Jake wrote:
Chris wrote:


You boys will be back better, stronger, faster.

NOAA: Windy, ...increasing to 27 to 32 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 50 mph. Mostly sunny, with a high near 65. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 10am and 1pm. Chance of precipitation is 20%
















Looks like an epic day for F13 in the campground SSW turning SW. 4.2 and smaller. I plan to get out there around 11:00 AM. Afternoon wind looks like the sweet spot. The other nice thing about F13 besides the warmer water is you can stand up on both sides - it's waist deep near shore. And if anything happens we can pull you out near the bridge - a backstop.

Launches page is temporarily down.



Google map - Clinton Lake State Recreation Area:www.google.com/maps/place/Clinton+Lake+S...620101!4d-88.7902709


Water temp on the west side 39 F. I'm hoping the water temp at F13 is breaking 50 F.

Who's with me? So we know who to look for.

Reminder drive slow turning into the F section. And I mean slow! Look at the tag at camping spots. If they're reserved find an empty one.. Extra parking at the bathrooms. You'll see them on your way in.

Hi Reid it’s Tomek , Jake’s friend from Wi, I should be there around 10 ,black Nissan Patfinder Wisconsin pleats,S2Maui sails if on the water ,regards T.

Welcome, Tomek! I fixed your avatar. I think that's what you were trying to do(if not we can change it). We look forward to sailing with you.

Ups I think I did a little mess here but it’s under control now ,I hope, so see you on the water ))

Well, nobody is coming to Wolf /and rightly so-it sucks/ so I’m free like a bird to go wherever I want. So, Clinton here I come.
The forecast looks kinda funny-gusty and shifting-but after 2 months of winter Hell anything looks like Bonaire to me

Awesome, Ady. Yeah they're trying to forecast some kind of rain around noon. Like I said an afternoon sweet spot. Should shift SW after 1:00 and blow all the way to sunset. See what the models look like in the morning.

Well, boys--how was it? As an "arm-chair quarterback" sidelined from the action, I'm dying to hear if today lived up to the hype.

Hope all y'all got to play on your small gear!


Happy 2019 season!

Was good to be at the lake even though I couldn't Sail. Too bad the wind shifted direction, seems Rick got the most of it by getting out early. The place to have launched was the south side of the DeWitt bridge.

Late arrival for me and the wind has shifted too much to west already with the shore making a long shadow. A couple of the guys were rigging smaller sails so I decided to use my 86/4.2-the smallest gear that I have. Taking it down to the water is pretty difficult at that launch going down a steep path between trees and all kinds of thorny bushes. This time the path was all muddy on top of that so making the 2 runs back and forth made me tired before even hitting the water. Then I had to swim to get to the wind line just to realise that the gear I rigged is too small for the extremely gusty conditions. Struggled for a while before giving up and swimming 10 min to get back to shore. Another launch scratched for me at Clinton making it a total of 3 never agains. Went to check the Marina launch from there with David in tow and found it decently awful with side-onshore gusty wind in its peak strength for the day. Rigged the same 86/4.2 again and got only slightly better results. Changed to the 94 in tri fin but with energy drained , violent gusts of over 50 mph and of course my pathetic skills I could do only so much. A few survival type of back and forth runs without a single successful turn and I was done. Not my best session as you can imagine but still worth the drive because I got to see the guys and we had our traditional post session visit to the “PowerJibe” pub. I didn’t eat the cake but got the cherry at least

It was good while it lasted. The wind shifted close to 90 degrees in only an hour and a 1/2. From SSE to WSW. It was nice to see and meet everybody. Let's get to some pics. But first...


Bloomington: Max sustained 45 mph, 12:21 PM - Max gust 58 mph 12:21 PM - Air Temp High 65 °F, 12:15 PM




Champaign: Max sustained 45 mph, 4:40 PM - Max gust 55 mph, 1:21 PM - Air Temp High 70 °F, 1:00 PM




Decatur: Max sustained 38 mph, 12:40 PM - Max gust 56 mph, 5:54 PM - Air Temp High 68 °F, 12:35 PM





20 of the day's 55 photos. See all of the day's photos in link below


I got to the lake around 10:00 an hour earlier than my ETA. Tomek said he had to leave early. Tomek had been on the water since 9:30. 4.7 sail 86 L Fanatic freewave. Making the most of the south wind - 170 to 180 degrees. Straight at the camera is the beam reach. Water temp 54 F. Nice!




Tomek (4.7 sail 86 L) Hitting nice duck jibes at the top of F13 cove. (Full sequence in link at bottom of post)



Tomek (4.7 sail 86 L) Working the gusts as if he was a local. He's got a lot time on the water from exotic locales and it shows.



Tomek (4.7 sail 86 L)



Sun pops out, wind turns to SSW. Swell starting to build. (I set up the GoPro on the bank.)



Me heading out on my 4.2 sail with 95 L RRD FSW. I got some rides.



Me (4.2 sail)



Later. Coming in to give the 4.2 max down haul and out haul.



Tomek also comes in to rig down to 3.7 with 76 L Fanatic freewave. Sun's out. swell is building. wind coming right down the pipe - SW. We got'em now!




And then a dark cloud comes over. At least it's not raining.




Reid Fillman wrote:

Raining. Got to hand it to SailFlow again (NAM model)



Conditions were not the same when the wind came back. SW giving way to WSW. Offshore.

Q: What is windsurfing in the Midwest like?
A: Have you ever uphauled a 3.5 that will be overpowered.

Rick (3.5 sail with 95 L) Ady swimming to the wind-line. Me thinking about just taking pics.



Ady (4.2 sail) Hitting a fast-tack. (Full sequence in link at bottom of post)



Ady (4.2 sail). Tomek back on 4.7 sail.



Tomek (4.7 sail), Rick (3.5 sail) , Ady (4.2 sail)



F13 cul-de-sac. If it loses its wind protection the wind has too much west in it. Ady and David went to give the Marina a shot. Chris drove over too. Tomek had to leave or we would have re-rigged on the other side of the bridge pool



The Marina had a different problem - too onshore. And a different weather climate. Felt like winter. Water temp was 8 degrees colder at 46 F. David just came in, his 3.8 sail got whaled on. His new board handled it pretty well he said. Sorry I missed getting pics, David. Next time!



Ady (4.2 sail). Liquid smoke gusts out there.



Ady (4.2 sail).



'till next time, folks




See all of the day's photos here

Thanks Reid! Looks better in your pictures, you even captured the only dry turn I had for the whole day! My only regret is that I didn’t realise the potential for a good practice at the Marina and just wasted it. Nice seeing you guys again, I was missing you already, hopefully I’ll see Glen, Rich and Sylvain soon. Speaking of which at one point today I started to visualise a relaxed 7.5 at the beach or the road for Sunday, thinking Rich may join too, but the forecast got downgraded later and I registered for work so that mirage sank like my 86 at F13
Happy St Patrick’s to the Irish /real or just feeling like/ and Slainte!