September 1, 2026

In the 1970s, Charles Koehler was often one of just two or three surfers in sight as he rode the waves on the shores of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. “I was so naive. I thought, ‘Gosh, the way this is going, I can see where by the time I’m 35, 40 years old [and] I can’t surf anymore, I’m gonna come down here and it’s gonna be 3-foot [waves] and perfect, and there’s gonna be nobody out, nobody to watch.’ Well, that didn’t happen,” Koehler said in the 2025 short film “Dancing With Gravity.”