Fall Storm Season Begins for Surf Kayaking Lake Michigan

I really love that first autumnal drop in temperature, when the clouds roll in, and the sky turns what Patrick O’Brian called gunmetal gray. The wind begins to gust and howl like a frightened dog at a stranger. Trees are bending over and people keep saying, “ooh it’s chilly” Then you know that summer has gone. The favored season has retreated into it’s sulky corner until next year. If it really needs to be said, I love fall.
Summer is grand. Who doesn’t love warm temperatures and bright sunshine. But this beautiful and brief season comes with a price. Namely FIPS. F#cking Indiana/Illinois People on the beach. Or what the Northern Michiganders call cone-lickers. Otherwise known as people who cross the street without looking either way while licking an ice-cream cone. They litter the beaches, they clog the streets, they own the houses on the beach none of the locals can afford. And for this the proletarian in me belches and wants to toss Molotov cocktails into million dollar homes-BUT I restrain myself, because I know it will pass. And that soon enough my season will come-Autumn.

My first taste of Autumn was nothing short of spectacular. The wind began to build for three days before sizeable waves began forming in South Haven. I watched the Holland Web Cam for quite a while. And then finally I cashed in my chips with Laura to make a run for it to South Haven. I loaded the Mega Maverick on the car and made sure I had all my cold weather gear in my paddle bag.

When I arrived I found my neighbor and cycling fiend Jeff Hamilton standing in a full wetsuit, freezing his ass off waiting for his ride. I gave him the keys to the Volvo and let him warm up inside. He had been out kiteboarding since 4:00 pm. From the beach I could see a sizeable swell on the outside that was breaking as it rounded the pier. The wind was out of the Northwest at 20 knots. The outside looked good at 6-7 feet, the inside looked good too, at around 4-5 feet. I paddled out and that pit of dread locked into my belly making my body hate my brain for making me surf. But my brain knows that when the Mega Maverick begins to plane out on a steep glassy swell that enough endorphins, hormones, and blood are released to fuel a Hummer. So I tell my stomach to shut the f$ck up-I know what I’m doing.

As I paddle out, I see that that cold ash clouded sky is being back-lit by brilliant rotting pumpkin-orange, the kind of orange that made JMW Turner spend his entire painting career looking at the sea. The sun is setting and the waves look good, the air is colder than the water. It’s just me and the boardies out on the outside break. I hold onto that pit of dread, until the first seven footer comes along, and for once I am in the right place at the right time. I dig my surf paddle in like mad to get some hull-speed for take-off, the tail lifts, and I am flying down wave. The waves are for once moving slow enough to carve, I drop to the trough and carve right, and then look back towards the pier, the wave hasn’t closed out, so I carve left, paddling a bit for more hull speed and I climb back up the face a bit and then carve right again to drop into the trough, the wave finally closes out, and I scoot and hop my way along the white water until there is enough green water to carve back off the broken foamy pile and look for another ride.

As the sun retreated over the orange-streaked Lake Michigan sky line, the yellow-twinkling lights on the pier came on. The lighthouse light swiveled and pulsed at that final, if not perfect moment of twilight. Just enough detail disappeared in the growing darkness from the surface of the water so that the only detail I could make out was the spray being blown from the tops of the waves towards shore in a fine mist.

There are few moments in modern life where one’s attention is so uniformly focused. Distractions abound while doing everything. E-mail at work is everyone’s bane, Instant Messenger, Cell-Phones interrupt everything from meaningful conversations about life to sex. It is at once astonishing and blissful to be so involved in a catching a wave and nothing else. I think perhaps the only thing that comes close is when a car ahead of you suddenly stops and you impulsively slam on the brakes.

I’m glad my season is finally here.

Sleeping Bear Surf Fest Sept 19-21

We are headed up to the surf fest. Boats loaded, Joe Deja even dropped off a new Mega Bullit “S” for demo. Hopefully the wave gods will smile on us this weekend. I could use some steady swell with a nice clean spilling break off a pier.

Will post some videos and pictures when I am back.

How to Select a Sea Kayak Tow Belt

Towing a sea kayak is risky business. Ropes and boats connected to people is indelibly linked, (pun intended) to trouble. Once you have a rope connected to a boat shenanigans can not be far behind, literally. Having done more towing in the last two years than I did in my first five years of paddling combined is probably a tell-tale sign that looking into a good tow belt is a good idea.

There are three basic systems for towing available to sea kayakers.

