Crazy Great Lake Surfers In NYT

by The Editors on January 16, 2009

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It’s the same old story but we fall for it every time (especially when it’s in the New York Times): the world’s most core surfers hit the icy waves of Lake Superior and make anyone who has ever complained about surfing in a wetsuit feel like complete, whinging pussies.

It was a Sunday morning north of Duluth, Minn., and a blizzard had overtaken the region. The surfers — apparitions in black neoprene, floating in mist far offshore — paddled and stood when a wave began to break. . . . “It’s warmer in the water,” said Markus Barsch, 21, a tree trimmer from Ashland, Wis., and one of a dozen surfers who had shown up to shred on a 20-degree day.

Yes, we’re all really inspired here in Sunny SoCal. But we always have one question after reading these stories: if you’re that serious about surfing, why not move to Hawai’i?

[Link: The New York Times]

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

erik wilkie October 28, 2015 at 6:43 am

..responding to inspired in Sunny SoCal, “why don’t we move to Hawaii if we’re serious about surfing ?” Answer: Seriously challenging is surfing in below zero temps and overhead waves of a Lake Superior Winter. Many of us have grown up in and surfed California or Hawaii for years. We that experience, we realize, the real dangerous challenge isn’t so much big, as it is cold…..ICE CoLD Nature…..we are all very serious here….there are no posers.

e wilkie March 1, 2018 at 8:18 am

..why don’t we move to Hawaii ?…a few folks have move here From Hawaii, and a few from California and Florida too. We come to be challenged by the intense, body numbing cold surfing that Lake Superior is. Many can surf from the warm and sandy beaches elsewhere, but we choose to stay here for the snow storm waves that very few will be on….because it is not easy………e..

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