Winter Surfing on Lake Michigan

By Keenan May
Sun contributor

I always try to make a few good explorative surf trips when I’m home for the holidays. During the winter, you can usually rely on there being waves in Lake Michigan thanks to the water being (relatively) warm and there being larger gradients in temperature and pressure.

On Jan. 3, anyone who lived in an area with southern exposure found that out first hand. I was staying on Glen Lake the night the low pressure system rolled into town. It was only the second or third time I’ve felt storm force winds (over 54 miles per hour). Typically, we don’t see larger than gale force—around 39–54 mph. The open water forecast for northern Lake Michigan had standout waves reaching 32 feet. Now, a 32-foot wave will never hit shore—there are no deep water areas closer enough to shore—but it will create very interesting conditions for key spots that match the windswell direction—one of those being right in Glen Arbor.

Most of the surfer community would scoff at the idea of exposing a special surf spot but I’d invite anyone to come out, as this place only works under the biggest lake conditions from a specific direction. And, when it does, it’s as brutal of a paddle as any ocean beach break.

On Jan. 4 Andrew Pritcher, Saeth Gronberg and I ventured out to the dunes. Thankfully, the single-digit temperature had warmed up above 30 degrees with the storm. We hiked out through the snow—maybe a mile—to where the waves were ripping around the point. It’s a surreal place, the point, where you can be in a total isolation—free of wind and waves and walking a little farther can bring you to the most extreme of conditions. It’s an unfortunate part about surfing the lakes, big waves typically come with a lot of wind.

With storm-force windswell, the first 100 yards of the water from shore turns into a river of rip current moving fast enough to pull you down and out into the bay in a matter of minutes. It’s actually nearly impossible to stand in without getting knocked over. In combination with an incredibly short wave period, the paddle out can feel impossible. It can be quite debilitating to continually get beaten down by seemingly moderate sized waves and getting washed into shore where you must hike back down the beach to try again. But alas, a break in the battering from waves and you reach the outside—maybe 200-300 yards offshore. The current is still pulling down the beach but it’s something you can paddle against. And often, you just don’t stop paddling so you stay in place.

The waves drive in through the sandbars breaking hard and fast. Though I’m accustomed to the shore pounding of Ocean Beach, San Francisco, I often find myself getting pummeled by a few attempts at getting into freshwater waves. No waves are ever the same and lake waves are strange and fickle. Getting into a few good ones throughout the day made it worth the hike and paddle. It’s a pretty amazing feeling to be out floating far offshore—staring back at the dune landscape. Getting some fun waves is icing on the cake.

Clearly, the biggest draw to surfing the lake(s) in the winter is the visceral images that circulate and depict some sort of unreal experience. An image of us walking the beach from Jan. 4 and posted to the Glen Arbor Facebook page went viral and reached 200,000 — mostly astonished — viewers. Yes, it’s very cold, but when you are exercising and wearing appropriate gear, your body could be sweating.

Surfing is a silent sport and rarely spectated. It’s a privilege to have folks like (Paul May (my dad) and Beth Price out following us to capture some of these experiences to share with others.

Note: Use caution when entering rough waters and stay out if you’re unable to swim out of a rip current. Twenty-three people drowned in Lake Michigan last year including several in Sleeping Bear Bay.

Glen Arbor native Keenan May currently lives (and surfs) in San Francisco, California.