About Edgewater Surf

Cleveland has a secret. Tucked along the southern shore of Lake Erie, there's a water sports community that most people drive right past on their way somewhere else. Surfers, windsurfers, paddleboarders — people who looked at the same lake everyone else sees and decided to get in it.

Edgewater Surf exists because of those people. And because of one person in particular who refused to believe you needed to live near an ocean to build a life around the water.

How it started

There was no grand business plan. No investor pitch. Just a guy with too much windsurfing gear, a deep knowledge of Lake Erie's winds, and a growing number of friends who kept asking where they could get equipment and learn to sail it.

Jeff McNaught had been windsurfing Erie for years before Edgewater Surf became a shop. He knew which winds were worth chasing, which spots gave you the cleanest runs, and how to teach a complete beginner to stand on a board without losing their mind. What he didn't have was a place to send people.

So he built one.

Edgewater Surf opened as Cleveland's only dedicated surf and windsurf shop — a place where you could buy a board, get it repaired, book a lesson, and actually talk to someone who'd been on the water that morning. It was never meant to be just a store. It was meant to be a home base.

Lake Erie is a real surf destination. 

Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, which means it builds waves faster and more dramatically than its siblings. A strong storm front can produce surf that legitimately challenges experienced riders. The wind is consistent enough to make windsurfing a genuine pursuit, not a novelty. And the flat-water days — of which there are many — make for some of the most peaceful paddleboarding you'll find anywhere in the Midwest.

The season runs longer than people expect. Spring brings unpredictable, powerful conditions. Summer opens up for lessons, casual paddling, and warm-water sessions. Fall is when the real surfers get excited — cooler air, stronger winds, and fewer people in the water. Even winter has its devotees, though we'll leave that conversation for another day.

This is a real water sports destination. It just doesn't advertise itself very loudly.

Our mission is pretty simple

We want more people on Lake Erie.

Not in a vague, aspirational way. In a real way — more Clevelanders discovering that the water at the end of their city is extraordinary, more beginners taking their first lesson and realizing this is something they can actually do, more experienced riders finding the gear and support they need to go further.

We stock equipment we believe in. We teach lessons the way we'd want to be taught — patiently, honestly, with the goal of making you capable and confident, not dependent on us. We repair boards and make them look like new because keeping gear in circulation matters, to us and to the environment. There is no ding or dent that's too small or too big bring it in and we'll fix it. We even run an EPS foam recycling program, because a shop that's built around the water should take care of it.

This community found us before we were ready for it, and it's been growing ever since. Surfers, windsurfers, paddleboarders, curious beginners, seasoned lake rats — they all end up here eventually.

If you're new to all of this, welcome. You picked a good lake.

Come find us at 1374 West 117th Street, Cleveland. Call us at 216-905-6924.