actually wave measurement differs in two places. the classic measuring system is how shelby described it, trough to crest. however in hawaii they use the hawaiian system, go figure, and the waves are measured by the back of the waves, not sure why,, just know that when they tell you it's a 1 foot day on any of the hawaiian islands the faces are usually 2-3 (it doubles and adds a foot or two, depending on wave height and interval, to create the face height)and thats' pure aleutian swell way more powerful than anything in cali. i've surfed on the greatlakes all my life and worked at a surfshop in my hometown(
www.chapter11sports.com) since i was 11. the surf gets good here, the period in between waves is alot shorter, versus 3 foot swell at 7 second intervals, we get 3 foot wind chop at 3 second intervals which makes for a washing machine affect, but fun is what you make of it. i've surfed in every great lake except for ontario and have found fun surf everywhere, lake superior has quite a few of straight up reef breaks, intead of coral, the reefs are made of giant slabs of rock creating peeling waves and actually ride in ride out barrels, watch "unsalted," vince's movie and see joe curren tear the waves apart. since the water is fresh water, there is far less buoyancy so the hold downs last longer and you need more foam under you to keep afloat. sorry for the novel of info but i'm glad to see some people surfing talking on here. alot of people don't know this but all of the great lakes combined shoreline is 11,000 miles, and that is almost twice the length of the whole west coast and east coast combined! that means there's that many opportunities for good breaks, go search and find something sick! now that i live in the ohio river valley i'm away from the mountains or water for the first time in my life and it blows, i might be the only person that lives in downtown cincinnati with 2 surfboards in their closet. i went up to cleveland the other day and went surfing at reno beach, it was pretty fun, nothing to write home about, but anyday surfing works for me. shelby is being modest about wave heights in superior, i had a professor once that worked for NOAA and handled the marine forecast for open water bound ships, wave heights in the middle of lake superior have reached over 40 feet and they say before the invention of buoys god knows how big they got out in the middle. i've seen on shore outside marquette in a place called shelter bay, straight up double overhead tubes with off shore winds(the best wind because it pushes on the face of the wave making it glassy) firing in the middle of winter, ice floating around and all. i have seen great surf on quite a few occasions up there even in the summer you just have to find it. good luck and if you find something sick you should probably picture message me.
