North Shore Kahuna

Randy Carlson vividly remembers his first wave. In elementary school his family traveled to Hawaii, where he took a surfing lesson at Waikiki with a big, tattooed Hawaiian guide. He had waterskied near Hayward, Wisconsin, where his parents owned a resort, but this was something different. As he paddled in to catch the wave, his instructor gave the tail of his board a push—a little help. Carlson stood and was thrilled by the sensation of acceleration, weightlessness, and gliding. “When you feel that, you get pretty hooked,” he says. 

Now Carlson, who first started surfing Lake Superior in 1988, is the surfing coordinator of the University of Minnesota Duluth Recreational Sports Outdoor Program and is helping others feel that rush, only in chillier waves. Carlson has worked in the program since he was a student in 1983, and he started the surf program in 1990. He’s taught generations to ride waves and watched the Lake Superior surf scene change and grow. The boards and wetsuits have gotten better. The skill level has increased. And Carlson’s experience surfing in strong winds and dangerous currents, getting in and out on rocky shores often covered in ice, and learning the coast of Lake Superior in detail means that he can advise others where to get stoked too.

Q | Where did the idea for the surf program come from? 
The students enjoy the board sports, so I just started surfing. And that led to a lot of people wanting to try it. So I built up a quiver of surfboards and wetsuits, booties, mitts. Turns out, I did a master’s in education, but I’m a professional wetsuit washer. 

Q | What were you hoping to achieve?
Just get more people out on the water. I started whitewater kayaking in 1983 and later started the whitewater kayak and canoe instruction program and helped host a number of whitewater slalom races in Carlton. The river running had generated a lot of momentum, and the surfing captures people’s imagination. The rivers aren’t necessarily flowing as good in the fall and early winter—and that’s when Lake Superior waves start to turn on. And the water’s relatively warm after storing up all the sun’s energy over the summer. Fall is a good time to be in Lake Superior.

Q | Can you talk about some of the things that you teach?
Your swimming ability and board control, paddling technique, balance—I can establish that in the swimming pool with surfboards and stand-up paddleboards. I’ll put people on a wake behind a ski boat, and sometimes teach them a bit about hydrofoiling. You use surf skills when you’re hydrofoiling. From there, we chase after the waves on Lake Superior.

Q | Who can be involved with the program?
The pool surf orientation is for everyone, including the general public. But I sell 10 surf passes, only for UMD students, every fall. And I’ll train that group for three months. So that’s a bigger commitment. That surf pass sells out in like one minute.

Q | What do students learn with that pass?
They know how to take care of the equipment and get in and out of the wetsuit. They have board control, can launch and land on a rocky shoreline, and understand about rip currents. They, for the most part, are picking good waves and catching them. But there’s a lot of wipeouts. I think they learn to respect the scale of Lake Superior, and that you’re not always going to be in control.

Q | You surf in fall and winter. What are the coldest water temperatures you’ve been in? 
32.1 degrees. What’s cool is it’s still liquid, but there’s a point where if it’s snowing the lake can’t melt the snowflake. It just turns it into a slush patty. And when you surf through slush, it slows you down. It’s really weird.

Q | Does any moment with a student learning surfing stand out? 
Sometimes they will declare that it’s the best thing that they’ve ever done at UMD. When you catch good waves on Lake Superior, there’s a lot to be proud about. And they bring that energy back to campus and share their stories with their friends. So I’m the facilitator that puts together a progression that can get them to that moment of pure enthusiasm.

Q | What’s the biggest reward of running the surf program? 
Getting people oriented to exploring the unknown, taking risks, and being positive even when you’re struggling. Surfing is exhausting, and it sometimes seems out of reach, but if you keep going, every day is different, and you break through if you keep working at it.