Ol noreaster

[West]

HOOOCHEEMAMA!!!!!!!!!! well, well.......just what the doc ordered.......a double scoop of what ever Lake Michigan is serving up!!!!!!!! This is a doozy of a storm...Ride with Caution Bro.......SAFETY FIRST, second and third.........

gonna cruise thru Hammond on my way to St Joe, the tag team crew with the hot soup in the crock pot.........Gotta love FALL

[FSP]

got warmed up with back to bac downwinders from the homeland...and when she goes north i put the brakes on ole 94 for you know what im talkin bout ahh ah ah..some black jack off the rocks comps of that CASINO. where the surfers go and those who know. stacked jacked and gonna crack. bounce off the pier, fade deep, look up and there she stands..front of the rocks... pull tight and dont b going right..

[West]

.TUESDAY...NORTH STORM FORCE WINDS TO 50 KT....WITH 55 KT GUSTS
POSSIBLE...EASING TO 45 KT GALES DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON. SLIGHT
CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. WAVES 20 TO 25 FT WITH
OCCASIONAL WAVES UP TO 33 FT

[mrgrey]

.TUESDAY...NORTH STORM FORCE WINDS TO 50 KT....WITH 55 KT GUSTS
POSSIBLE...EASING TO 45 KT GALES DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON. SLIGHT
CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. WAVES 20 TO 25 FT WITH
OCCASIONAL WAVES UP TO 33 FT

Thats just scary.. I'm sittin that one out for sure...

[adseguy]

Time to whip out my 2.5 M inflatable trainer from Epic

[Northerner]

Great day two of the blow up here in Sheboygan this afternoon. Yesterday was easy going 12 meter with flat water and hip high waves. Today after work I rode from 4 until 5:30. 10 meter and surf board in long clean chest to head high waves. Getting cold on the lake.

Got both sides of my bread buttered for tomorrow. Took the day off of school to get what I hope will be some of the cleanest waves and 6 meter riding on the lake. Starting the day with a dose of power from some fried whitefish livers and eggs. Got room for one more at the table as madison greg is not down with livers and I got a kilo of them.

[Northerner]

Looking back on yesterday with very fond memories and what I thought was one of the top days in my 10 years of kiting. Chilled out in the morning enjoying breakfast and watching monster waves break along the shore. Did a recon mission around town to find side to side on conditions on the north side of town around 10. Decided to wait until the wind went more north to get the smooth long ones behind the pier. At 12 noon Greg and I decided to launch and head out into the big stuff. I rode an 8 and surf board with light wind near shore. Bob also showed up and rode for a bit with all three of us on 8 meter Rally's. The wind was 350-360 degrees making for a few holes and gusts but still very manageable and powered.

What the wind was lacking, the amazing smoothness of the water and the length of the waves made up for it. Waves on the outside ranged from head high to almost double. Found myself hitting wave after wave and getting a dozen turns on many. Dropped my kite twice in the weak inside wind while riding a wave and payed on for it with waves on the head and a struggle to break the current to get shore. Had over three hours of clean long waves making for a great day. Only wish the good stuff would have lasted past 3:30 and that Bob could have hung out longer

Last note on the day is the low water levels have changed the waves up here a bit. I found the inside to be not as clean and long as I remember.

[FSP]

Casino was a crazed experience but todays miller run was just bliss on a perfectly powered 7m. Really formed up, at the right angle to wind, with the sets showing their famous south end weight. Easy to lace and square off vertically, which is not easy to come by, combined with size. Few fully wrapped turns to air drops that had the stomach left behind. Definitely one of the top wave day setups for my year. everyone jacked and a bit surprised at the elements coming together.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Oct. 31, five mile downwinder from Miller's Marquette Park to Portage River walk park. monster waves on the outside but clean, smooooth and plenty of room in between. Quote of the day from surfer John: "Man those waves were monstrous! That was LIFE CHANGING!!"

