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Irondequoit, N.Y. —
Scott Johns was born in Hawaii and grew up in Florida. He started learning to surf at the age of 4.
Then life brought him to Rochester several years ago.
“It really killed me, being away from the ocean,” Johns recalled.
Then, just last summer, he saw a guy on the beach in Irondequoit’s Sea Breeze area with what looked like a surfboard.
“I didn’t know it (surfing) was possible on the lake,” Johns said. He says now that it was fate.
Johns learned that surfing the lake was not only possible, but also that it can be done year-round and that there’s even a Rochester Surf Club.
One of the most popular spots, locally, for surfing is near the pier in the Sea Breeze area of Irondequoit.
“We’re safe about it and try not to trespass,” Johns said.
Johns, now 36, a father of three and an Irondequoit resident, has been happily surfing since last fall.
“I feel like a kid of 15 again,” he said with a shrug. “It’s really about the camaraderie.”
Johns explains that some days this time of year, surfers can only be in the water an hour and only “catch” four waves each.
Last fall, however, Johns recalled, Hurricane Irene, which didn’t do much damage locally, “did give us really good waves here ... we had 30 to 40 surfers out every day.”
Surfing Lake Ontario is also how Johns and other area surfers met Cole Slutzky, 22, who just last year graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in photography. He has also begun “transitioning,” he says, to film.
After growing up near the shore in New Jersey and surfing much of his life, Slutzky said it was “a rude awakening” to be away from the ocean when he came to Rochester.
Then he, too, met the small group of intrepid Great Lakes surfers in Rochester.
“I started a photo story,” Slutzky said. Then he started experimenting with film.
He’s now well on his way to creating a documentary, called “Preconceived Noceans,” about lake surfers, and already has a terrabyte of footage. He hopes to get to an hour-long film he can take to festivals.
“It started out as a self-portrait because I was missing the ocean,” Slutzky said, “but slowly, as I met the guys and the surfing community here...,” it turned into the documentary.
Slutzky says he’s “pumped” about the title, since lake surfing “isn’t what people think about surfing in general ... it’s such a different level.” The film has a website, preconceivednoceans.com.
Scott Johns was born in Hawaii and grew up in Florida. He started learning to surf at the age of 4.
Then life brought him to Rochester several years ago.
“It really killed me, being away from the ocean,” Johns recalled.
Then, just last summer, he saw a guy on the beach in Irondequoit’s Sea Breeze area with what looked like a surfboard.
“I didn’t know it (surfing) was possible on the lake,” Johns said. He says now that it was fate.
Johns learned that surfing the lake was not only possible, but also that it can be done year-round and that there’s even a Rochester Surf Club.
One of the most popular spots, locally, for surfing is near the pier in the Sea Breeze area of Irondequoit.
“We’re safe about it and try not to trespass,” Johns said.
Johns, now 36, a father of three and an Irondequoit resident, has been happily surfing since last fall.
“I feel like a kid of 15 again,” he said with a shrug. “It’s really about the camaraderie.”
Johns explains that some days this time of year, surfers can only be in the water an hour and only “catch” four waves each.
Last fall, however, Johns recalled, Hurricane Irene, which didn’t do much damage locally, “did give us really good waves here ... we had 30 to 40 surfers out every day.”
Surfing Lake Ontario is also how Johns and other area surfers met Cole Slutzky, 22, who just last year graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in photography. He has also begun “transitioning,” he says, to film.
After growing up near the shore in New Jersey and surfing much of his life, Slutzky said it was “a rude awakening” to be away from the ocean when he came to Rochester.
Then he, too, met the small group of intrepid Great Lakes surfers in Rochester.
“I started a photo story,” Slutzky said. Then he started experimenting with film.
He’s now well on his way to creating a documentary, called “Preconceived Noceans,” about lake surfers, and already has a terrabyte of footage. He hopes to get to an hour-long film he can take to festivals.
“It started out as a self-portrait because I was missing the ocean,” Slutzky said, “but slowly, as I met the guys and the surfing community here...,” it turned into the documentary.
Slutzky says he’s “pumped” about the title, since lake surfing “isn’t what people think about surfing in general ... it’s such a different level.” The film has a website, preconceivednoceans.com.
“There aren’t that many lake surfers ... it’s like the last frontier,” Johns said. They go out on windy days, try to stay away from currents, and try to protect themselves from the cold.
“You have to take a really hot shower after you get out (of the lake in winter),” Johns said. “It’s definitely cold when you dive under the water.”
But, “The chance to surf outweighs the discomfort,” Slutzky said.
“iI’s an addiction,” said Johns, who now has his own website, oshem.com (he formed ‘oshem’ from the first letter of each of the Great Lakes), and would like to start giving lessons, perhaps in the summer.
“I’m just glad I discovered it here,” Johns said.
“These (lake surfers) aren’t rebels,” Slutzky said. “They’re just average guys addicted to searching for that perfect wave ... But what’s cool about the lake is that it’s a brand new environment.”
