(Login NCRob) ESA Member from IP address 70.51.141.142
How is this for pounding shore break? Me and Kenny were at Area 51 all afternoon ridding ankle to shin high surf AT BEST. So no one missed anything. There were no waves on the E side of the lake today. The bouy said 2ft but I think that was a fish story. Oh well, the boys at home were watching some crazy surf action today. I bet their bouy reading was over 2ft too.
I tried to call a few guys to get Kennys cell number yesterday morning when it was going off so nicely further up the lake between 9am and 2PM. Break out of the area 51-only mentality, dudes. Instead of getting skunked you could have driven 1/2 hour further west and been ripping all day...On a S or SSW the lake is so much wider just a few miles up the road past Port Colborne that it goes off way better on that wind direction than it does further East like at 51 where it is so narrow you can see the other side of the lake. Lots of flat rock or cobblestone bottom up that way too, which helps make the waves faster and more predictable-especially good if the waves aren't that big to begin with like they are on S wind. Man, I've even ridden shoulder high good stuff up there toward dunnville on strong SE...
Oh well, maybe big o today or tomorrow
I was at Port Burwell and Long Point, pretty much the widest spot with the most fetch on a SSW, and there was only knee high waves. I got there late but the buoy was still showing 3.3 ft which was 1.3 ft bigger than it was showing at any point in the day for Port Colborne. Dan, your spot must have sucked all of the wave energy from accross the lake to give you those chest high waves.
Bill,
It was about chest high west of port colborne at 9am, peaked in size about 10 or 11AM, then dropped off steadily after that to about knee high by 2pm when I went home. It was best around noon, when the wind switched but the swell was still pretty good, and it glassed off nicely. I'm guessing it would have been bigger and better at port maitland, but I was pretty happy where I was. I have some pics from yesterday and I might try to post them later if I have time, but anyway it was sweet on a big board. Only real prob on S swell in Erie is short duration between waves, like 3 or 4 sec max, which makes it really hard to catch and not too powerful when you do. Still, I had a great session in fun, warm waves. Too bad you got skunked, but at least friday is looking good for lake ontario,
The weird thing about the lakes is that there can short windows of surf in odd places.
September 15 2005, 11:58 PM
We had a very odd thing happen at Area 51 when the ESA had the first surf contest in Lake Erie. It was a phenomenal year that year for surf. I can remember being in Buffalo with Lester Priday and he broke out his lap top computer. The projections showed nothing surfable for the coming day. It made me feel down. So Lester said something like you got to believe we will have surf mate. Those words buoyed my spirit back upward. So the next day I went to the Palmwood and it was nearly flat there but at Area 51 it was absolutely beautiful all afternoon and the surfers who came and rode with us in that contest will never forget that moment.
I don't know everything about surfing but I do know that weird possibilites occur in the Great Lakes and when the brotherhood stoke gets going the waves seam to for some unexplainable way get better.
Hook up with Lester Priday if one is so lucky and see what positive thoughts are capable of producing.
Dan you put it down on the the line with On The Verge and for that risky and ballsy move I will never forget your spirit.
Bill you are another excellent fella and I would give you the t-shirt of my back.
Brothers lets be brothers of the Great Lakes waves. Hold on to the glory that seperates us from those who live quiet lives of desperation by participating vicariously in atheletism by cheering for some over paid millionaire in a goverment financed arena. The sheep will pave over every last inch of wilderness and beach if we let them. Unite and we are a force to be reckoned with.
My chant tonight is come together Great Lakes.
It isn't the size of the wave that really matters but the size of the smile when riding that wave, Of coarse I would be a liar if I didn't say I liked waves taller than me. As a matter of fact I embrace the coldness with glee when others run away from it.
If you stand on the hurricane deck of the U.S. side of Niagara Falls/cave of the winds.
September 16 2005, 12:14 AM
It still wouldn't compare to this photograph. Take a trip on the Niagara jet boat through the Whirl Pool and it still doesn't approach the forc of the water in this photograph:
I'm not trying to stir the pot. Dan seems to be consistently catching chest high waves when the buoy is reading 2 ft (as it was @ 9am on Wed.) and I just want to know where this spot is. When the buoy is 5 ft and Area 51 is firing Dan's place must be heaven on earth.
Hope to see you guys out this aft. and tomorrow morning.
Thanks magilla, that was cool. OTV was a great experience, I made tons of friends on both sides of the border, and it has helped me get other jobs since then. I wish somebody would take up the slack in Niagara thogh, since the sport is big enough to be easily sustainable for a small shop now.
Regarding wavehunting, I've been fortunate this summer especially to have tons of time to both surf and study the 'surfology' of lakes erie and ontario. Lake Erie in particular is a very finicky patch of water, full of rock shoals, mega sandbars, and a very craggy shore with many different bottom types. Over the past 15 years I have walked, swam, or snorkelled most of the niagara region shoreline. I've even boated and taken depth readings along much of the shoreline.
