Cuffed while still wearing his wetsuit. Taken to jail for four hours. Board confiscated.

All for simply surfing.

It’s mind boggling that in this day and age, surfing is still a crime in some places. And I’m not talking about some place ruled by a dictatorship where people aren’t allowed to have free speech or free will.

This was in Chicago, of all places.

When Chicago surfer Rex Flodstrom saw some 4-footers showing up at Oak Street Beach, on Lake Michigan, he paddled out.

It’s such a foreign concept – not being able to paddle out when and where you want. Here in Orange County, people get up during the early morning hours while most of the world sleeps. There’s no lifeguards on duty, but that’s a given.

UPDATE: I chatted briefly with Rex, who called from Chicago to talk about the ordeal.

Q. What do you think about the support from the surf community?

Flodstrom: It’s crazy. The outpouring of supporters has been amazing. It’s very surreal, I still have a court date, but I feel pretty confident that it will have a good outcome. When I was at the police station in the holding cell, I thought “I’m going to have to walk home in my wetsuit by myself,” which is a pretty long walk.  But somehow, the news had spread and another surfer came to the police station to get me.

What’s it like sitting in a wetsuit in jail?

Flodstrom: I got some strange looks. You’re behind glass, so I noticed several different police walk over to look in the glass. I don’t know what people were thinking, but I got some crazy looks.

What’s that spot like in Chicago?

Flodstrom: It only breaks 1 or 2 days a year. As a surfer, if you see the waves, you want to go out. That happened to be one of the days, so I decided to go. The water is about 38 degrees. Getting arrested in your wetsuit isn’t really fun after surfing – but I did catch a few waves that were pretty good.

What are your thoughts in general about surfing being illegal?

Flodstrom: It’s crazy. It’s something I hope will change here and anywhere else it’s banned or illegal. I don’t know, it’s pretty unexplainable. I haven’t heard of anyone getting arrested for several years. It’s a crazy situation.”

What do you think about getting support from Kelly Slater, and a possible court appearance?

Flodstrom: Kelly is the man. I’ve been a fan of his for my whole life; that would be amazing if he came. Even if he doesn’t come, because I know he’s busy with contests, what he’s done so far is more than I would have ever expected -  to even speak on the subject. It shows surfing is part of a global family that looks out for each other.

Chicago has had a longtime feud with surfers, and a few years ago, Laguna Beach surfer James Pribram was on the forefront of a fight along with Surfrider that helped make some parts of the Great Lakes legal to surf  – but apparently, Oak Street Beach wasn’t one of them, and Flodstrom was booked for disorderly conduct and being on a closed beach.

The surfing community is uniting on this front, and is hoping the result will be a change in this crazy mindset that limits something as healthy, as spiritual, as positive, as surfing.

Eco Warrior James Pribram is going to Chicago to lobby the Council to reconsider surfing laws

I had a chat Friday morning with Pribram, who is in Mexico speaking to impoverished kids about the benefits of surfing.

“I though we already went through this. It’s pretty incredible that in this day and age that surfing is illegal,” he said. “They see it as a safety concern.”

In speaking with Pribram, we talked about how crazy this was for a number of reasons.

Here’s just a few of the things we spoke about:

- Safety: The City of Chicago keeps beaches closed because there are no lifeguards on duty. Can injury happen while in the water to surfers – yes, and that’s a risk surfers take. Can a person be injured while driving on the freeway or crossing a street? Yes, accidents do happen. As a matter of fact, surfers are probably the best-kept secret for the public’s safety in the water. Pribram saved a woman who was swept out in the water in Laguna Beach – had he not been familiar with the ocean because of his years of surfing that spot, the woman would have no doubt died. I can think of a dozen stories I’ve done through the years of surfers helping each other in the water, or swimmers nearby stuck in rip currents who would have drowned. The surfers are on the front lines, in many cases there before lifeguards can reach the scene.

- Economy: Um, does the Chicago City Council know that surfing is a multi-billion dollar industry, and this entire culture could be a new revenue source for them? Surfers travel, eat and stay in places all over the world to take on waves. It’s not just young broke kids who take up the sport – there are doctors, lawyers, CEOs of big companies.  And how about the Stand Up Paddle culture – the fastest growing segment – which would no doubt thrive on the Great Lakes. “That would be huge for them, I’m guessing. That’s one of the things I was excited about, we created a whole new industry for them. They could have surf shops, SUP lessons, and treat it as a whole new income stream,” Pribram said.

- How about the real crime? So seriously – cops really took the time to handcuff and haul this guy away, freezing in his wetsuit! As reader Dana McDaniel, a surfer who moved here from Chicago, put it:  “a ticket wouldn’t suffice?” Pribram echoed those thoughts. “It’s one of the most dangerous places not only in the country, but in the world. And then they’re arresting people for surfing? There’s real crime in Chicago; there are better things they could be doing there,” he said.

- Surfing keeps kids out of trouble: Again, surfing isn’t that once gritty and frowned upon subculture made of misfits and degenerates who spend their days causing trouble. OK, maybe there are a few out there. But as a whole, surfing is a sport that gets kids off the streets, away from video games, it keeps them healthy and active.  Pribram called from Mexico, where he had just met with a young kid who used to get into fights; but since he started surfing has improved his grades and has a better attitude toward life. “Surfing changed his life. I was so inspired to hear this, I’ve always known that surfing has the ability to change people,” Pribram said.

Pribram got an email from 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, who has shown an interest in attending the court hearing if his schedule allows.

Slater took to Twitter to decry the arrest, and spoke to the Chicago Sun Times about the fiasco.

Here’s more from the Chicago Sun Times article: (Thanks to Tribal Surf for sending it over!)

“Surfing is not a crime,” the 11-time surfing world champion tweeted Wednesday. “Say what?! Maybe a few of us should attend court with him.”

Slater told the Sun-Times he’s perplexed by Chicago’s rather harsh surfing regulations.

“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.”

READ THE FULL STORY FROM CHICAGO SUN TIMES HERE.

If you want to send some words to Chicago’s Mayor, here’s his official Facebook page.

Follow reporter Laylan Connelly on Twitter @ ocbeaches, or at facebook.com/ocbeaches.

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