Here is a picture of me with my new Infinity big wave board:

I bought this board from somebody who moved to Chicago from California. I happened to be perusing the "Trading Times" or some such paper, and found the listing. I had been considering building my own board. I bought this supersuit dry suit from him too. I had been researching the bottom charts and weather patterns of Lake Michigan, to find the best spots to surf. I made a prediction based on these things, and drove out to the Lake. It was great--my system worked! On the day I bought my board from the guy, we had to hurry up because the wind was kicking up HARD and we had to get them inside--they are like airplane wings. There was this huge dust storm as I went home, and the sky got real dark. It rained briefly, and stopped. The next day, I found out (in the Chicago Tribune--1986-87?) that there were "nine foot rolling breakers" on the Lake! I was STOKED!

Facing the waves at a surf contest in Grand Haven Michigan:

I was suprised to find others surfing on Lake michigan, although at the spot I researched at Illinois Beach State Park near Zion IL., I never saw anyone else surfing there. Usually there was no one there at all because it was stormy when the waves were big. Also the waves were biggest in spring and fall when its cold. It turns out that shortly after I got started in this, the Eastern Surfing Association started a division for the Great Lakes. Most of the action was on the Michigan side because that's where the prevailing winds go. I had to drive around the lake to go to this contest. The longest ride I ever had on the lake was at this contest!

My surf mobile Ghia!:

This was my Karmann Ghia for about 6 years--I finally sold it a couple of years after I started Grad school at Emory University. I had done extensive mods to the suspension, put on wider tires and wheels, and built an awesome engine from scratch for it. This was definitely my favorite car because the handling was the best of any car I have ever driven. I drove it from about 1986-1993.

Here are a few pictures of me actually surfing on Lake Michigan:

These were taken in Grand Haven, MI. I taught myself to surf by reading books and practicing techniques in my apartment at Illinois State University. Learning to surf on Lake Michigan is quite difficult--one of the hardest things I ever did. The waves are not nicely spaced out like in the ocean, which makes it very hard to paddle out through them, and to predict which ones are rideable after you get out there. I also had sort of a fear of water/drowning from when I was a kid (not anymore). I have been surfing on various surf trips all over the world since then. I have been to Hawaii 3 times, Florida 3 times, California 1 time, Puerto Rico 1 time, and Virginia 1 time. I have found that I have really good wave judgement automatically since I did most of my surfing on Lake Michigan. It is EASY to surf in the ocean--I wrote a letter to Surfer Magazine about this and got some negative comments from ocean surfers who I had referred to as "coastal salt wimps".

A picture of me at Illinois Beach State Park on a surfable day:

Note the storm clouds, and lack of beachgoers. It was sort of cold too, but worth it. Surfing has such an element of challenge--both intellectually and physically--on Lake Michigan, that to catch a good wave and drop in fast with the water spraying you off the front of the board is one of the most rewarding experiences I have had. Try it.

WAIMEA BAY HAWAII--home of some of the biggest waves in the world! I didn't actually surf these waves, but I had to get a picture here. On another trip, I did surf the North Shore and met all the top surf stars in the world at the time--who were there for the triple crown surf contest at the time.