YouTube – Kinda Surfing Lake Tahoe.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Videos

Last Tuesday’s gale-force winds probably caused lots of cursing — especially among firefighters battling a wildfire near Reno — but one intrepid North Shore man seized the gusts for all they were worth.

Photographer and fine-art framer Jimmy Callian, 36, knew this was his chance to ride Lake Tahoe’s wild surf.

Say what?

That’s right. Callian, a longtime surfer who moved to Tahoe in 1999, saw the wind whipping up whitecaps on the lake and figured there “were waves somewhere on the lake.” After driving around to check out beaches, he found a spot “that looked fun.”

By “fun,” he meant 3- to 5-foot waves eerily resembling typical ocean swells. A gale-force wind and bone-chilling lake water only added to the challenge.

After his friend Meg Pugh arrived to take pictures, Callian grabbed his 5-foot, 10-inch Quad surfboard, donned his 5mm titanium-lined wetsuit, booties, gloves and hood, and slid from a rock into the frigid washing machine that the lake had become.

“I had to keep telling myself it was the lake,” Callian wrote in an e-mail last week. “I couldn’t believe it.”

After the first “freezing-cold” wave smacked him, Callian gradually acclimated to the conditions. “The funny part is, I thought it was going to be way colder,” he noted.

Callian ended up surfing for about four hours.

“I caught a lot of fun waves, and they were very well-shaped,” he wrote. “I got a few pretty long rides.”

via Winds allow surfer to ride Lake Tahoe | TahoeDailyTribune.com.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Pictures, Surfing Stories

Jimmy Callian surfing Lake Tahoe

via Jimmy Callian surfing Lake Tahoe.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Pictures

50 mph winds caused some serious windswell on Lake Tahoe today! The water is still 40 degrees, but Erica and I weren’t the only fools in the water. Who knew Lake Tahoe had a surf club?

POSTED BY TANA

via My Bread and Switch Tail Butter: Lake Surfing!.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Pictures

by Court Leve

On January 3, 2008, as the big storm started to form, Truckee resident Tal Fletcher hit Lake Tahoe for some surf at Sand Harbor. After catching two waves, it was time to call it a day. Not having any gloves, Tal’s hands became unbearably and painfully cold. Not often though that you are able to surf the lake….

via News archives, Truckee, North Tahoe, community • Moonshine Ink.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Pictures, Surfing Stories

by jeremy jones

We surf Tahoe about 10 times a year. This was I average day last winter. This fall I found a new spot. The swell bounces off a rock, doubles in size and has descent push.

via GO211 Surf Video- Surf Lake Tahoe.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Videos
Tags: Surfing, Tahoe, Waves, Weather, Wind

This video clip is from an early winter storm (late September 2007) that sank numerous boats mored on Lake Tahoe… check out the people surfing lake tahoe!

via Don Son’s Blog – donson.org » Surfing Lake Tahoe.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Videos

There was a day, while sitting on a board in Hanalei Bay, when life was free and easy.

There were three or four of us sharing nine-foot waves, watching for sharks and looking out for one another. Between every seventh wave we gazed upon the Fire Cliffs as they reflected the first rays of sunlight and we talked about what we were going to be when we grew up, if we grew up.

None of us wanted to take a job or have a boss; all we wanted was to watch the sun rise on Hanalei Bay and let the waves boss us around. Life was a holiday and we fished the afternoons away to provide food to surf another day.

So naturally I was shocked to read this week that surfing packages are available at a cost of up to $10,000 a day. Grown-ups have taken to surfing! A sport once reserved for Hawaiian monarchy and surf-bums has suddenly become as respectable as golf. The world has discovered that the sport of kings is not horseracing after all, but surfing.

Nothing on God’s Blue Ball compares to the thrill of riding the perfect wave, not skydiving, not snowboarding, not dropping a hole in one, not even winning a steamboat race. Surfing is a sport that will cause a body’s very liver to curl with enjoyment and one of the ingredients of that enjoyment lies in the fact that it’s free, or used to be.

I suppose to find the perfect private break today, well, you might need a good travel agent and a wheelbarrow full of money. Even so, surf playlands gaining in popularity today will be passé by tomorrow, as more remote beaches take their place in the sun.

As the cost of finding the perfect wave escalates, why don’t we at the North Shore get into the game? We’re making snow at Diamond Peak, why can’t we generate waves at Crystal Bay?

With a 2 million dollar investment, we could install submersible pumps capable of pushing 30,000 gallons of water per minute across the bay, creating waves the size of a three-car garage. North Lake Tahoe could become the surfing Mecca of the western hemisphere and play host to international contests to rival Hawaii and Australia.

Think what we could charge for bleacher seats at Crystal Bay Lookout; why, the figures are staggering. The beach towel concession alone would be a regular cash cow: WORLD SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS – NORTH LAKE TAHOE – 2007.

Then of course we could market the boards, racks, leashes, wax, surf attire, sunglasses, sandals, t-shirts, umbrellas, sunscreen, surf jewelry and watches, not to mention tattooing and body piercing concessions. I would opt for a tattoo of Eddie Aikau, myself, riding a monster wave across my back, underlined with the single salutation, KOWABUNGA!

“Surfing capital of the world” is not a supposition to be sneered at, but a sensible adjunct to the recreational opportunities we already offer. I shall tender my services as lifeguard emeritus pro bono and shall judge the beauty contest myself, in fact, I already have the winner picked out; her name starts with an R…

As for TV rights, well, that’s up for grabs, but you better be making some calls to the makers and shakers today, ‘cuz the BIG WAVE is coming to the North Shore, or my name’s not Joe Tahoe…

McAvoy Layne lives in Incline Village and visits schools throughout Nevada as the ghost of Mark Twain.

via Big wave surfing coming to North Shore? | TahoeBonanza.com.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Stories

Posted in Surfing Films

A couple of weeks ago, frustrated skiers and snowboarders took to the waves when blustery winds kicked up the surf on Lake Tahoe. While the ski conditions are not that bad now 12-15-05, theyre not that great either. Squaw Valley has received only 71 inches of snow far this year, and the base at the bottom of the mountain is minimal. Fortunately, at the 8,200-foot level the snowpack is about 30 to 40 inches deep and from what I hear some decent skiing on the groomed runs.

via Nugget 28.

Posted in Surf's Up, Surfing Stories