Look out. Here comes the cold Midwest weather. We can look forward to snow, freezing temperatures, icy roads and surfing on the Great Lakes?
Jesse Kinos-Goodin of the National Post reported recently that October and November may be the best time to surf Lake Michigan. More wind generates bigger and better waves in these months. Kinos-Goodin’s surfing trip was sponsored by Travel Michigan.
But take a look at the accompanying graphic that in six steps will lead you to surfing success.
Notice something unusual?
Please welcome the penguin to the Great Lakes! Photo: Adrian Pingstone
Oh my, walruses and penguins! Come on, you have to admit that it has been a longgg time since those species have been spotted in third coast waters. Really old walrus fossils have been found in Michigan, though humans may have carried the bones there, as for penguins, not so much. But I’m glad to see they’re now here in full force hugging the board of a surfer ready to sabotage him as he’s about to stand up — or swimming just beneath ready to scare the bejesus out of him as he looks for a good wave.
Now that’s hardcore.
The walrus is now found in the Great Lakes AND the Gulf of Mexico... Photo: Ansgar Walk
The walrus has been the star of a recent, but fictional, revival where it’s popping up at all sorts of places that it doesn’t exist. The big sea mammal also made an appearance in the June 2009 “BP Regional Oil Spill Response Plan – Gulf of Mexico,” that described it as a “sensitive biological resource,” even though it doesn’t actually live there — at all. Interesting…
Now, I don’t mean to totally diss graphics. Not being artistically inclined myself I couldn’t do any better. I just suggest that species found in the lake should be involved somehow. How about a lake trout or walleye lurking below a Lake Michigan surfer? Better yet, what about one of those vampire-like sea lampreys that’s poised to suck the board from right under him?
But I do admire the folks that hit the frigid Lake Michigan surf fully clad in wetsuits to hang five and wipe out, while I’m inside gripping a mug of hot chocolate debating whether to leave the house.