Home of surfing in Wisconsin excited for sport to make its Olympic debut

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Tyler Stewart spends his summer days searching for waves. Just not off the coast of Hawaii or Southern California but in his hometown of Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

“I might be a little bit biased because I lived here my whole life but I don’t think you can get any more beautiful than this up here.” Stewart said while standing on the sand of North Side Municipal Beach.

Among the trout and salmon in Lake Michigan you can find plenty of surfers hanging ten in what has been called the Malibu of the Midwest.

“It’s fun to use it. People talk about and if it connects Sheboygan to surfing that’s great.” Mike Miller, the owner of EOS Surf Shop in Sheboygan said.

Miller has lived in Sheboygan his entire life and has owned skate and snowboarding shops around the city. Once he got into surfing he opened EOS 16 years ago. He has surfed in Malibu and Florida and while Lake Michigan doesn’t get 40 foot waves, he loves this hidden gem in Wisconsin.

“Sometimes we go to the lake and we’re out either kite boarding or surfing and I feel like its this secret that we have. You try telling people and some people just don’t believe it.”

“There’s lake surfers everywhere but a lot of people travel to Sheboygan because we have great waves. We have really good clean waves, we have really good breaks. We’re in the middle of the lake so we get swell off the North and the South. The geography of our land and the two big piers we have break up some of the wind.”

In one week surfing competition can be held with two gold medals up for grabs in Tokyo, one for men and one for women on shortboards.

The events will be held at Tsurigasaki Beach on Japan’s pacific coast with John John Florence and Kolohe Andino representing the men’s side and Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks representing the women.

“Surfing to me is a therapy and it really helps me decompress and relax.” said Stewart as he gazed out onto Lake Michigan thinking about the exposure the sport of surfing is about to get.

“A lot of people should be able to see that.”

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