Surfing Legend Kelly Slater Defends Chicagoan Arrested For Surfing Oak Street Beach
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 20, 2012 3:00PM
40-year-old Rex Flodstrom made national headlines when he was arrested Tuesday for disorderly conduct. How was Flodstrom disturbing the peace? He was surfing Lake Michigan at Chicago's Oak Street Beach.
Some of you on the coasts are reading this and thinking, "Surfing the Great Lakes? Please." But winter is probably the best time of year to catch a wave on Lake Michigan, as this video shows.
Anyway, Flodstrom took to Twitter to announce "surfing isn't a crime" and specifically targeted 11-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater. Slater read Flodstrom's story and replied thus:
Now Slater is thinking about showing up to Flodstrom's Feb 16 court date in order to, as he told the Chicago Sun-Times, "see what kind of BS they’re talking about."
“It’s unbelievable. It’s just a body of water. What’s with the regulations?” said Slater, the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals champ. “ It makes no sense. … It sounds like a police state.”
In addition to the disorderly conduct charge, Flodstrom also faces two counts of violating a Chicago Park District ordinance and one count of being in a park after hours; Chicago beaches are closed until May 25. This is why a lot of surfers head to Indiana to take in a wave. If Slater can clear his schedule, he also plans on taking in some freshwater waves for the first time. James Pribram, a surfer-turned environmental activist who helped overturn Chicago's surfing ban (yeah, Chicago can be kind of a police state), also plans to show up in court in support of Flodstrom.