• Deck mounted rig: these take some epoxy work on a glass boat to get it set up but works really well the strain goes to the boat, and not the paddler. Downside is, you can’t trade off. and if you sell your boat time to epoxy up a new tow rig. My friend Jim Svensson has one on his NDK Explorer. It’s a sweet rig that he used often on our Apostle Islands trip. Also when you have to unlink, you have to depend on a good float to find your line again. The rope is behind you and restowing it is a pain at sea.


• PFD Mounted Rig: these are great because it’s one less piece of gear to have strapped on. Problem is the strain on the body is too high for long tows.


• Belt Mounted Tow: these systems seem to be the most flexible with the strain on the paddler coming at the right part of the body. They do have disadvantages to the deck mount. But a good belt tow can be traded off and will work really well in a variety of conditions.

One note that I always like to offer is to mention that Inuit Kayakers had a couple of things right. They put the weight on the boat, not on the paddler. So all the lines, the harpoons, the norsaq all went on the kayak. This presents its own problems, entanglement, windage etc. I am personally not a fan of deck mounted tows, despite this claim. Mainly because once you have it installed you’re guaranteed to need a belt to swap with another paddler, or you’re going to get a new boat. May as well buy a good belt system.

Here are a few things to consider when selecting a tow rope belt.

First and foremost is the storage of the rope when not in use. Believe it or not you aren’t towing most of the time. Thank God. So the storage of the rope has to be compact and flat so as not to interfere with your paddle stroke, your roll, and your general mobility. Bulk is friction and therefore resistance to all of your strokes. This said if you can make what you put on your body small and compact do it. This was my main complaint with the Salamander rig I bought almost seven years ago. Very bulky, very big, and interfered with everything, it was literally always in the way.

Second the carabiner should not have hooks, teeth, or other obstructions that otherwise interfere with cleanly clipping in to the deck lines of a sea kayak, or in the case of surf boats-the end toggles of a boat. The carabiner should be at least stainless steel, if not aluminum. We are in the Great Lakes obviously and so we don’t have to worry about corrosion of the components quite as much. The aluminum will be lighter and won’t sink the line as much. A big biner will be easier to operate in cold conditions with gloves, mittens, or cold hands. Brian Nystrom has a great web album of some modifications he performed on his Northwater rig, the picture below is of the carabiner he replaced.

Third length of tow, a good length is probably somewhere between 30-40 feet. There is certainly some debate amongst coaches on 40 being too long, and 30 being too short, but all would agree that 50 is way too long. Longer lines than 40 presents problems for distance between the victim and the sled dog. Shorter presents problems in surf when towing a sea kayak. Sometimes you want a wave between you and the boat, but not quite two waves. If a sea kayak you’re towing is surfing towards you on a short rope less than 30 it’s not a good day.

Fourth if you can find a rig with a floating line get it. But not at the expense of the other items I mentioned. It saves time to not have to haul line up from the deep.

Fifth, make sure there is a good quick release. Being able to let go in a hurry is sometimes very critical. You may have to customize it to make sure you can find it quick. Some industrious souls have rigged wiffle balls and other devices to make them easy to find. Just make sure they don’t get in the way of paddling and cause you to release the belt accidentally.

After watching some other folks use their tow systems, and bemusedly scratching my head at my reluctance to replace my old Salamander rig, I decided to get a Sea Tec from Northwater. Its gotten rave reviews from a number of BCU Coaches, and a number of folks I paddle with use them. The bag seems big enough to re-stow quickly, (biggest pet-peeve of salamander) and when re-stowed on land it repacks small enough to be out of the way for paddling.

If I’ve forgotten or overlooked something please feel free to add a comment to the post.

Here’s to hoping I won’t have to use it-yeah right!

Sea Kayak Day Trip with Doug Van Doren-Lake Michigan

Waves were predicted to be 3-7 feet out of the Northwest. Wind was gusting to 30 knots. Doug Van Doren and I suited up at Dog Beach near South Haven. We paddled out through the breakers with some effort. Doug almost immediately started to lose his spare paddle on the back deck of his Betsie Bay Valkyrie. He got it secured and we started paddling into the wind.

We were paddling into steady gusts, but were somewhat sheltered from the wind in the troughs of sizeable swells. We tried to stay somewhat close together, but we were forced to shout even when only a few feet apart due to the wind. I was trying to get a few pictures snapped off and by the time I got my first picture off Doug and his kayak would disappear behind a swell. We chatted back and forth for a while, but as we got closer to the pier, we started talking about when to turn around.

