There is a guy on the wyldewoodsurfclub.com forum who is from the US side of ONT, ERIE that has lots of experience wavehunting on that side. I'm anxious to join him to explore the Lake ON coast between Lewiston and Rochester-should be lots of spots that work nicely on NW or N. Don Harrison also told me about some spots along the US lake ON shoreline, so maybe he has some more input to share with us. Maybe I just need to get off my lazy butt and go for a drive-I've scoped out so much stuff on the CDN side that the US side is my 'new frontier' for wavehunting. I'd be glad to have some co-explorers and guides along,and return the favor for them on this side
Dan
Irondequoit Bay outlet has 2 excellent locations. Take I-90 to exit 45, head 490 East to 590 North and take that all the way to Seabreeze, then turn east to the outlet. Eastern outlet jetty works on ANY westerlie 16 mph and above, with waves bending around western jetty and building to surfable conditions. NW is excellent. Beach is sand on both sides. West of western jetty is a favorite on northeasterlies. North wind pounds the coast with big waves. Beach east of eastern jetty seems to generate surf when rest of Rochester coast is quiet. Behaves much like Holloway Bay.
Southwick State Park on eastern shore of Lake Ontario, one hour north of Syracuse, generates waves similar to Area 51 on southwesterlies, southerlies, westerlies. Durand Beach in Rochester works well on northerlies, but best beach is east of Seabreeze. Be respectful of owners property.
I wonder if the guys around the U.S. side of Lake Erie are still riding.
December 15 2005, 10:09 PM
Go west of Woodlawn to Hamburg Town Park for fair surfing.
Some of the guys living south of Buffalo go to Evengola State Park but I have never seen that place looking real good. It might have been good there one time when I wasn't there. Sturgeon Point Marina has decent waves and I have ridden there. Always wanted to surf the bay at Silver Creek. There is a very protected bay there and it might also have point break surf. Look at a map and you will see that it is one of those few sheltered areas between Woodlawn and Dunkirk. Also the U.S. side of Lake Erie has lots of shale cliffs and rocks in the water. That is because when Lake Erie had a glacier on it the Canadian side was ground down more by the ice. There is more sand in Canada. The topography is deeper underwater on the Canadian side of eastern Lake Erie. Close to Buffalo there is rock shelf that runs very far into Lake Erie.
Do you have a copy of the book, "Surfing The Great Lakes?"
Thanks for the tips-can't wait to get across to explore that NY lake O shoreline now,
Question-do landowners on U.S side have waterlots like they do on Canadian side? I don't want to inadvertently tresspass over there,
thanks
dan
Nobody owns the water in the Great Lakes by law and agreement of the IJC.
December 16 2005, 9:04 AM
The International Joint Commission a Canadian and U.S. government entity has clearly stated that nobody can own the Great Lakes or it's water.
Dan to my knowledge there are no water lot ownerships but much of the U.S. shoreline has private homes on it and the way they keep people off the beaches is through no access to the water or no parking signs along the roads nearby the beaches. It's all about freedom, justice, and liberty for those with the most money. In a free world no government should tell another governments politicians what opinions they can make in their elections. Freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom for all people to have opportunity and equal rights forever.
I too believe that waterlots are ignorant, awful things. I also respect the fact that people have them, though it angers me to no end that they are allowed to do so.
Technically the water itself is ok, but try to argue that with some belligerent cottager who'se been drinking since 9AM. Best thing I've found is to be super nice, keep groups small, ask permission, and leave the beach cleaner then you found it. Maybe one day they will change the laws, but until then this is the only responsible way to deal with this problem
dan
If I was a Lakefront property owner I would want to own a waterlot that's for sure.
Having experienced what can happen with Lakefront property ownership upclose and personal (my brother lives on the lake and own property with a waterlot) it is a usefully aid for the property owner.
More times than I care to remember my brother has had to ask boaters/sunbathers/partiers to move along from his "front yard", most do so with out police involvement.
He has had boaters park in front of his place, $hit in the water and toss their trash into the lake which wash up on his beach. People have even ripped apart his staircase leading to the beach for bonfire wood...
Lakefront property owners pay a premium to live where they do and we should all respect their rights as owners. I know for sure that I would not like it if some stranger decided to set up for the day on my front lawn, have a dump and toss their beer cans.
Waterlots are a fact of life on Lake Erie, we as surfers should respect that. From my experience along Lake Erie 98% of the property owners do not mind us surfing on their beaches, the rest can make things difficult at times. The only advise I can offer is be as pleasant as you possibly can to the owners, strike up a conversion, say good-day.
As Magilla has stated many times before, leave only footprints behind.
Tim-I guess because I've always been respectful of others property I just assumed everyone would be. The horror story about your brothers home brings a very good point that I hadn't really considered; just because we surfers are respectful doesn't mean anyone else is. Perhaps in some ways having waterlots is good, otherwise they'd have to pay police to patrol the shoreline like in other areas. Food for thought anyway.
In my explorations along the lake I too have have 98% success at access by just asking permission and getting to know the landowner. I've made lots of friends that way, and it sure is nice to know that not only are you allowed by permission to be there but you might even get to share a coffee or a beer after from a new friend. Several of these new friends of mine are now surfing after getting jealous watching me, and their kids are on boogieboards. Cool. Aloha spirit is alive here amoung property owners, you just have to ask nicely for it.
I hear alot about Woodlawn beach. I live five minutes from there and have never seen it exhibit any kind of waves to get excited about. I usually go about 30 minutes south to the end to Wendt Road. Its between Bennet and Wendt Beaches. For some reason the surf there is almost always consistent when you would expect it to be. A few times last season we had better than 6 foot faces on fairly clean surf. Its rarely incredible there but I always have a good time and thats really what matters anyways. -Bill C
