Saturday evening, I went to the lake as the cold front was coming in and saw what looked to be ridable waves in Lake Pontchartrain at the old Pontchartrain Beach site behind UNO.
After calling some friends who had surfboards(to borrow), I was so stoked I could hardly sleep that night. I knew it was going to be cold, but I was determined to see if the legend was true. Could New Orleans be surfed?
When we got to the beach, there were already 2 guys surfing! Then, as I was throwing my wetsuit on, wunderkind Kenny showed up and showed me the ropes of this “locals only” surf spot. That’s right – we’re going Dogtown on this bitch.
Here’s the movie I quickly whipped together.
Here’s the weather(lakefront) from that day. Notice the water temp and wave height(max). It was actually a bit colder than this in the morning when we were out there. I pulled this up after I got back in the afternoon(the hottest part of the day).
Mahalo to Jonathan Jahnke of Scrub Brush for shooting us shredding “The Pontch.”
Click here to see Surfing Louisiana Part 1.
NO Adventure 
Hey great to see the video…I wish we could have stayed and surfed with you guys, it was just too cold we were out there for more than an hour and a half.. things were getting numb. I just heard of another mysto spot .. we are going to ck it out, it is only accessable by boat, I will update you once we see it, I hear it is close…MYSTO…
When surf is just not happenin’ we hit some garages around town for some longboardin’, there is a lot of great places to skate.
By: JB on March 3, 2009
at 7:40 am
Great video! Wonderful song choice! Hope we see you again on another fun NO adventure! Nice to meet you all!
By: denise on March 4, 2009
at 1:33 am
is that the only spot on the lake?
By: austin glidewell on March 11, 2009
at 10:59 am
There are other spots. Since the waves in the lake are generated by wind, you just have to be on the shore where the wind is coming from the direction of the water. The surf guys out there said that they drive to the Northshore when there is a big south wind.
By: noadventure on March 11, 2009
at 6:25 pm
[…] you can see, the windsock is showing a south wind, so it’s not a good time for surfing; however, kayaking in these conditions is always […]
By: Paddle to the Causeway Bridge « NO Adventure on May 15, 2010
at 3:30 pm
got a question for anyone who has experience surfing in ponchartrain. does it ever break bigger than what’s shown in the video above? are there any spots where a shoulder forms? What are some other good beach spots besides the one in front of UNO? I’m stoked to give it a try out there. I’ve paddled around in ponchartrain many times on my boogey board to get in shape for an upcoming surf trip, and i’ve seen it a bit rough out there, but i’ve never been on a beach, just along the cement steps, so i never even considered surfing ponchartrain. the drive to pensacola can be pretty inconvenient sometimes and gas just keeps going up and up.
Cheers
By: Jeff on March 15, 2011
at 4:21 pm
It has been many years since I surfed in Lake Pontchartrain. In the 60’s I was arrested by the Levee Board and NO police dept for surfing during an approaching hurricane. I was charged with trespassing in the lake. The charges were dropped I am happy to say and I enjoyed many years of surfing. I competed in the 1st Surf Contest in Grand Isle and lived for many years in California. I am back in Louisiana and have been down to Grand Isle a couple of times. I am sorry that the road to Fourchon is closed. Years ago 2 friends and I were told of big waves at a place called Fourshon and we paddled for long way to the beach through canals. I don’t know if there are any of the surfers around from that time around anymore, but It’s good to know that there are some surfing going on.
By: Frank Dupuy on February 7, 2012
at 12:24 am