Hello fellow windsurfers,
I'm new to this forum, and although from Michigan, we share a big lake with Windsurf Illinois!

The rising level of the lake means there is now a whole lot more stuff swimming in the lake, sometimes far out, from entire trees, to decks, even homes. Big visible stuff can be avoided but often I have come very close to a big heavy piece of wood mostly swimming just below the water line, barely visible. I like to take my longboard out on large runs 1 to 2 miles out. I am concerned by the increased risk of breaking a fin and being stranded out.

With our sport being fortunately completely social-distancing-compatible and the 2020 season upon us, what do you guys think about the risk of hitting something in the lake ? I think breaking a find is the most likely risk here.

How would you return on shore without a fin ? I've read things of putting your harness in the water attached to the back strap, or sailing backward, none of which sound comforting.
I'm thinking of packing a shortfin and scredriver in a harness backpocket ?

Thoughts on the new risks from the lake, and a home run without a fin are welcome.

Thanks!

Hi Marc and welcome to the forum. Nice to see new faces joining the conversation. I'm sailing on Lake Michigan as well, just on the opposite side in Sheboygan, WI!

This is an interesting topic. Yeah, there's has been a few more things floating around these days. I found that insidious pieces of trunk or debris is usually washed ashore rather quickly though. There's always a risk of something unusual floating around but in my area that's rather unusual - like 2 days ago, a dead cow was floating around the Sheboygan marina! Yes, an entire cow that probably had been carried away on the Sheboygan river!

When stuff is floating around on the lake, it's usually after a rain storm or a few consecutive wet days. The Sheboygan river frequently carries entire trees - stump, roots and all - out on the lake. These things can kill someone for sure if you fall on them at a good speed. The worse is that it was hard to spot in big swell and muddy-murky waters, which was the case last year in one of those great NE fall days.

For sure carrying a spare fin and a screwdriver is a good insurance, but it's not really convenient and I wouldn't be too comfortable sailing with a ready-to-stab screwdriver on me! I prefer to take a chance and watch carefully where I go. I try not to venture so far that I can't self-rescue and I never go out on Lake Michigan on days with off-shore wind anyway. I heard the same thing about the harness through the back straps but you might want to try to see if you can close your harness on your board(s) as some have pretty wide tails.