Witches on the Water: A Northern Michigan Tradition

SUP group balances—pun intended—sport, nature, and friendship

By Geri Dietze | Oct. 26, 2024

A group of like-minded women paddleboarders have spent the last 10 years meeting up on area waters every Monday evening from Memorial Weekend to Labor Day to enjoy the great outdoors and good vibes. (Not to mention the low-impact, full-body workout targeting cardio, core, balance, endurance, and mental and spiritual wellness.)

Brittany Brubaker McNeil, founder of the Petoskey Ladies SUP Group, first experienced paddleboarding with a Traverse City group years ago, where she was “inspired by the kinship and camaraderie.” So she recreated that experience in 2014, upon moving to Petoskey. “It was fun because you’d start to see more and more paddleboards on cars every Monday,” she says of the early days.

Since then, any number of women will gather every week at locations on one of our many waterways: Lakes Charlevoix, Walloon, Burt, and Douglas; Petoskey and Boyne City State Parks; or basically any place that is accessible, safe, and beautiful. “We go all over,” McNeil says. “That’s one of the neat things.”

Out on the Water

McNeil is a busy mother and owner of Boyne City’s Lake Charlevoix Coffee Company, so when the demands of business and motherhood took priority, she passed the torch—or the paddle, as it were—to fellow boarder Sue McLain, another regular of the Petoskey Ladies SUP.

“Sue was a natural fit,” McNeil adds, of the experienced sailor. “She knows how to read the wind, and she [puts an] emphasis on safety.” (McNeil adds that the SUPs have “certainly had some experiences,” citing high winds at Petoskey State Park and Horton Bay, for example.)

McLain was a teacher from the Grand Rapids area who moved with her husband to the family’s Up North home upon retirement. “I am the official leader,” she explains, “but it takes many hands to make it all happen…to organize, photograph, post, encourage, and read the weather to make every Monday night the best night of the week.

“We attempt to hit a different launch or lake each time,” she adds, and “each paddle is followed by a picnic.”

There’s no pressure with the Petoskey SUP. Indeed, anyone can show up on a Monday, or skip it, and no one minds. “Attendance averages this year around 15,” McLain explains, “but we’ve had as few as two and as many as 50 on any given [Monday.]”

The SUP group has a large following on Facebook—over 1,000 people—but McLain says that “thankfully the group … is usually very manageable.” Wondering who will show up “is half the fun,” she says. “Each week we just love the ones we’re with.”

Learning the Ropes

And while it’s not recommended to jump right in without any experience, the group is accommodating to those who want to learn the sport. Boyne City’s Kim Mettler, a member since 2018, is a good example.

“I [first] saw the FB group online, but I didn’t even own a paddleboard,” she says. Mettler used a borrowed board for the first two years and admits that she had only tried the sport “a couple of times,” adding, “I spent the first season falling off.” As proprietor of Michigan Barefoot Memories Photography, Mettler is known for her great shots taken on and off the water. (You’ll find her shots, and those of others, on the SUP’s Facebook page.)

There’s no particular order to how these diverse women—from teenagers to seniors, from at-home moms to professionals—came to embrace all of the sport, but do know that when they’re not on their Monday paddle, they are up to all kinds of cool things: leading yoga on the Little Traverse Ferry; mountain biking in Copper Country; hiking Michigan’s section of the North Country Trail; or paddleboarding through all four seasons, snow and ice be damned.

“Isn’t it great to surround yourself each week with such inspiring women?” McLain asks.

Celebrating the Autumn Equinox

The first annual Witchy Woman Paddle took place in 2020 on Walloon Lake around the autumn equinox, and you can be sure heads were turning at the sight. (Mettler was there with her board and her camera to record the event.)

The inspiration came from McLain via an article in a Portland, Oregon, newspaper about a like-minded group who paddled the Willamette River in Halloween costumes. “I knew this bunch of gals would be up for the fun,” she says.

This year’s paddle took place on Sept. 23 and launched from Peninsula Park in Boyne City, with over 30 participants paddling the shoreline past downtown Boyne to the marina and back.

“The costumes, props, and hats get better and better every year,” McLain says. (Safety dominates, but there are also fashion tips, like make sure your witch’s hat is secure from the lake breezes.)

Spectators look forward to this low-tech, environmentally friendly, and very chill event and take it in from Boyne City’s downtown docks. Café Sante was the scene of post-paddle cocktails and apps.

The Witchy Woman Paddle officially closes the season, though group members stay in touch on Facebook for other adventures on and off the water.

Visit the Petoskey Ladies SUP Group on Facebook for inspiration and information. Photos courtesy of Petoskey Ladies SUP Group.