The sky was bright blue. The water was a wonderful Homeric Mediterranean green. The scale of the waves and the winds was such that I had been focused on what I was doing, but I noted how calm I was. I think the three or four years of Surf Kayaking has mellowed my freak out about the wind and the waves. Some would say I am an adrenaline junkie and that if Force 7 winds don’t get your blood pumping you’re messed up, but I was enjoying myself and did not feel terrorized as much as very alert and engaged.

Certainly the Great Lakes and their storms are nothing to be trifled with. And if anything, anything, had gone wrong paddling almost a mile from shore in those conditions it could have been very tragic. But in the end that is life isn’t it?

After an hour of paddling into 20-30 knot winds we turned around. We immediately began flying with the wind. I was catching rides so easily that all I had to do was keep my boat pointed towards shore and take a few strokes and my Nigel Foster Silhouette would start to plane out. Doug and I started doing neck and neck pacing with each ride. After I stopped to take a picture Doug raced for nearly 100 yards on one ride. I didn’t catch up with him until we were looking at the impact zone on the beach. I picked a line and tried to do a diagonal run and successfully carved my way into the beach. Doug followed after and a steep breaker picked up his stern and and his bow plunged down deep into the water. The wave broke and Doug, Valkyrie and all cartwheeled end over end. He wisely pinned himself to his back deck and flattened his paddle to his side. I was unable to get my camera out in time to get a picture.

Doug surfed in to the beach. I continued to catch a couple of rides. I got one beautiful diagonal ride, and then got worked heavy on another where I caught a good ride, but then got window shaded pretty hard. I rolled up about three times before finally getting the kayak turned seaward. I tried breaking back out for about twenty minutes. I eventually decided to call it a day and surfed back to the beach.

There Doug and I were asked to the do the unthinkable, we were asked to help jet skiers. We helped two young guys carry a three hundred pound jet ski up the hill to a trailer. I think we may awaken at the next sea kayak symposium to find ourselves chained to a fence with our heads shaved.

Keith Wikle Surf Kayaking Video Lake Michigan

I think it’s quite clear I need a helmet cam. I am going to try and rig something today.
This video was taken by wedging a pentax optio camera directly into my lifejacket and simply switching it on.

Keith Wikle Surf Kayaking Lake Michigan, South Haven from keith wikle on Vimeo.

Lake Michigan Surf Kayaking South Haven August 8th

As in many cases where kayak surfing is concerned. It is not a planned activity. It is a weather driven spontaneous event. When the leaves begin to rustle outside my window, and blades of grass begin to brush down from the breeze, I start scheming. Maybe some men have similar compulsions for Golf, I don’t know. I raced home on my bike from work, and ran inside to look at the lake cam. Steady lines of breakers had formed on both sides of the pier.

So I hurriedly explained to Laura (the wife). That I had to make a mad dash to the Lake. Some men might be smart and be deterred by a pouty look, or an icy silence. But when you have a sickness for kayak surfing like I do, these small facial expressions, or determined grave silences don’t even hit the radar. I loaded up both kayaks, the Nigel Foster Silhouette and the Mega Maverick and high-tailed it to the beach.

The fifty minute drive to South Haven South beach was rewarded with waves. The wind was pushing 3-5 footers straight out of the north. The waves that formed were gentle, slow moving, spillers about head high to maybe a little over head. I suited up quickly and walked through the parking lot. I accidentally nicked some guys rear view mirror with my surf kayak. He shouted from the window of his car, “hey expletive watch it”. I barely paused to apologize. I got down to the water and paddled out on relatively calm water.

Within 15 minutes I’d caught three beautiful carving rides. I spilled down from the lip, pulled a bottom turn, and was delighted to find, the wave had not closed out, so I headed back up wave and pulled a top turn to head back down wave before the wave closed out. For once it seemed as if I had all of the time in the world for diagonal runs, bottom turns, top turns. I caught several more rides like this riding them all the way in to the beach. I looked at my watch after a I’d caught ten or so rides. I’d barely been on the water forty minutes.

Unfortunately on one ride, I got caught way on the inside and spent 15 minutes of futile energy trying to break back out. For a while I was trying to break out diagonally to avoid the wind. I thought I was paddling in a rip, only to find that really I was paddling directly into a rip! Once I gave up on the diagonal paddle out I zipped back out.

