It's hurricane season in America and one of the biggest systems in recent years is currently bearing down on the East Coast. Hurricane Sandy has US sub-editors in a dizzy state of excitement - Frankenstorm they're calling it – as it prepares to cross at New Jersey.

As it does keen surfers will be looking for protected places to ride the surf, though Sandy's track will severely limit those options. However, some out-of-the-box thinking may lead surfers on one of America's more unique surf trips - the Great Lakes of the US mid-west.

As Sandy turns extra-tropical and heads inland towards Canada it will set up a long fetch of northerly gales through the Great Lakes system and generate large swells heading south on each of the waterways. Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are the better aligned of the five lakes for swell creation, Michigan having a potential 450 kilometre fetch and Huron 300 kilometres.

Each lake offers numerous nooks and crannies that offer protection from the wind, with lefts running down the western sides of the lakes and right to the east.

If it sounds like an ideal surfing road trip it's worth bearing in mind that the water temperature in the Great Lakes is currently an icy 11-12 degrees. Add to that a bone-numbing windchill due to the gale force winds and it'll feel more like zero.

Also, surfers will have to choose their spots wisely. Earlier this year local Great Lakes surfer, Rex Flodstrom, was arrested for surfing in Lake Michigan, Chicago. Surfing in Chicago is illegal at most beaches due to a deadly accident that occurred decades ago. The law was lifted at selected locations in 2009 but Rex found himself at one of the spots that are still off limits.

Arctic temperatures and archaic laws notwithstanding Hurricane Sandy appears set to deliver waves – potentially very good waves – at places that rarely see anything over knee high. //CRAIG BROKENSHA with STU NETTLE