Who Needs An Ocean To Surf?

2 comments

August 20, 10:54 PM

by Pat Pemberton, Surf Examiner

 

 

From Surfing The Great Lakes to Motorized Boards, Landlocked Sliders Get The Stoke

Having spent a large chunk of my life in the Midwest, I have sympathy for those who live in landlocked states. At the same time, I won't hesitate to call my friends and family back home to gloat about my most recent surf session.

Living in coastal California -- where a $300,000 house is considered a fixer upper -- I figure I'm paying for the right to rub it in. But truth is, you don't need a silly ocean to surf. That's, like, sooooo 20th Century.

Since I want this site to appeal to folks in San Onofre and Peoria, I'm going to offer land lovers my Top Eight (because I couldn't think of two more) Ways To Get The Stoke Without An Ocean. So let's start with:

8.  Get a surfboard with a motor on it. Okay, yeah -- you clearly don't want this board to hit you in the head. But the SurfJet (pictured above) sure makes paddling out easier.

7.  Surf behind a boat. Apparently, if the boat is fast enough, you can catch waves from it -- like this German dude.  Of course, you'll need a little speed, so don't try this with your dad's bass fishing boat.

6.  Go to Chicago. Well, the downside is that there will be icicles in the winter. But there are surf-able waves on the Great Lakes. And guess what? No sharks. Some of you may have seen the Great Lakes footage from "Step Into Liquid." But here's a fun feature about surfing in the Windy City.

 5. Surf behind a REALLY big boat. Again, it was "Step Into Liquid" that introduced many of us to tanker surfing, by which you can catch rides up to 15-minute rides behind tankers in Texas.

4.  Take advantage of global warming. Okay, granted -- glacier surfing is not for everyone. First of all, as you might imagine, there will be lulls as you wait for the glacier to melt. But once the ice crashes into the water, creating large waves, you'd better be ready for a wild ride.

3.  Get a stick of dynamite. Okay, well this clip is kind of bogus. But I wouldn't doubt if someone has tried creating waves with explosives.

2.  Find a river break. This river in Canada looks pretty chilly. It is Canada, after all. But some rivers create freakish breaks that can be surfed.

1.  Visit the nearest wave machine.  If you live in Ogden, Utah, you don't need a beach -- just find the nearest wave generator . I was a little miffed to see that they also have one of these in San Diego.

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