The wind started backing a bit and then the rides slowed in the second hour as sunset came on. The water was warm, and the sun shot spokes of light from behind clouds as the sun set. My body has been brutally abused this summer, and I’ve only gotten out to paddle about ten times since May. The impromptu surf session made all of that seem distant and irrelevant for a short while. My ribs ached a bit but as of this article’s publishing, I am feeling pretty ok for once!!!

Also I used my Lendal XTI last night and it was good to have the old axe in hand for a stellar session.

In sidenotes to this article two freaky events occurred on the South Haven South Beach that evening.

The first-A jet skier stalled out. He was struggling to get his craft going. A fishing boat came along and tried to tow him out. His jet ski had the entire hull cracked and ripped out by the tow. A sad sight indeed.

The second-I set my life jacket on the pavement next to me in the parking lot as I was trying to get the Mega on the roof of the Volvo. What looked like a 14 year old kid promptly drove over it as she was pulling out of the parking lot. Hey no big deal it is just a life jacket. But my Pentax was in the pocket of the life jacket. I shouted at her to stop as she was pulling off dragging my life jacket with her. She finally stopped and I managed to retrieve my life vest. I didn’t even give her a dirty look, she looked petrified enough. I checked the camera and it was fine.

I have a bad surf video to share later. I am trying to rig a helmet cam, I have a plan!!!

Surf Kayaking Event September 19-21

Michael Gray of Uncommon Adventures will be hosting the Flotnar Sea Farers Assembly now known as Sleeping Bear Surffest. Kayak Surfers, Kite Surfers and Board Surfers Come on Up!!!!

The weekend will be hosted at Moonshadow Herb Farm. Space is limited to 30 participants. I will be signing up and bringing surf kayaks for those that would like to try their hand at a dedicated surf craft on the Great Lakes. Let us pray for the wind to make it necessary.

Meals are potlucks with main courses provided by Uncommon Adventures. The accommodations are tent camping! Moonshadow Herb farm is a private camp with hot showers, sauna, wooded tent area, covered outdoor kitchen, covered dining and fire pit. It’s located about 1 mile from Lake Michigan here in the heart of Sleeping Bear Country.If you need to rent camping gear call Michael! (866-882-5525).

Register for the Uncommon Adventures Sleeping Bear Surf Fest Online Now

Note Very Important
Michael will be sending specific directions and other info about meals after registration.

Lendal Kayak Paddle-Warranty Update

Sometimes the squeaky wheel does get the kayak paddle. After posting my switch to Werner , a representative from Lendal reached out and offered to correct the situation. A few days later a paddle arrived that is EXACTLY like my old paddle, only better because it’s not broken.

I’m not sure which avenging angel from Lendal swooped down and made it all better. But thank you!!!!
In the age of overseas customer service, being kept on hold to be told there is nothing that can be done to help you, this is a breath of fresh air.

I trust Johnson Outdoors will get their manufacturing problems all sorted out and that many years of success will follow the transition.

Lake Michigan Surf Kayaking July 13th, 2008

Waves were reported at 3-5 feet on the buoy. A sudden summer squall was ripping across Lake Michigan that would die off towards evening. Steady breakers were showing on the web cams. So the family packed it into the van and headed down to Dog Beach in South Haven. We brought Indiana, and the kids at around noon and stayed until five.

After not having really surfed since February, I was literally chomping at the bit to get out there. Now that I am healed from surgery, it was fun to get out and try to catch some waves.

The waves were as reported, the five footers quickly spilled their energy though as the wind was out of the due west. I found myself quickly racing down short faces and trying to stay ahead of the foam. I had a few bad takeoffs that ended in me getting trashed. I am using a new Werner Sidekick straight shaft paddle. Straight shafts are something new for me.

I like crank shafts because they have indexing when you are disoriented. This is perhaps a handicap, or high expectation from having used a traditional paddle for so long. The traditional paddle has far simpler indexing. If you are disoriented, allowing the paddle to float to the surface will automatically orient the paddle to the surface. With a straight shaft modern blade you must use an active blade to sense the correct indexing of the blade while underwater. I think if you are used to a crankshaft this is a bit tedious. But I am getting used to it. I don’t think I would ever, ever, ever use a straight shaft with gloves on. I would certainly not use one in winter.

I launched and paddled out to pure azure skies, 25 knot winds gusted across the tops of the somewhat squat waves being pushed from due west. I surfed on the north side of the man made break wall near Deer Lick creek. I was able to catch several good, but very short rides. My take offs were off on a few due to bad foam foot outfitting. When a surf kayak is not flat on takeoff you often end up upside down on your bottom turn. I need to add a bit more foam to the feet, and therefore push myself into the back band.

