Wed Aug 26

[jv.]

Warm SW beginning Wed. afternoon and into Thursday. I will start at home because I want to work on Bonnie's wing'ing skills, but hope to get at least to McKinley gravel beach later in the day.

[Steve271]

Does it work on SW?

[jv.]

Steve, it all depends on how much west is in the mix. Looking promising. Hope to kite and wing, but
I will take a lot more risk with west with wing than I will with kite. As soon as it moves from side-on to side-off I would get more conservative with kite unless there is someone there to chase down breakdowns.

[Steve271]

Thx JV,
Will keep a close watch.
Anyone know if Swamp is clear enough for anyone that might drop a kite occasionally?
Otherwise I guess Pike is an option (since I won’t have time to head to Winnebago

[jv.]

Looking like wind may be earlier at McKinley than at home, so hoping to be there before 11.

[dmonn]

WindGuru and Sailflow both say SW near the shoreline for McKinley Marina. I don't think SW is safe at McKinley Beach. If you're away from shore at all and $hit happens, you might drift north past the point at the north end of Bradford, and your next stop would be Michigan.

The wind forecast for Pike Lake (I look at the West Bend forecast) is better than along Lake Michigan. SW is a pretty decent direction there, and the weeds aren't bad at all. A little too many weeds near shore for foiling, and shallow water along the east side of the lake north of the beach, but no problem for a TT or surfboard (or Sector 60 ). Windsurfer Bruce has been foiling OK on the west side of the lake lately. He adapted one of his windsurfers to attach a foil, and it's been fun watching his improvement. He's never said anything about weed or shallow water issues on the west side, and says it's not too tough getting out past the weeds and shallows on the east side.

With luck I'll be at Pike this afternoon. Hopefully get there by 1:00. Anybody else up for PIke?

[jv.]

Don is right, I am at McKinley now and slightly side off, not going to kite. Perfect for wing foiling though with my biggest wing & foil right now, going to take advantage of that! Later probably back at home in back yard, unless more west showes up in which case we will probably join you at Pike done.

[jv.]

McKinley disappointing as there were too many long lulls. However, when it was windy was nice to foil without any weeds for a welcome change. And given the nippy water temp with side off wind drawing the cool water up and blowing the warm surface water away, didn't volunteer any more than necessary to go under and check foil for weeds. On the other hand, the water was good for my sore old back. Wind better at home, and Bonnie wants to get out with a sail & wing, so staying here now.

[dmonn]

Pike was good. As expected, the west side of the lake was best.

interesting mix of windsports on the water there. Hans was windsurfing, Bruce was on his foil windsurfer, there was a wingfoiler and me. Big kite with TT until I got tired, then switched to surfboard for a bit before I packed it up.