Grand Haven "Surf City"
Early History
Grand Haven’s Surfing Roots
It would be impossible to know exactly when
during the past 10,000 years since the last ice age that people began riding
waves at Grand Haven. However, it is not hard to imagine
Native American boys at the mouth of the Grand River paddling a canoe onto the
waves and riding them to shore much the same as ancient Hawaiians did, or as
kayak surfers do today. There is a newspaper account of Grand Haven’s famous
inventor N. E. Brown canoe surfing at Highland Park in 1909. A photograph at that time also shows evidence of boys trying to stand
and ride a paddle board near the old Highland Park beach pier. Local folklore even tells
of paddle board surf clubs at Grand Haven in the 1930s. One was known as “The
Frogs” and the other “The Blue Birds” a name given by sailors to
large waves on the lakes. The story is substantiated by an old board acquired
in a local estate sale some time ago. It has a frog prominently displayed on its deck.
The first known modern day surfer at Grand Haven was Doc “Makaha Dave” Seibold.
While living in Hawaii he built boards out of balsa wood from U.S. Navy surplus
life rafts and covered them with the crude fiberglass of the time. When he
moved to Grand Haven he brought one of these boards with him and took it out
surfing at the Grand Haven State Park in September of 1955. According to
present research, he is the first known surfer on Lake Michigan, or for that
matter, the Great Lakes. Because of him. Grand Haven can trace her surfing
roots back to Hawaii.
“One of the great surfers from the Fifties era—George Downing—has talked about putting a surfing museum together out in Honolulu and asked that I contribute my board (that old balsa wood style is rare.) However, I think it should remain here and I will someday put it on display in our local museum for display.” Dr. Dave Seibold 1989
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