Recently I am pretty interested in Surf ski and plan to buy Epic V8 to play. But I found it is difficult to found the suitable beach to play,as we need wave,and it is very important for Surf ski. Do anyone have some idea? Could you help me to found the place or club nearby Great Toronto Area. Thanks!
James
People surf near Kincardine, apparently. That would be approximately 3 hours from Toronto.
Surf skis in North America seem to be less used on beach waves, and more used on downwind wind wave runs.
For example, this race was just last week: https://www.gorgedownwindchamps.com/
There is another guy with a Think EvoII in Toronto area. I think his handle is Pswizer or SpaceSputnik on surfski.info and posts here occasionally. He can probably provide local knowledge.
The size and period of swell you need to ride shorebreak on a surfski is not really generated on the great lakes. I’m in SoCal and even on the pacific, I need at minimum 3’ shorebreak with a medium-long period (as in probably 10-15 seconds) to be ridable. Even 2’ is inadequate to be much fun. This is because with smaller or short period shore break, the time between the wave building to a surfable shape and it going critical (breaking) is very short (as in less than a hundred feet probably), so you dont really get to surf them.
The funnest shorebreak to surf is big, long period stuff just outside the breakzone. Like 3+ foot 15+ second long period groundswell. Once these waves stack up at the beach they easily reach 6’ or more. I stay well away from the break zone (a 6’ wave breaking on a ski is likely to break the ski!), but the large wave and long period means the distance from ‘stacking up’ to ‘breaking’ is a couple hundred+ yards in my area. This is enough distance to have some fun rides, but the great lakes dont get groundswell or long period swell. My semi-accurate memory seems to remember most wave periods on the lakes are single digit (as in less than 10 second)
On the great lakes, the short period, steep waves make for some very fun downwinds though. When the wind is blowing you get almost perfect downwind conditions. Look at the buoys around you - I have the most fun downwind when the waves are 3-5’ at a short interval, like 6-8 seconds with a 15mph+ tail wind and clean, directional waves (minimal reflected waves or multi-directional swell).
Also chasing boat wakes is a good time. A surfski is novel to many boaters so you can find some nice people that will pull you around on their wake. A large cabin cruiser (like 25+’) going just below planing speed (like 9-11mph) throws off a damn fun wake to ride. You just have to be on their 1st to third wave for it to have enough steepness to pull you effectively.
Check out surfski.info too. The forum over there is active with ski paddlers