[West]

Nice to see so many kiters getting in on the action from the Big Ol Noreaster, some classic riding all around Lake Michigan. I took off several days and tagged some great downwinders:

Sunday: downwinder from 17th to keegs with Ivo, Leno, Pier, Bryce and Mike on 9m
Monday: downwinder from South Haven to St Joe with Jimbo, Greg, TG, and Jens on 7m..........chili off the tailgate in the parking lot
Tuesday: observations from up and down the Michigan coastline with the bros, just waiting and hoping, waiting and hoping........finally just bowing down to the "storm force" day
Wednesay: downwinder from South Haven to St Joe with TG, Ivo, and Greg on 7m..........chicken soup off the tailgate in the parking lot.....downwinder from South Haven to 18th on 9m

It was quite the 4 day blow from that Ol' Noreaster with some outstanding conditions encountered on the BIG LAKE, highlighted with a lot of kiting side by side with my buddies in some epic shoreline skipping!!!!!!!!! As memorable as the riding, were the spectacular sunsets viewed from the water, simply mindblowing; the games of pool played at the Thirsty Perch, legendary; and the late night hysterics in the motel room that we stuffed with 4 kiters and a dog, funny stuff..... it's the camaraderie that makes it "rocking chair" material........

would have liked to have been "in" on that breakfast feast Sheriff, I have never had whitefish livers......

[Northerner]

Oh you would like those fried livers West. I get them from a smoke house up in Door county. They caught 13,000lbs of white fish last weekend. Bumper season

Glad you guys got Wednesday so good. That was best day of the 4 day blow. We had very nice chest to head nice SUP waves here that day.

A photographer emailed me some shots of Greg and I riding. He got these shots towards the end of session. All the shots are of us on the smaller inside waves.


Surfing_168 by abaumanster, on Flickr



Surfing_125 by abaumanster, on Flickr



Surfing_139 by abaumanster, on Flickr


Surfing_138 by abaumanster, on Flickr


Surfing_110 by abaumanster, on Flickr


Surfing_154 by abaumanster, on Flickr

[IVO]

Awesome pic Sheriff,4th and 5th are the topnotch!


West,sunset sure looked nice,rainbow on other side was great but watching you getting barreled on that wave was something to remember,twintip madness Just saying

[jensmadwind]

I joined in halfway through the South Haven to Saint Joe downwinder on Monday afternoon/ evening following a heart pumping solo session in Saint Joe. I tried to find the guys along the downwinder to take some pictures but all I found was TG leading the pack by miles.



I then went to the rondezvous point to set up and wait to jump in. Just as West and Greg were coming down the shoreline TG comes running down to me. He broke down and his lovely wife Angie had already picked him up and he then drove my car down to Saint Joe and snapped the rest of these pictures with my camera as we wrapped the pier.
















Truth be told the downwinder was exhilarating and humbling. The first half of the stretch I did was side shore and the waves grew progressively in size and ferocity to the point where riding strapless I had to pick my battles carefully. The third break was huge, easily double overhead and pounding. I tagged a couple, linked a turn or two down the line, but mostly avoided calamity. Greg and West on the other hand threw caution to the wind and showed what years of experience and dedication can allow a person to do. Fearless explotation of session ending wave after wave. Every time I took a moment to look back, these guys were slaughtering something that could easily of taken them out with any wrong move. As the wind went more onshore and navigating around the breaking sets harder and harder I sailed out to sea and headed for St Joe, behind me waves continued to be taunted by two twin tip riding maniacs. I tip my hat, shit I take my hat off and eat it. It was awe inspiring.

Thanks for the pics TG and the chili, and the taxi service.

[FSP]

aww dont b hard on ur self jens...everything is much easier with a twin tip and straps I found the scariest part of this mega storm on my sup in the left over off shore bombs at casino once the smoke cleared. honestly feel like i tried crossing lakeshore drive and got clipped a few times...turning at the top is a whole other consequence and one you can only respect hard way.

[JDL]

Incredible pictures from both sides of the lake. Inspiring.

His name is Maui G professional train surfer. True player for real.

[West]

Da Crowdpleaser was laying that shiz down that's for sure, thats when riding all those Maui waves over the years pays off.............yeah Jens, it got quite intense out there as we kept on down the coast to St Joe!!!!! Unbelievable how it just kept getting bigger and bigger, breaking on the outside sandbars until we hit the jetty to go around to Silver Beach.....when it is breaking a quarter of a mile outside of that long-ass jetty, then it is MACKING!!!! I couldn't believe that you were riding that stuff strapless, quite remarkable....

Holy smokes that rainbow that started forming through the mist on the last downwinder was insane Ivo.......that was the cat's meow!!!!!!! Sure missed you Breeze, but don't worry I caught several handful of waves for you buddy.....sure to catch the next one with you....

LOL Scotty......hard to drive a school bus through an obstacle course as well....good luck on that behemouth, hope you wear a helmet and body armor........

[V]

Nice pics!!!