Reid, what you can't see, is that you drive down about 250 ft in elevation right close to there, so south wind is somewhat blocked on the south side of the lake close to the dam. Everytime I drive by there though, I think, "Hmmm.....I wonder how that beach is to sail from next to the dam" It would be nice to have some flat water to freestyle in, because there is ZERO flat water at Lucas park; it's SUPER choppy, especially when it's crankin', but some of the best pitching swell ever! Like the gorge when it gets goin'.

Yep, that's why I have a SSW wind arrow on the map on the previous page. The wind you guys were sailing both days on this trip was SSE.

Recon Alert #2:

A little farther down the road on the east side. Shore to shore whitecaps. The spill way boat ramp. A: Buzzed flat water - SW and WSW might bring you even farther into the cove than just SSW. B: An excavator for scale. C: Hello! An in your face ramp - swells rapping around the point. - Google Street View.

OK, I'm convinced: next time I'm out there and it's blowing SW, I'll sail over there and check it out. It's a commitment to a looooong trip back up wind, but I'm interested. Of course the last time I was out there (June) I swore I'd bring my snorkel, mask, fins, and lopping shears and cut down all the sticks in our launch area....totally forgot.

The deal with living in eastern Kansas, is that if it's blowin' at Wilson, it's probably also blowin' 30 min away at my normal launch. It's almost always windier out there, but if it's 20-30 mph here, would I drive 3 hrs each way for 30-40? I wouldn't. Last weekend was perfect though: windy out there, dead in KC.
We had 9 windsurfers and 10-12 kiters there this weekend: Denver, KC, STL, and Bloomington, IL represented!

Good stuff, guys. I moved this thread to the Vacation forum so folks can find it. Lou and Paul with others from Bloomington, IL back in the day would camp at different Kansas lakes for 2 weeks in October as their windsurf vacation over the years.