Surfing Wisconsin style, in the winter dressed in neoprene – Kenosha News

MILWAUKEE – Maybe Daniel DeWitt’s ride is exactly what you would expect from a guy who makes his living by giving surf lessons.

On Lake Michigan.

In the winter.

Instead of a trendy and pricey Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van or a classic Volkswagen Microbus, DeWitt’s surf mobile is a 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis he inherited from his grandparents.

The four-door boat of a car with just over 190,000 miles on the odometer is covered in graphics and lettering touting his High 5 Surf company and can hold up to eight surfboards on the roof. The trunk and back seat offer up plenty of space for other gear like wetsuits, towels and a propane space heater that warms a small changing tent for his students.

“They say they go to 300,000, if you maintain them, so we’re looking good,” DeWitt said of his car that during lessons he usually parks along Lincoln Memorial Drive. “We’ve got to start with what we have and use the assets that we have.”

There is nothing typical about DeWitt’s High 5 Surf that finds some of its best waves of the year when most are downhill or cross country skiing, snowshoeing, ice fishing or getting cozy next to a fireplace. And while a warming trend has hit much of the state this month, it has done little to alter the water temperature that on this day registered 34 degrees on the north end of Bradford Beach.

DeWitt, 33, grew up not in Southern California but in land-locked Wauwatosa and has always had an affinity to board sports that in Wisconsin can include skate, wake and snow boarding. He became hooked on cold water surfing in 2018 after seeing a news story on local television, began taking lessons with Lake Effect Surf Shop and eventually became an instructor with the shop that opened in 2016 in Shorewood. DeWitt ventured out on his own in October 2021 when he launched High 5 Surf. He supplements his income by house sitting and pet sitting, which affords him a flexible schedule to offer up surf lessons that best fit the time for his students.

While Bradford Beach is his prime spot for lessons, DeWitt also uses the surf mobile to travel to other cities along Lake Michigan to give lessons. They have included the waters of Racine, Port Washington, Sheboygan, Two Rivers and in Waukegan, Evanston and Chicago, Illinois. DeWitt has also surfed in Southern California, Hawaii, Florida and has twice surfed a wave pool in Waco, Texas. DeWitt has surfed the Lake Michigan waters of Indiana and Michigan and has caught waves on Lake Superior.

“There’s some really great waves in all these states, you just have to know where to go,” DeWitt said. “Summer does have some good waves but the frequency between good waves is a little bit less and the waves are little bit weaker. So we do get some ocean-like waves in the summer but it’s mainly a fall, winter and early spring deal.”

Surfing is nothing new to the Great Lakes, often referred to in surfing culture as “America’s Third Coast.”

Sheboygan, which juts out into Lake Michigan and provides plentiful waves, is one of the most popular destinations and is the self-proclaimed “Freshwater Surf Capital of the World.” This is where what is now EOS Surf Shop opened in 1998 and is located in the city’s downtown where above the shop it has an Airbnb called the “Sheboygan Surf House.”

The city is touted for its surfing by tourism agencies and in 2007 received Hollywood notoriety in the animated movie “Surf’s Up,” which starred Chicken Joe, a surfer from Sheboygan. In 2016, William Povletich wrote a book about the scene, “Some Like It Cold: Surfing the Malibu of the Midwest” (Wisconsin Historical Society Press). The book profiles 62-year-old twin brothers Larry “Longboard” and Lee “Waterflea” Williams who for 24 years organized the Dairyland Surf Classic, that ended in 2013.

“While we have enjoyed every action packed minute, it was never our intent to hold this event indefinitely,” the brothers wrote in their announcement. “Having achieved our goal of putting Sheboygan on the map as a Wisconsin surf hot spot, we finally feel ready to move on.”

But Milwaukee also offers up plenty of opportunity that in the winter can mean waves three to five days a week at times. And DeWitt, a UW-Milwaukee graduate, is not shy about spreading the word and enthusiastically encouraging his students, his oldest, a 70-year-old woman, the youngest, a nine-year-old boy. The energy stays the same whether they’re on the sand learning how to lay on a board and stand up or in the cold surf patiently waiting for the right wave to appear.

“This is okay and good enough for beginner lessons cause two to three foot waves is ideal for a beginner but I personally love to short board so I like four footers and above,” DeWitt said, as he surveyed the surf prior to a lesson. “I’ve been out in 14-foot waves on Lake Superior and I’ve successfully caught and rode 9-foot waves without a wipe out. It’s fun being out there but it’s a challenge to catch those bigger waves.”

One of DeWitt’s regular students is Elyse Transon, 35, who grew up in Delafield, lives in Shorewood where she owns an Irish dance studio. She had spent time in the Dominican Republic teaching dance and lived in a town where she had tried surfing a few times but never quite got the hang of it. Only now when she surfs, a 6 millimeter thick neoprene wet suit is a requisite. It covers every inch of her body except her face. She did one of her lessons in January when the air temperature was 10 degrees.

“The only time it’s cold is if the water hits your face,” Transon said. “The coldest part, honestly is changing out of your wet suit at the end. Sometimes I just put on like a robe and go home in my wet suit and change in my bathroom.”

Transon arrived at the beach at about 10:15 a.m. and stepped into a small, heated tent that DeWitt had set up earlier in the morning for his first student of the day. Transon changed into her wet suit, put on a pair of neoprene booties and lastly, donned a pair of neoprene mittens. After walking through a small stand of young willow trees and then down a sand dune to the beach, she spent a few minutes with DeWitt working on her surfing techniques on a board on the dry sand.

She began by laying on the board to practice paddling and then did a series of popups, to mimic how she would get up once she caught a wave on the lake. But practicing on the beach and trying to surf in the temperamental lake are two different things entirely. Transon and DeWitt entered the water at 10:51 a.m., came out at 11:12 a.m. to change surfboards and then re-entered a few minutes later, not coming out until an hour later.

Transon got up only a few times and for just a few seconds but admits that one of the most challenging parts of surfing the Great Lakes is having the patience to wait for the right wave. She also likes that she’s not near her phone for 90 minutes and can completely disconnect from the world, save for the waves and her instructor.

“Danny is always fun so he brings the energy no matter what the temperature is,” Transon said. “It’s a great workout. I’m totally exhausted at the end but it’s like a sneaky workout. You’re just having fun so it doesn’t feel like you’re going to the gym for an hour.”