All there is to say about that is surf's up mthrfckr! And what's a season pass at Lake Superior cost? Bring the whole family and don't forget the inflated inner tubes.

The Nordic guy is the Downwind Zen Master of Lake Superior 🙌🙌🙌

@ttrayn1000

Ай бұрын

Truth!

Amazing! I'm to old , but I love it

Amazing 😍

Fantastic. I hope you guys are carrying a PRB with you.

@ttrayn1000

Ай бұрын

Yup, it’s on my left shoulder. I also have a marine radio and a cell phone with tracking.

@fredread9216

Ай бұрын

I knew you guys were smart! Did a lot of skiing in the past. Both ocean and flat. Want to get one again. Now 80 yrs old. Mostly flat to choppy waters. Any suggestions?

Great video!

You guys are awesome. Holy crap. Max speed achieved? Water temp? I’m going to guess 12 mph and 40F. 🤷‍♂️ Launching and landing in that gale had to be interesting. 😅 I’m paddling my FSK out on Lake Michigan in June and July and we don’t get these “Superior” conditions. When that nose buries you probably experience a bit of sphincter pressure…😂 Noting that pitchpole moment in slo-mo was nice. You all deserve a nice Duluth cinnamon roll for that run!

@ttrayn1000

6 күн бұрын

The water temp was 39, max speed was 15 mph. We have several launch/landing site that are protected which helps tremendously but handling the skis can be tricky in the wind!

Very cool! So much left and right criss crossing, you guys must have to pay a bit of attention to offset your back and forth and not interfere with each other.

@ttrayn1000

2 ай бұрын

Yes, we definitely have some mixed seas! I don’t see many surfski videos with as much cross crossing as we have. We do have to pay attention when we’re close but I can’t stay with Zach very long as he will catch a wave that I can’t, and then another and another until he is a speck on the horizon. He’ll fly off for a bit and then wait for me quite a few times on a 25 K run.

Wow. Was looking for any signs of you off Stoney Point but missed your "fly-by". How do you recognize landing places like McQuade here from out in the lake?

@ttrayn1000

2 ай бұрын

Judy, McQuade can be very hard to see until you’re only a couple kilometers away. However, there are landmarks along the way such as the old Nokomis restaurant, French River, and the new, easy to spot retaining wall about a kilometer up the shore from McQuade. Also, after passing Stoney we can see a notch in the ridge in the distance beyond McQ that lines up fairly well. Of course on low visibility days there is always GPS 😸.

Yes! PHENOMENAL VIDEO AND AWESOME SKILLS! 👍🏼 But wait -you’re doing this in offshore winds?? Oh man--you’ve got nerves off steel to do that!! Full respect ✊🏼. Don’t get me wrong; I can totally get the need for speed and the excitement of it all as a waterman myself for 30 years (surfing for 40 years, sea kayaking/touring, prone paddling, and SUP). BTW: I’d love to try this sport, but those skis are SOOO expensive!! Anyhow, back to my point: in all my years as a waterman, the two most terrifying experiences I have ever had pertained to offshore wind. One incident-the last one a year ago-was surfing at a place called Matagorda TX in the Gulf of Mexico in offshore conditions at 30 mph. Unfortunately it is those winds that make for great shape on waves, but the problem is that those conditions require surfing a short board which offers no real paddling ability. This combined with the slower waves on the Texas coast and that spells an immediate crisis I found myself in as I kept getting lured to paddle out further and further for better waves until I was so far beyond the surf line and those winds increased to 35 mph (and it was only an hour or so until dusk). I spent most of that hour fighting wind and only covering a distance that took a few minutes in the opposite direction. Fortunately an usually faster and larger wave came through that I was able to catch, but that was just a fluke. The other incident over a decade ago was on my 19-foot prone paddle board in the Pacific Ocean. On the day I launched for my routine paddle around a few oil platforms between Huntington Beach and Seal Beach in Southern California, there was hardly much wind at all, but the slight breeze I did have was offshore. Well, in that region offshore winds are a very rare and unusual occurrence (called Santana winds), so I ignored it. I always relied on the onshore wind conditions to get me back to shore if anything went wrong, but on that fateful day my ignorance almost cost me my life because once I was 1.5 to 2 miles offshore those winds kicked up to 23 - 25 mph. And even though my board was long and narrow and designed for speed (like your skis), it was no match to the winds that really wanted to send me to Catalina island and exhausted me. Again, like the surfing incident, my paddling output was vastly greater than the result of it in terms of distance I was covering. I did manage to make it to the oil platform where I found a piece of the steel boat dock to grab onto and cling to for nearly an hour as I yelled for help (the dock was too high above waterline to reach it; the chop/wind too strong for me to leave my board or stand; plus platform itself was too high and nobody way up there even heard me). However, I was fortunate enough to have the boat arrive as I clung there; it was doing it’s one routine drop-off of new workers to relive the guys who had been working on the platform. They dropped a rope ladder to me and I climbed onboard with my board attached to my leg by my leash that they pulled in as well. I’m only alive because of that platform being where it was and that boat arriving when it did. I’ve indulged in the stories above to say that among all of the potential dangers in the water sports I do, it was been offshore winds on two occasions that nearly killed me! Not sharks, not giant surf (and while I don’t do that anymore because I’m 55, my 20’s and 30’s involved quite a bit of it in Hawaii, Mexico, and northern CA), not boats, not other dangerous sea life, not rocks or reefs, not rip currents, not other surfers/equipment hitting me-no, offshore winds! Sure, those other things are real dangers and I’ve had my share of scary moments with them, but it was only in those wind situations that I truly felt like I was at the end of the road. I was convinced both times that I would die because of it and get lost at sea. I caution anyone reading this who does anything on water to be very cautious of offshores! Clearly you know what you’re doing so I’m not trying to sound like a Karen, but the sight of those winds going in that direction are terrifying to me.

@ttrayn1000

2 ай бұрын

Wow, those are crazy scary experiences! Actually, the winds we use are parallel to the North Shore of Lake Superior near Duluth, either NE (can be BIG) or SW (less big). Also, the waves closer to shore under these conditions, say within a few hundred meters to a kilometer tend to bend toward shore so if you get in trouble it is generally not too hard to get in. Of course if you don’t get in on a NE wind you’ll end up on the world’s largest freshwater sand spit in the world at the head of the Lake! Seriously though, anything can happen and we do try to be prepared for the unexpected and be safe as possible. I personally carry a PLB, cell phone with tracking, marine radio, a small light and a whistle. I am also leashed to the ski and my paddle is leashed to the ski. And of course a PFD and a good wetsuit. I feel I have never been a big risk taker, even less so now that I am 60, but I understand the reality of the Lake to mitigate risk but still have some fun adventures!