Surf's up! High winds bring surfers to Cleveland's Edgewater Beach

CLEVELAND - While high winds knocked down trees and knocked out power, local surfers had a challenge of their own as winds knocked the tops off the waves Monday afternoon.

“The wind is like nothing I’ve ever seen down here,” said Trevor Lyons. Lyons began surfing when he moved to Cleveland from Michigan two years ago.

“Surf reports say it’s supposed to be peaking at 13-foot swells,” as he looked toward the lake from the beach at Cleveland’s Edgewater State Park. “Surf report” and “started surfing in Cleveland” aren’t terms one often hears when describing northeast Ohio.

Lyons along with Rick Strauss, of Rocky River, worked the waves on surfboards, closer to shore a man glided along the shore using a kite board, a surfer pulling along by a wind-filled parachute.

"You get a dozen days like this, luckily it’s after work,” said Strauss. “You hate it when it happens during the (work)day, can’t get out there.” A windsurfer for 25 years, Strauss recently went to long board surfing for the challenge.

The Lake Erie surfers use wetsuits to insulate themselves from the chill of the lake’s 47-degree temperature.

“The suns out, keeps you warm, big waves and the ice-cream headache only lasts for a minute or two,” he said. Surveying the lake he added, “I’m surprised more guys are out tonight.”