact that when I did wipe out the wind would pick up the board and hurl it downwind, right passed my head a couple times. I had no issues making it to the wave break and found it to be just as I was expecting. Breaking in its normal spot HUGE and glassy closer to shore and the jetties.

I was intimidated by the wind speed and the wave size and uncertain how my injured ribs would react to getting in the swing of things. As it turned out using a seat harness completely took the stress of my ribs and enabled me to ride as close to normal as I could with the different feeling of the diaper. So all good right? Well not so much. I slowly got acclimated to the conditions. I started with just making a top turn on the wave and then riding gravity as I went down the face and shot out in front of it. Normally this is the moment I have been craving, hard bottom turn, face the wave and slash. Only problem was that I was so lit I could not make a proper bottom turn cause I could not fly my kite aggressively enough across the window to lead the way down the line.

The wind was gusting down the shoreline and making conditions gnarly. Sam joined me up by the break for a while and we shared expressions of excitement and intimidation. Greg and Joe were riding down by the launch and experiencing the same Gnar we were.

I made the most of it for an hour and a half and had some fun for sure. Every once in a while getting a couple turns on the wave when the wind would allow. At about 1:30 the wind clocked around to the north and ramped up even more. As the wind got flukey on the inside I decided to throw in the towel.

When I came in Ryan was eager to give my kite a whirl on his twin tip. He went out and ripped it for a bit, boosting big and slashing waves in spots where there was no room for error. He came in after a while and said he was so lit up that as he pointed his board upwind the wind pushed so hard back on the face of the board that it was difficult to not get spun around. The Milwaukee Fox affiliate was on the beach and here is a link to the brief story they aired. Greg on the surfboard and Ryan on a 4.5.

http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-201111 ... 0699.story

The wind was not letting up and it was crushing the waves at the break. We all decided we had had enough and called it a day. Ryan, Sam and Joe went around the corner and were able to surf some nice shoulder high waves coming around a marina pier.

Now to be real about Great Lakes surfing. I have the utmost respect for anyone at any ability who is willing to go out in the weather conditions required on Lake Michigan to create good surf. Although I have never seen anybody kill it on the waves I do not doubt that there are people out there ripping it. I can't fathom what it feels like to be laying on a board staring up at those mountains coming at you. Talk about perspective!! Kudos to all those who do it and Scottie G for telling us about it. I will be joining you guys in the future once I learn how to surf. Hopefully that will be next season as I am going to Hawaii this January and plan to get the basics down and start paying my dues to be able to legitimately be out there with you guys some day in those conditions.