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This image of different types of breaks does a fairly good job of explaining how different breaks are formed.
The type we see the most often on the Great Lakes is the beach break. Though on the east coast of Lake Michigan we often get sandbars that form in deeper water simulating a bit of the reef break or slab type of break. Though I would never say that they form in quite the same way as they do in the ocean.

Beach Breaks form when the height of wave reaches a depth of roughly half of it’s height. So a beach break can be woefully unreliable in terms of where it will break and how big it will be based on the size of the wave. For instance on a big swell day, a wave could be breaking much farther out than on a day when the swell is smaller. The only way to be able to surf it is to watch it over time, observe other surfers and gauge where the best place is to catch the wave. Beach break waves can vary based on the slope of the bottom from gentle peeling breaks, to steep dumping breaks, though the speed and spacing of swells have a lot to do with the type of break. Surfing a kayak in shallow water at a beach break can often result in pitchpoling, neck-breaker surf conditions. For Michiganders this is par for the course, but for those with more options tread with caution.

Lahinch Reef Break in County Donegal Republic of Ireland

Reef Breaks form where a slab of rock, coral reef, or other undersea bottom feature, (sandbar) forms underwater that happens off shore. Waves at this type of break often are very meaty, powerful and occur in deep water. Bird Rock in San Diego as mentioned in a couple of posts is one such break, as is Mavericks, the big wave site in Northern California in Half Moon bay. Reef breaks often have the tendency to break in a bowl or crescent shape so that it may start to break over a rock at the middle and then wrap around and break at the edges later. I will try to find some video where this occurs. It looks cool as hell on film, but is a little freaky when you are out there grabbing greenwater, and then all of a sudden you’re staring an 8 foot close out in the face. If the reef is particularly shallow this can also make wipeouts horrendous.

Point Breaks are rarer still in the Great Lakes, Steamer Lane is a very famous beach break because of the surf contest. Point breaks are great for using the sheltered side from the swell to capture wrap around waves that are more uniform with clean lines. Depending on the prevailing swell direction and the way the point juts into the ocean these can be great spots. They tend to break in a predictable uniform manner. But if the swell direction changes you can have a pond with nothing to surf which happens from time to time for the Santa Cruz Surf Fest.

I don’t personally have any preference for one or the other of these types of breaks. Point Breaks and Reef Breaks are nice because you typically paddle out on flat water to catch a wave rather than through an intimidating beat down of beach break to catch even one ride. Knowing which type of wave you are surfing and watching how boardies and other paddle surfers are catching waves will give you a lot of intel on how to surf each type of break. Barring that, you will have to head out and do it by trial and error. I usually use landmarks even when I can watch other surfers. I place myself in the same place in the lineup each time using feature on shore, and then another further down the coast line to triangulate my position.

If you have good videos of any of these particular types of breaks you want to share drop me a line.

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SLAB from CIRCULATE on Vimeo.

This hypnotic video of a slab style break, or reef break does a really good job of showing how the power of the ocean essentially comes full stop onto a slab of rock. The board surfers here are doing a pretty decent job of judging where to grab their rides. I was not quite so skillful when I went to San Diego. Bird Rock is a beautiful relatively secret spot to go catch some waves. But it is a beefy, bowl shaped break. We just don’t have anything like this on Lake Michigan. Very cool stuff!

This footage is from the upcoming feature film, The Way of the Ocean

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Two words- reef break.

Ok it was also a great family vacation to boot, we had a gas with the kids going to sea world, the wild animal park, and board surfing at Ocean Beach.

The hardest part about being in San Diego was watching other people catch great waves while I was boogie boarding. I was having a gas, but secretly twinging and pining to catch some waves in a surf kayak.

I rolled out of bed at 5:00 am and drove to Jeff Laxier’s house to get outfitted for the Mega UFO. I have a boogie here at home, but was excited to try out the UFO. The UFO is really a sweet surf boat for catching ocean waves. Much much edgier than the boogie. Which makes getting stuck in on the face easier, but when you’re spinning to catch a wave you better be flat, or expect to get capsized. Jeff drove with his guard dog bear down to a series of surf spots, he narrated the pros and cons of each. I was happy to have a guide because I would never have found the reef break we surfed near Scripps called Bird Rock. Jeff and I launched off of a small sandy spot in a rocky little cove in a rising tide.

I warmed up surfing some smaller reef break about 3-4 foot stuff. It was a challenging break in that to really get a good ride, you had to ride between a rocky ledge and some submerged rocks. I took some pointers from Jeff and managed to avoid the rocks. I did whack my head on a few, (thank god for helmets).

Once I got used to the kayak, Jeff and I ventured out to the bigger reef break. We shared it with a few boardies, but pretty quickly we were swapping rides back and forth. I was trying to stay closer to the shoulder in order to break off the back in the event I got to close to the rocks. But my first ride was the sweetest slice down a glassy face I’ve ever had. It was pure greenwater all the way down. I had a perfect takeoff with a quick paddle and then I flew straight down like roller skate on a hill. I began low brace ruddering straight into the face and carving something fierce. I was woohooing all the way down. The wave started to peel my way like it was going to close out, and it seemed to happen in slow motion compared to my Great Lakes Experience, so I spun and shot off the back of the wave.

We caught a few more good rides like this and then the tide came in and closed out that outerbreak. We moved over a bit to a more steep and smaller set of waves.

By Noon with no real breakfast I was exhausted.

But I have to say for those that hear me say Lake Michigan this, and Lake Michigan that, all I could think after this was Lake Michigan why?….

Now I’ve got some San Diego in my eye and I can’t get it out, no…I’ll be fine.

If you’re going to San Diego to paddle look up Jeff Laxier at “Liquid Fusion Kayaks”:http://liquidfusionkayaks.com