It started with “Surfer Dan.” Now another winter sports pioneer wants you to try it on Lake Superior | WJMN

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN) – Years after being inspired by “Surfer Dan” to push his boat into the icy waters of Lake Superior, a local kayak instructor is asking the community to try the sport he developed in the area.

“In the paddling community, my main activity is sea kayak surfing,” he said James Lasak, a 24-year-old kayak guide and instructor. “But if you look at what typical sea kayak surfing is, that’s not what I do.”

Regular kayak surfing, like its board sport counterpart, is often practiced in the sea. If you search for videos online, you'll see athletes in blue, wide-open waters wearing short-sleeved wetsuits – if at all.

In comparison, the winter surf on Lake Superior looks daunting, chaotic and impassable.

Surf's UP: Riding the waves of Lake Superior

Lasak gives summer tours and trains other paddleboat guides around Munising's Pictured Rocks and lives in Marquette. But on stormy winter days, he can often be found somewhere in between offshore in search of waves of up to 10 feet.

I met James in mid-February at his second-floor apartment in Marquette. Dry suits, helmets, GoPro cameras and other equipment covered a pool table in a common area. He was preparing for what he thought would be the biggest wave day of a very disappointing season so far. “What we really care about is the big things,” Lasak said, updating a National Weather Service wave forecast on his laptop.

“My first realization that something like this was possible out here in the winter was Surfer Dan,” Lasak explained. “Then I thought, 'Okay, we get our big waves in the winter.' These surfers on boards wear wetsuits in winter. If drysuits keep you completely dry, why shouldn't I be able to go out in a drysuit in the winter? “I'm just a surfer at heart chasing waves, but I do it in a boat and not on a board.”

Among Lasak's gear was equipment from Bryce Page, a green kayak guide whom Lasak had taught the season before. Before Page took up the sport, Lasak had paddled alone into the frigid waters.

“Bryce Page joined me in 2023 as a guide in training. I am a guide trainer for Picture Rocks Kayaking and he was a new trainee,” Lasak said. “He was as interested in the sport of kayaking as I was. You know, he had no idea you could do all of these things in a kayak. And he’s fully committed to learning everything he can about it.”

The sport is physically demanding and involves dangers that can be as unpredictable as the weather. Lasak illustrates his point by recounting a trip he and Page took earlier in the season.

“We said, 'Okay, we're going to paddle over the rocks,' and we kept an eye on the weather forecast. “The forecast is always wrong… it just depends on how wrong it is for this lake,” Lasak said.

“It was relatively flat at the beginning, as predicted. And then it should increase to 6 to 7 feet as the evening progresses. So when we started, there were maybe two to four foot rolls coming in and bouncing off the cliffs.

They stopped for lunch at Mosquito Beach and boiled water to warm their hands and feet. In the hour we stopped for lunch, conditions increased from 4-foot waves to steady 6-foot waves, with a few 7-foot crests, Lasak said. “They can change so quickly,” Lasak said.

He described how the cliffs influence the waves. “What they will do is they will ride up the cliff, hit the rock wall and then ride back down the cliff and build with the incoming waves. So you can let a 4 foot wave come in, build up with a 4 foot wave reflecting off the cliff face and go boom, now it's an 8 foot wave. You don't have time to think. It’s all your reactions.”

“It wasn't a surprise to us, but now we're five miles away, with two hours of daylight and in waves of two to seven feet, which is still fine for us. But what happens on the rocks is that it is not a beach, but a sheer cliff. So we’re not taking a break.”

“So we went another mile, mile and a half down, down the cliff, face down, down the cliff line before we really cared about daylight. We're basically racing toward the sunset and still in 6-8 foot reflective waves.

“That’s the appeal for me. You know, if there isn't that risk, that looming risk, where is that okay, if you don't do it, if you don't do the right things, then something bad happens that pushes me to perform at my best. said Lasak.

However, on this day in mid-February, the waves do not deliver as expected. The storm that promised waves a half-dozen feet high is instead sending 4-foot waves and blistering white snow squalls. Despite their high hopes, Lasak and Page still paddle out to enjoy what they've been given.

“It's an extreme sport and it's just as valid as whitewater kayaking, it's just as valid as skiing or cliff diving,” Lasak said. “It can take you places and provide experiences that no other recreational sport can offer.”

Lasak says that in the future he wants to connect with people in the community who are interested in the sport and teach people who want to learn how to play the sport.

“I know there are people in the area who would embrace this the same way I did when I first started it and I just want to be able to share that with the local community. And then in the long term, maybe, maybe regionally. I want to be the face of Lake Superior Sea kayaking, so to speak. I want to take people on these journeys,” Lasak said.

To get in touch with Lasak, he says the best way to get in touch with him is through his Instagram account Superior sea kayak. He invites anyone who would like to learn more about the sport to get in touch.