Updated January 13, 2025 at 09:59 AM ET
Think 'surfing' and that might not prompt vision of people riding waves in the Great Lakes. Imagining surfboards being produced in the fresh water basin may be even harder.
But a Milwaukee, Wisconsin surfer is a on a quest to dispel those assumptions by coming up with an eco-friendlier board.
There are more than 10,000 miles of coastline along the Great Lakes, so it's often called the country's Third Coast.
Peak season for surfing is in the fall, winter and early spring - when winds can whip up impressive waves.
So on a chilly fall morning, folks in wetsuits came to ride the swells, and Ken Cole showed up.
"Here we go," Cole says softly.
Cole's love of surfing began in Hawaii - where he was working on his dissertation in psychology.
He's African-American and says he didn't know many Black surfers, but when he moved his psychology practice to Milwaukee in the late 1990s, he was delighted to discover a small and welcoming surfing community.
Issues with surfboards
There's just one problem - as far as Cole's concerned. Surfers love the waters but typically use surfboards that ultimately contribute to plastic waste that can be harmful to oceans and the Great Lakes.
Although there's momentum for more eco-friendly equipment - Cole says most boards have polyurethane foam cores and are coated with fiberglass -both non-biodegradable.
If they break down in the water, fish and other aquatic life ingest them. If boards end up in landfills, their toxins can leach, compromising ecosystems in their path.
Cole says the industry is trying to change, "But a lot of their focus is on packaging, it is on repurposed foam. But repurposed foam still relies on foam. Even those that are doing greener boards are relying on fiberglass," he says.
Jumping aboard the eco movement
Cole jumped aboard a movement to create surfboards that won't leave toxic waste in their wake. He started by wrapping his boards using large coffee bags made of jute, eliminating the use of fiberglass.
In his basement shop he moves boxes to show off his surfboard drawings and other creations.
"This was a box that's basically like a flat-pack box that when I lectured at one of our local schools, at the end I stood on that, basically to show that it would support the weight of a 205-pound man," Cole says.
The box is strong because it's made of a composite material Cole created - a combination of jute and palm sheath.
And he asked a couple of engineers to look at what he'd come up with.
"Through a lot of trial and error and testing how to really prep the leaf, we figured out the right way to make the bond really strong," Cole says.
Testing the composite on the waves
The big test came on that chilly autumn morning as waves rolled across Lake Michigan.
Ted Burdett, an industrial designer, was on hand to watch. He created a 3D model of the surfboard and designed the board's internal skeleton using Cole's composite material instead of foam.
"It's one of the heavier boards, but I think what we're going to see is that supplies a lot of awesome momentum," Burdett says.
And with the waves approaching, Cole started paddling into it and then popped up on the board riding along the face of the wave.
Minutes later, when he comes back on shore, both men shout with childlike delight.
Cole says it's like the thrill the Wright Brothers must have felt when they flew the aircraft they built near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
"And this was surfing's Kitty Hawk, I truly believe that. Unless there's somebody else doing a Kitty Hawk board - which I don't think they are," Cole says.
He won't be abandoning his psychology practice, but Cole plans to funnel energy into inspiring other people who make surfboards or even other products to use his composite material or to come up with their own eco-friendly ideas.
"if I can do it in my garage, Ted's shop and my basement and it surfed, what else can be done? That's really the question," Cole says.
Enough reflection, he says. Then he and Burdett head out to catch some waves.
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