It was bliss to be able to ride waves again. I am getting comfortable in the smaller waves to the point where I can actually turn off my brain and just be looking for greenwater when I am riding, rather than hold on for dear life. Of course fall storm season is something different…

Dotty Kasunic and a friend from Kalamazoo showed up around the time I was forgoing kayak surfing for body surfing with my wife Laura and the Kids. They were playing in the waves with sea kayaks with mixed results. I rescued Dotty once and sent her out with a boat full of water. She ended up going in to dump it out. She somehow didn’t look to happy with the rescue!

I ended up with a bit of sunburn on my nose and under the eyes from sunscreen washing off over the five hours I was on the water.

Sea Kayak Trip Lake Michigan, Saugatuck

After several months of feeling sub-standard, experiencing new low ebbs of my fitness and strength, and consequently feeling very low in spirits; the wind began to blow. Unfortunately it did not howl, but spirited breezes across Lake Michigan were quite enough for me to be getting on with. After being a complete ass and forgetting about dropping off my Isabella at camp (I suck), I negotiated a penitent truce at home. Paddle time with Lori and Doug and getting Isabella off to Van Buren Youth Camp became a settled armistice between all parties.

We paddled out of the harbor and into the wind. This particular day was overcast and the wind was veering from the southwest to due west, to northwest. We made the call to head directly out. We paddled at a steady four knot clip due west for almost two and a half hours. I felt some of my old strength and fitness returning. Nothing ached for once. Lori unfortunately was taking my bad mojo. She was hurting but keeping up.

As we neared the time for turn around the wind had begun to veer completely to the northwest. The waves had been tidied up and began to form tidy swells. The blue green freshwater sea began to hiss as the cat’s paws of white caps skittered across the surface. Mist closed in around the land. My paddle blades caught the wind as we tacked towards land. I dug in for all I was worth feeling the muscles in my back and my abdomen pulse, twitch, and burn.The Foster Silhouette began to plane and surf on the small wind driven waves. I was leaning well forward trying to free the stern and allow it to catch the swells. I began to fly with my old grace again. As my kayak spilled down wave, I was edging hard and allowing the hard chines to catch and then pivot the kayak down wave again.

Doug and I have a tendency to try and ram one another while surfing, I actually parked my Silhouette over the top of his Valkyrie deck on a crossing between North and South Manitou while surfing wind waves between the islands. I tried to keep the distance healthy, but as we surfed, I had to drop a few emergency hanging draws to pull us apart.

I enjoyed feeling the powerful fluid bite of the Werner Ikelos. I found myself using a fairly high cadence for my forward stroke. I would spin hard and then sweep and edge to stay on course and then dig in with a rudder to keep the lighthouses marking the harbor on my bow. Doug and I would trade leading the surge towards land like two motorcycle riders on a starting line, goosing the throttle, he would spin dig his blades deep, spin hard, and then catch a ride. Doug’s Valkyrie would scoot ahead fifty or one hundred yards until he would have to start paddling hard again. Then I would dig and spin until I caught a ride, perhaps even getting on the back of another waves, and then smelling another ride, dig hard to climb over the top and spill down wave again.

As this sprinting continued I forgot about the hernia repair, work, and all problems, and only about the next ride. In some small way this is what being in a sea kayak on open water is about, the distance between land and sea is a thin tether that needs to be broken every once in a while. If I stay too long on land the tether seems to grow in thickness and weight until it becomes hard to bear. Nothing in life that I have done thus far has felt as beautiful or as free as flying before a tail wind 5 miles from land.

We all know surf kayaking is obviously very freeing. It is however a different feeling. Heading out to surf storms has a certain amount of sheer dread with brief moments of pure bliss. The pit of dread in your belly as you break out on a 25 knot wind day from a beach with 10 foot surf is a bit much at times. But that dread is rewarded with a carving green water bliss that you couldn’t top with a shot of heroin in the eyeball. Burt Monro said it best about his motorcycle, “I live more in five minutes on that bike than most people do in their whole lives”. This is especially true of surf kayaking. Sea kayaking wind driven waves is not as thrilling, but it has beauty and grace. It also has a different pace, it is slow enough to be able to enjoy it while you’re doing it. While surf kayaking I am so completely in the moment, I have to think back while in the car on the way home about the rides I caught, rather than while I am paddling out to get the next one. Suffice it to say, I am still in love with both mistresses.