Often when it looks like it will be flat a swell appears seemingly out of nowhere as a result of a storm or mini storm maybe 200 miles away, or it looks like it will be good and most of the 'old faithful' spots are flat since the wind is at a bit of a weird angle. Magilla, your 'magic swell' story is undoubtably true-I've heard other magic swell stories from Chris Furminger, Tim Lee, and Tyson, and have some pics of Tyson carving on a beautiful shoulder high glass mound at birthdays that was never supposed to happen, way back in 1997. That pic actually made it into surfer mag way back then.
Over the years I've learned to watch the bouys (esp port stanley and cleveland and mid lake O and Sandbanks) mainly for wind direction and speed, not wave height which is merely open water swell average and not that relevant to us anyway. All those 'magic swells' looking back at buoy readings and wind direction, were not magic at all-they just suprised us because we weren't looking hard enough. What is wayyyyy over there will make its way here eventually, regardless of what is actually happening here. The better I get at this Erie and ONT wavehunting the easier it is not to get skunked, and I am merely trying to share my experience with other lakers so they can score more waves. If I make reference to wave size, it isn't something I pull out of a hat. I always ask another surfer or spectator on shore how big a wave I caught was. If the other surfers on this forum in So ONT or WNY choose to take my advice I'd love to see them in the water, and I hope I don't make too many mistakes or waste your gas. Hopefully they will find some awesome new spots as well. If they don't want to learn for themselves or prefer to go to 'old faithful' spots regardless of what could be out there that's their business. To me surfing is a solitary pursuit, a quest for the best. Lake Eries potential hasn't even been tapped, I can promise you that, and once we get a zodiac or something we'll be ripping on offshore stuff that is incredible. Long talks with 1960's OG Ron MacFarlane show we are on the same wavelength about wavehunting and the true potential of both lower lakes.
I can't wait to see what this fall holds in store for all of us, so Stoke up, lets rip!
In your enthusiam do you ever over exagerate the size of the waves that you ride? It's not that none of us have ever done this. I don't wear glasses when I surf but the waves are easier for me to read that way.
where this spot is west of Port Colborne becuase there have been times when I've been at Area 51 and it was small and sloppy, only to come home and read on the forum that Dan was catching chest high glassy peelers a half hour down the road.
I'm not here to pick a fight but i do have to back Dan up here......
I've been out with Dan on most of the days he speaks of. I worked as a civil engineering surveyor and now work in a lab and have a pretty good eye for measurements. I always feel guilty about it and tend to actually under-estimate the heights but its easy to pick off a body part to wave height. Dan's not B.S-ing either. There is more to making a wave then wind speed and direction, thats only part of the equation! Looking at a map you can figure out theres alot more coastline then just 51 to surf at.
One day in particular i can remember was the last surf contest, i heard it was choppy and sloppy, and not far up the road we had solid chest high and higher. Besides if you don't beleive Dan, i'm sure he doesn't care...he's surfing.
I didn't know that there was more to waves than wind speed and direction so thanks for filling me in on that. Just want to know where this spot is so we can check it out some time. We all know there's plenty of places to surf and myself and the guys I surf with have discovered many and I can understand if Dan doesn't want to share his discovery, maybe that's why he's being quiet about it.
The only reason I am being quiet about 'w of port colborne' is that Steve Manners, Fern Coutu, and myself have worked long and hard to get (and maintain) permission to use this particular chunk of private property. I bet there are tons of spots along this dunnville to Fort Erie shoreline that are just as good, but might require hiking thru every backyard and begging for permission from the property owner. Bill, I'm just trying to be cool to the people who own this property. Come around, gain my trust and friendship, meet the owner, and you're good to go. Nobody owns the lake, but unfortunately they do own the beach. Facism at its finest amoung the landowners of Erie...anyway, when it gets above shoulder high at this spot it gets crossed up with very stong current, and quickly starts to suck. Thats when we do the one kilometer (plus!-by Ferns measurement) paddle out to a spot which lies in about 15 feet of water and only fires when its huge. There is a shallow reef out that far too but we're afraid to try it since its only 2 feet deep over very jagged rocks. There are other spots as well that we hit regularly further up the coast when it gets blown out at 'old faithful'.
About the lake erie bottom and shoreline, by the time swell hits places further East like 51 its been broken down so many times...Tim, Turtle, Ron MacFarlane and I flew along the shore in a plane and videotaped it years ago. You'd be amazed when you look from the air through the clear water at the number of rock reefs and sandbars and barely submerged points that any swell gets thru at all. Those offshore spots are the future of surfing in Erie, now we just need a boat.
Magilla, I really do my groundwork when it comes to saying the size of a wave by asking others who witness it for their opinions. It is very hard to tell when riding sometimes without asking someone from a better vantage point.
Bottom line; I don't want to overreact but I do love to surf,explore, and share my stoke. I just don't like feeling like I'm being put on the spot or having my integrity questioned when I'm only trying to be helpful to others, and have done a lot of groundwork to be able to score so many sessions. It would be much easier and more convenient for me to just keep it to myself. Hopefully we can all share waves and stoke, but if not I'll be surfing by myself or with a few like-minded friends of mine that love the search as much as the love the surf. Surf Earth. Surf everywhere. Surf often.
Aloha,
