Did you try it? If not I think you'll like Round Lake in NNW wind. I've tried it twice now and the chop never really builds up, very flat compared to Wolf or Silver. I will say I had a much easier time last week in ~12kts NNW than I did today in WNW in bigger air. With the breeze a little left the headland there really makes it erratic. Not many direction changes but huge range of wind.strengths. There were times I was literally stopped in no wind and times the puffs were nearly 20kt. The puffs are quite short as well so lots of stop-start action today.

I think your wing foil board will be great there as the depth is very good just offshore (similar to Andrea if you've sailed there) and there was literally zero weeds. I was on a foil there last week and today, and my buddy Brian foiled there last week, and the only weed encounter was a single piece for him, so it's quite clean.

On Sunday I decided to go to Gillson and struggle with the waves on the foil. After going out and back, the wind died for me and 2 friends who also brought wing foils, they never got going, then it rained. Wind would not have been enough anywhere, lucky I didn't drive out there. Today was supposed to be windsurfing day at Gillson, again the wind let us down, shlogging out and back in super steep chop, shorebreak, with only one planing ride. Tomorrow supposed to be windy again, hopefully it turns enough north to sail Greenwood. Nice to know the difference between WNW and NNW at Round Lake, knowing every bit helps. Another winging guy told me that Wolf gets bad when a W wind gets a little N. Seems like WNW is one of the impossible sailing directions in Chicago area along with E.

Round Lake in WNW reminds of Silver in NW, where it works but for those of us without the technique to really link puffs together it's like being on a bus where someone is pulling the "stop requested" cord on every corner. NNW was lovely though and very easy to do what you want.

I'd considered Wolf for NW but Ady said something to the effect of "only in a gale" so didn't try it!

Brian (not on here) really likes Lake Geneva in WNW wind. Looking at the lake I can see why as you'd get a nice long fetch for the wind to stablize, and then if you launch from the middle of the lake you'll probably get some compression of the wind as well. I have not tried it, but it's nice knowing it's there for that rare condition.

I really want to try Evanston some time this fall. I spent a lot of time working on going upwind in plodding mode and can get upwind if needed now.

Was your 12 knot NNW day the Thursday that was to be a big day on Lake Michigan? What hours did you sail? How was the wind quality? (steady, gusty). I'm just interested in the correlation between the big Lake on that direction and an inland lake, although I would be loath to miss a big windsurfing day on the lake for that direction. The wind quit early that day, the nice conditions were done by 11 am.

Just checked my notes: I was out on last Wed actually. It was very steady direction, and a bit up and down in velocity but the puffs were nice and gradual in terms of build up, and lasted a while.

Brian made it out Thurs, and thought it was awesome in the morning, he was pleased with no eeds on a really deep slalom fin. The breeze did die there according to what he said last week. I was on Lake Michigan with boats on Thursday, and it seemed to stay strong offshore a lot longer which is no surprise.

Yesterday was funky as the delta between puff and lull was like 3x the windspeed! I've only had one day like that and it was Andrea in E and it was a total mess of just getting planing and then falling backwards as the wind would drop.

A south or southwest day you should be perfectly fine at Greenwood. 13-15 knots at Wilmette buoy from the north would work with a large sail (8m+), there will be no shorebreak and easy uphauling with low waves. Reading S and SW wind is a bit tricky because it is not windy until you are 30-100 yards past the breakwall. After the season I used to prefer Lee Street for S and SW but they put up parking meters for non-Evanston residents to have to pay. It is always closer to the wind than Greenwood, you could consider dumping your gear on the grass and parking a block away. At Greenwood without a permit you can dump your stuff on the rigging grass by the lot and park 20 yards away.

I'm going to hold out for a nice S day. Really want some steady wind as waiting for puffs is really costing me time to work on skills! I'll probably park wherever other windsurfers look to be getting ready. Don't mind paying a meter at Lee if the access is better (so long as it's going to Evanston and not Laz parking a la Chicago..)

Went to Andrea on a predicted windy SW day to wing, but brought windsurfing gear too. Was very windy and warm, and had much success with the wing despite being massively overpowered at times. I hadn't tried sailing there for about 20 years, thought I'd give windsurfing a try. I thought SW would be the best direction, wind follows the long dimension of the lake. On a day with gusts of 25+, it was unsailable, too gusty, not enough real estate to get in straps, minutes long lulls to waterstart. Gave up after going back and forth once.

Never tried Andrea in SW, as Silver is nearby if I'm up that way and I really like Silver for SW

I like Andrea a lot in NE, and have tried it twice in ESE. One ESE day was amazing flat water, very steady breeeze and the first day I got planing in some kind of control. Right after that there was another day with stronger ESE (like 25kt) and it was unsailable due to variability. The breeze was only about 10deg left from the good day, but it was awful. Andrea in NW is truly shit as well. The most annoying day I had there started NE, and then started big shifts left to about 330deg and the lulls got huge; took me like 10 minutes to make the last 20m to shore.

Glad you're having so much fun winging. I've spent my whole life on the water but really getting into windsurfing in 2021 has been like a whole new world, imagine it might be similar with your picking up the wing.