Bryan Elkus

Category: Surfing

  • First Wake Foiling Session

    We have been foiling a bit both behind the kite and on a standup paddleboard behind the boat, but this was a whole new experience. Riding the shorter boards with a foil behind the boat was a really fun time. The shorter board was a lot like the feeling when kiting a foil. It was fast, snappy and lively. The boards we rode were a little wider than I have used in the past which helped prevent making drastic weight adjustments.

    We first rode right behind the boat where we would normally ride a wake surfboard. This was similar to how we rode in the past just with different gear. You had to be careful to not ride too high onto the wave or catch too much speed to catch up to the boat. Given the size of the wake, it was easy to retain speed and feel comfortable dropping the rope. Then we pushed back to the following wave behind the boat. This took a bit of commitment as at first we didn’t have a rope long enough so you had to drop the rope then drift back to catch the wave. It was a pretty crazy feeling. From 2′ up it doesn’t look like much of a wave, let alone have enough power to propel you. But it does and it was amazing. We all had much more fun on the 2nd wave back which felt more like surfing a longboard. It was a little slower more cruisy feeling. I would have to do a pump then a couple turns followed by another pump to get back to the sweet spot on the wave and repeat.

    We rode the Slingshot Alien Air Foil board with the Slingshot H2 foil on the second wave behind the boat and the Slingshot WF1 board with the Slingshot H5 foil right behind the boat. Both foils were really fun and very different. The H2 was a bit less maneuverable from side-to-side than the higher performance H5 foil. Carving was much easier and more fun on the H5 (higher performance foil). You are able to generate a lot more speed from pumping on the H2 than the H5 foil. This allows you to more easily catch back up to the wave if you drop too far back or allows you to create your own momentum with little to no wave.

  • A Rare Summer Surf on the Great Lakes

    A big North front came into the region. It gave us a nice break from the hot humid temperatures. It also happened to deliver us a few hours of joy on Lake Huron. The crew headed out for an evening paddle. We were out there for a good 3-4 hours. It is hard to stop when we don’t get waves that often in the summer.

    Everyone caught their share of fun waves. The wind started to die out just before sunset and the waves started to glass off a bit. The size started to drop but not before it was dark. We topped the night off with a dinner and called it a day!

  • Winter Northern MI Surf

    I headed out to check the surf today. It wound up being an unseasonably warm winter day. The wind was on the waves too much by the time I made it out to the lake. I took pictures of a few braves soles before heading out.

  • Fall Kite Mission to Canada

    We headed out early to Canada. It was cold and rainy on our drive. As we were driving onto the beach, the clouds broke to let in some gorgeous morning light against the stormy day.

    The wind was cranking and I wound up riding my 7m Envy on short line really really powered. The waves never quite got to the usual size we were expecting, but I still had a blast. I took out the foil for a few tacks and took some good beatings.

    We then packed up and headed back to the states and drove a little north to surf. As we arrived it looked FLAT. But we found a small wave in a little cove and wound up surfing for over two hours.

  • Late Summer Michigan Surf

    We scored this weekend. I was lucky to get the time to hit the lake this weekend. I had one of my best surfing session on the lakes as well as a few other sessions to keep a smile on my face for a while.

    The highlight was a surf up in Frankfort, MI. We arrived when the lake was glass there were no waves to speak of. We were pretty bummed, but the wind kicked up. We wound up kited for a few minutes until we looked south and saw what we thought was a small rain storm approaching. At that time the waves slowly started to build and you could tell that they were starting to push in. We landed our kites to prepare for the rain and the rain just didn’t stop coming, but neither did the waves.

    We hustled to the grab a board and rode a few waves near shore. We kept having to paddle back out further and further until the waves were breaking at the elbow of the pier and were chest to head high. Even though it was pouring rain the waves were clean, long and amazing. There were only a handful of us out maybe 5-8 surfers/paddleboarders. It was a great session!

    I was having way too much fun while riding to go out shooting. I did take out the go pro for one wave at the tail end of the session after the waves started to die down significantly.

  • Spring Lake Huron Surf

    We traveled up to the thumb to find a few waves this weekend. The wind direction was great leading up to our mission, but it shifted North just before we arrived. By the time we headed out into the line up, the waves were on the small side. The wave that did make it in was really clean and provided a nice long ride. We surfed for 2-3 hours.

  • Late Fall Surf in Muskegon

    The wind shifted on me a bit early and went straight west. It was really windy, 35-45 knots. With the wind on shore I decided to grab a little session inside the pier heads. I had a few fun waves.

  • A visit to Santa Cruz

    I headed west to visit Ryan and Nate before the Cooper workshop in San Fransisco. We surfed at The Lane Saturday morning. The waves were well overhead. We surfed for an hour and wound up taking 8-10 set waves on the head. We decided to call it quits for a bit. We rested up for the second session. We took out foam boards. The tide came up a bit which made the waves a little smaller. It was an absolute blast. We surfed for hours. As the sun started to set we headed in to cook dinner. Chris meet up with us and Ryan made it back from his trip in time to join.

    Sunday we packed up and headed to kite the coast. The waves were even bigger than the previous day in the bay. The wind was a bit challenging as were all the kelp. We still had a good time and everyone made it back to the beach safe. What a weekend!

  • Frankfort Kite/Surf Session

    We had a great session at Frankfort, Mi. As we arrived we were socked in with fog. There was a fun tiny wave coming through very consistently. I surfed for a while then kited for a few hours to cap off the session. It was a great day.