The last batch-The one and only, the uncatchable silver fox, the queen of Midwest windsurfing-Jackie
The 1% of time when she wasn’t planing

Ahead of me lap after lap after lap...





I got her for a lap. I was probably faster overall, but in the next long lull she gained on me a half of a lap while I was slogging helplessly



This is the place where I intended to put the picture of her caught in the Weed Town East, but the picture mysteriously disappeared-like the Silver Fox

Celebrating Independence with some windsuping on Lake Andrea /besides the beer and sausages/

Ady wrote:


Did you shoot any bottle rockets from the windsup at that British ship in the background?

Reid Fillman wrote:

Ha ha the sailboat ? It ran away before a slim dude with a formula and an 11 m sail . I can’t believe the torture some people put themselves through in the name of planing. Not only he couldn’t plane a single time for the at least couple of hours in the water, but then he had to come in on the opposite shore because the wind shifted ahead of a little storm. Good thing the lake is small so he didn’t have to walk too long in the heat back to his car. I have shown them for years how much more fun a WindSUP with a 5.2 or 5.7 could be, but no, the locals keep slogging with their huge kits every time I go there, regardless how hopeless the forecast is. I get it that good windy days are rare there, but slogging with huge sails for hours hoping to plane for a few minutes looks a bit stupid to me. Maybe I’m just spoiled

Prime examples of bad choice: 11 sq/m sail tiny dude


and a 8.5 sq/m sail 80 years old grampa

is that the Jackie who used to own a windsurf shop in Chicago? I think it was maybe called Windward Sports?

Ady wrote:

Kevin Kan wrote:
I’ve been to the store once before it closed, I think before I even started windsurfing in the US, but I don’t know who ran it. It’s evident that the lady has some serious windsurfing background and I won’t be surprised if she was engaged in the business too.

Kevin Kan wrote:

Yes it is.

Site: w82.com

"a brief history of windward
chicago’s original boardshop established 1982

In 1982, original founder Lester Zalewski, an avid sailboarder and instructor, quit college, sold his van and took out a loan to open Windward Sports. His goal was to grow the Chicago windsurfing community through his sailboarding instructor experience and provide customers with an unsurpassed level of first hand product knowledge and service. Along with fellow instructor, Jackie Butzen, Windward blew up over the years eventually breaking beyond the windsurf scene into a full service action sport specialty shop supplying the Chicagoland area with snowboards, skateboards and inline skate gear.

Eventually, Lester sold the majority of the operating control to Jackie who continued to run the business until 2010. In 2010, three local chicago riders and boardsport enthusiasts purchased the business from Jackie.

After a complete re-invention, re-brand and re-model, Windward Sports was re-born as Windward Boardshop. In March 2011, Windward expanded their offering with a full feature online shop and continues to provide an unmatched level of customer service with first hand product knowledge that resonates the original values and spirit of the original shop from over thirty years past.

Enter 2017. Windward Boardshop gets the opportunity to be featured on CNBC’s The Profit. After making a deal with Marcus Lemonis, Windward Boardshop transforms into W82 and introduces new categories for a general audience. After a full expansion/remodel, W82 is stronger than ever."


W82 - Main Room



W82 - Skate Room



W82 - Snow Room



W82 - Swim Room

Yesterday 07.07 turned out to be an excellent 7.5 day and gave me some comfort for missing the better Saturday wind. Not surprisingly I was the only one sailing at the wall and even the parking lot was deserted when I arrived there just before noon. Completely different picture post session-full with cars including a party stretch limo -so you can imagine I’ve been included in many pictures and even had a cheering fan for a while who even offered to help me carry the equipment-cool guy. The city converted a section of the concrete remnants along the channel into a climbing wall and apparently an open climb event was on the way throughout the afternoon which attracted a small crowd into otherwise usually quiet park. www.rei.com/blog/climb/climbing-wall-opens-at-steelworkers-park The steady dense NNW wind didn’t disappoint and kept me planing almost the whole time with only occasional deliberate slogging to recover upwind ground and stay close to the wall, which btw doesn’t offer the same wave protection now when the water level is so high. Anything above medium hight goes over it so the protected side is relatively choppy now - not the speed track that used to be. Regardless I managed to clock a 27 mph top speed which is decent for the wind at hand.

The access is next to the “NO ACCESS “ sign


The concrete take off / landing platform and the tricky path down to it




Finally sailing in clear water for a change




Another DANGER sign! What’s up with this place


Learning the hard way that jibing doesn’t recover from a spin-out


Tried some one handed jibes-like the pros


The usual action highlights

Great shots. First ever from the water there.

The Wall official speed record is: 27 mph - Rider: Ady


Ady wrote:

We had our traditional Wednesday picknick at Lake Andrea, WI today with my wife. We do it usually when it’s one of those beautiful beach days with lots of sunshine and little wind and I usually bring my windSUP and paddle around or do light wind freestyle stuff. Today though I brought my Atom and the 7.5 Retro for a change because there was a stronger SW wind in the forecast with a good chance of planing opportunity. The day turned out to be fabulous and the breeze kept the heat at bay. There wasn’t much of a wind so I slogged most of the time with exception of a combined 30 min approximately when I could plane and blast with a decent speed over the mirror flat and very clear water. It was extremely gusty which is typical for Andrea and my arms got very tired, but those 30 min were super nice and worth the effort and hey, we have a official Lake Andrea speed record!!
These are the pictures that I’ve selected:

Wow! Damn that's awesome! A 29mph speed record right in the middle of the July doldrums!

Not happening today, wind collapsed. Loaded the turtle and checked again-skunk potential red flag. Turtle goes back in the garage