If you want to paddle around in the lakes, go for it!

Fwiw the majority of surfing I do here is over sandstone and cobbles. The lake Michigan time I get is on the far north shore of it, and both...

Of course you can go knock around in a mellow place and get a sense of it.
by percentage of time spent, surfing is mostly just paddling and being in the water anyway. Think of it as an expedited...