OUR STORY
Born on the Fresh Coast
We were never supposed to surf here.
No palm trees. No reef breaks. No warm water excuses.
Just wind. Steel sky. And a lake that doesn't care.
Freshwater surfers wake before dawn. Check forecasts nobody else understands. Drive toward storms instead of away from them.
Some days there are waves. Some days there aren't.
We go anyway.
Because this isn't about tropical fantasy. It's about ritual. It's about grit. It's about belonging.
Wiloha is not borrowed culture. It's Midwestern resilience meeting ocean mythology.
Wisconsin + Aloha. Cold water + warm stoke. Unsalted.
Lake Effect isn't a store. It's a signal.
If you know, you know.
THE FOUNDERS
Jake Bresette
Owner & Founder
Former insurance worker turned Great Lakes surfer. 10+ years surfing Lake Michigan. Coined “Wiloha.” Calls this era the “Golden Age of Great Lakes Surfing.” Favorite spots: Atwater Beach, North Point/Bradford Beach, Sheboygan.
Alaina Bresette
Co-Owner & Co-Founder
Surfer, snowboarder, and co-founder of Lake Effect. Jake's partner in building Milwaukee's freshwater surf community.
THE FRESH COAST
Lake Michigan: The Fresh Coast. The Third Coast. The Unsalted Seas.
What started as 1–2 lonely surfers has grown into the Golden Age of Great Lakes Surfing — 15–20+ surfers on a good day.
Surf season is counterintuitive: late summer through spring, peaking in fall and winter when storms bring wind and wind brings waves.
Modern wetsuit technology enables surfing in frigid temperatures. The water layer heats inside the suit, making year-round surfing possible.
The culture blends surf, skate, art, music, zine culture, and Midwest working-class grit into something entirely its own.
THE SHOP
1926 E. Capitol Dr., Shorewood (Milwaukee), WI — 2016-2025
Lake Effect Surf Shop opened in July 2016 as Milwaukee's only surf shop — and only the second in the entire state of Wisconsin. For nine years, the Shorewood location served as the community hub for a rapidly growing freshwater surf scene.