This launch spot fills a specific need for my friends and I. We very much enjoy “surfing” our kayaks. On the great lakes, conditions can be tough to find. Since we only get waves generated by the wind, they can range in size and shape. Those beautiful swell generated waves you see on YouTube and Facebook? We don’t really get that.

On very windy days when the wind is blowing towards Burlington Beach, there is a secret spot that has a miniature point break. It’s far from perfect, but it does its job and it creates some of the better shaped waves that we get in the area.

Here is the story of the tallest kayak group on the Great Lakes, how we took a good old fashioned beatdown in Force 9 winds and how we can hardly wait to do it again.

We may not be the most talented group, but I dare you to have more fun on the water.

2018 was a year of big gains on the water for us all: The Riverine Outflow of the Niagara, Surfing Vague a Guy, the Shubie, and TONS of beach surfing. Our group is getting to the point where we are all able to hold our own in rougher water. Fall weekends are a coordinated effort to check the weather, scour NOAA wave forecasts, check winds and select the best of the local spots for the day. Touring is best done in the warm summer months, those days are firmly behind us.

On this particular day, there was a gale warning and small craft advisory. We jumped at the chance to see what we could do in larger conditions. After scouting one of our favourite locations in Hamilton, we realized something. The waves were just too big. To make matters worse, the period on the NOAA site was reading 0 seconds. In reality, we estimated the conditions were 1.5 – 2 meter waves at 2-3 seconds. After a group discussion, Carl mentioned he’d noticed a beach about halfway down the Niagara Peninsula. I knew the spot, I grew up in the area, Fifty Point Conservation Area. The idea was, if we could cut the amount of fetch, maybe the conditions would be smaller and more manageable. We lucked out on a few counts. When we arrived, we noticed a small cove with a relatively large rock jetty. It was a great spot. As the waves wrapped around the jetty, they were spreading out and staying a bit shallower. They weren’t breaking until they neared the shoreline. “Can we work with this? Well, we’ll find out!”

By our standards, the waves were still large. Breaking through the surf zone into the the meat of the conditions made for some dramatic pictures. Each wave crashing over the deck felt like it picked you up and threw you back half way back to where you started. First up was me. My heart was pounding but I had 5 people ready to come help me if I needed it. I took a deep breath and went for it. When the first wave hit me, it felt like a body check from my hockey playing days.

I made it through! I was pumped up, what a rush. I kept thinking, the ride back in is going to be a wild one. I wasn’t wrong.

Next up was Blake, boy did he ever kill it. I was watching in awe as he fearlessly rode back to shore in huge soupy messy waves. At one point he even rolled in the soup and recovered a surf into shore. Awesome!

From then on we each took turns breaking out and surfing in. It is exhausting, it is dramatic and it gets the adrenaline going. Here are some of the highlights:

Dejan:

Carl:

Steven:

So what were the take aways for the day? Surfing is hard, fun, dramatic and we are all hooked on it. Bad conditions be damned, we’ll be back for more. What will I do differently next time? I will be more confident. I will aim for some cleaner parts of the wave when surfing back to shore and most importantly, I will bring a thermos of hot chocolate. What did I learn? Skill and fun are in no way correlated, but we are definitely getting better. A good way to find a good spot is to look for the huddled masses of surfers and head to the fringes of their spots. They like the middle, we like the edges.

Final note: If you are looking for a launch spot, there is a far better launch for day paddles at 40 Mile Creek. I will update the site with that spot in the future.

Special thanks to Taera and Dejan for taking the pictures.

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This trip would require a minimum of level 3 or higher skills depending on the conditions.