Great Lakes Surfer  Summer 1993

GLSA HISTORY

The First GLSA Championship

by Steve Ceskowski

 The newly formed GLSA sponsored the first Great Lakes Surfing Championships on September1, 1966 in Grand Haven, Michigan.  Not having my drivers license yet, my father offered to drive me and fellow surfers Kerry Kessler and Keith Adams to the contest.  It gave me an opportunity to hob-nob with a fellow commercial fisherman on the far side of the lake.  On a bright summer morning we strapped my 9’ 2” Stingray and Kerry’s 8’6” Phil on a new pair of Bay Standard racks on top of Dad’s ’63 Impala SS.

 
The Bil-Mar Snack Shop, now site of the Bil-Mar Restaurant on Championship Day 1966.

Arriving in Grand Haven amid minor wetness, we set up camp in the State park.  We were impressed by the number of surfers hanging around the old Bil-Mar snack shop, but were unprepared for what we were about to see.  Walking up Emmett St. we arrived at Terry Laug’s house, contest headquarters and the GLSA’s home base.  Terry’s house was then a lone sentinel atop the highest dune in Grand Haven; you could see for miles around.  There must have been over one hundred surfboards lined up rail to rail totally surrounding the house.  An Endless Summer poster was hanging in the doorway and the Beach Boys were hammering on the stereo.  A full-on surf party was in progress, and we were in heaven!  Kerry, Keith, and myself lost no time introducing ourselves and meeting surfers from all over the Great Lakes.  I recall pouring over photo albums and surfboards like a kid in a candy shop.  Later that evening we viewed 8mm home movies of surfing around the lakes including the famous Harsen’s Island freighter wave footage.  Prior to crawling into our sleeping bags we heard that there would be waves for the contest tomorrow.

Terry Laug’s house on contest weekend.

 Our tent rattled and whistled all night as a cold front blasted through, bringing up waves of monstrous proportions.  Choking down the “fisherman’s special” at Mary’s Restaurant, Kerry and I made our way down to the Bil-Mar to register for the contest; Junior and Senior Men's.  Everyone rode longboards, and women did not compete.  Kerry and I were both assigned heats in Senior Men.  I felt a bit under-gunned with my “pop-out”.  It was the Signature-Model period in surfboards and everyone had one except me.  Kerry went out in the first heat and had a number of long rides.  The wind had died and organized long sets of smooth waves were wrapping around the pier from the North.  We were scored on our best three waves.  I recall having a tough time paddling out in my heat, the fourth and last in the Junior Men's.  I had yet to learn the secret of timing sets and burned too much energy trying to punch through a couple. 

Steve Ceskowski's heat for men's juniors begins as surfers dash into the lake.

 Finally outside, I turned and tried to drop in on a huge face.  Did I ever get pitched and rolled!  My rockerless board pearled all the way to China before the lights went out.  When I surfaced my board was nowhere in sight.  I had drifted out of the contest site and was rapidly heading South.  I started the long swim to the beach but was caught by the river current.  The stiffness of my beaver-tail wetsuit did little to help my progress.  About 45 minutes later my swimming had turned to treading water and I realized I was in trouble.  Not only was I way out, I mean way down the beach, it seemed like I was further off-shore.  It was then I saw the bobbing of a lone surfer as he knee paddled over the swells in my direction.  “Need a lift?” was his greeting as he swung the big Hobie for me to grab.  Was I glad to see him!

The Senior Men’s winners of the first GLSA Championships.
[Left to Right:  Kerry Kessler, Rick Sapinski, Craig Van Single]

We tandem-paddled to the beach where I disembarked and began the long trek back to the contest site and the search for my board.  I found the contest mid-way through the Senior Men’s Finals with only the Junior Finals to run.  I had missed five heats during my misadventure at sea!  I caught a couple of Kerry’s rides as he took third place in the Junior Men's.  As it turned out my board washed in not far from the judge’s stand and was retrieved by my friend Keith.  I was thankful to be alive and had a newfound respect for Lake Michigan.  I never did recall the name of the surfer who rescued me.  He was about ten years older than me in age and a decade in experience.  He would be in his mid-50’s now; I wonder if he still surfs?

Steve Ceskowski surfing after the contest, September 1, 1966

The rest of the day was spent partying and surfing the diminishing swell.  Leaving Grand Haven we couldn’t resist sand-surfing Rosy Mound, then a steep 200’ dune south of town.  We rode Kerry’s keel-finned PHIL board toboggan style until the bottom lost its’ gloss coat.

 As the sun slid slowly into the lake we talked about our role in the future of surfing.  That future was bright with possibilities as the following years would prove.  The connections made during the first GLSA Championship were to serve us well.  Grand Haven was home to R. C. Allen’s Beach Point Surf Shop and Felix Marina, both major sources for boards.  Numerous spin-off shops adopted the surf theme.

Grand Haven became the “Surf City” of the heartland, a meeting place for surfers and the beach minded.

 
[This edited version of the previous photo was not in original article.]

   The Great Lakes Surfing Championships is a tradition passed down and preserved since the first event in 1966.  Names associated with keeping that tradition alive through the years are:  Terry Laug, R. C. Allen, the Whites and the Pushaw brothers, the Beaton family, Dave Irwin, Pat Shooltz, and John Peters.  Its my hope that some of the younger crew will carry on the tradition of the Great Lakes Surfing Championships.  It’s an event that brought us together in the sixties and keep us together in the nineties!

Happy Trails!