Jack Flynn surfing across the state line in Indiana.
PUBLICIDAD
Surfing on Lake Michigan might become a reality in the Windy City if the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners votes to open five beaches this summer.
“We are trying to show that [surfers] can surf at [their] own risk on some beaches,” said Vince Deur, co-chair and founder of the Surfrider Foundation Lake Michigan Chapter. “We have been able to crack the door just slightly. We can grow next year if everything goes safely.”
The Surfrider Foundation was founded in 1984 and currently has 80 chapters around the world. A group of freshwater surfers, who are committed to protect the beaches, formed the Surfrider Foundation Lake Michigan Chapter in 2007.
“It means a lot to me because it’s a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to the people who enjoy the water [and] keep the water clean,” said Ingrid Lindfors, who is the co-chairman of the Surfrider Foundation Lake Michigan Chapter. “Through the knowledge and backing of the Surfrider Foundation we [have been] able to bring our community to be actively involved in keeping our waters clean.”
Since 2008, the Lake Michigan Chapter has been pushing the Chicago Park District to allow surfing in Chicago.
“They weren’t trying to ban surfing. The law bans all floatation devices at the beaches,” said Mitch McNeil, an avid surfer since the 60s and one of many people supporting surfing in Chicago. “It all stems from the desire to excessively control what’s going on at these beaches. I don’t think the law was written to prevent surfers because I don’t think when this law was written they thought that surfing was a possibility.”
Surfing the waves Deur said Lake Michigan has been known to hit 20 to 25 feet and sometimes more in peak times during the largest storms. He said the biggest waves
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