I have progressed enough that I am not too afraid of boats and wakes anymore. Also since I go out and practice even on 6 knot days, I have perfected uber lightwind upwind skill, No matter how weak wind blows I can always get back to the same spot I sailed from. No more walk of shame.

Still, im not ready for lake michigan yet.. But I want to explore more inland lakes.

First of all, lets ignore silver lake and lake andrea and wolf lake... EVERYBODY knows these 3 spots..

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My favorite is Diamond Lake. 2nd closest inland to lake michigan. Wind is shiftier than andrea, but still not bad. You often see windsurfers on it as well.

Then there is bangs lake in Wauconda, 3rd favorite.. Long walk from the launch spot to the parking lot.. Shifty wind, more inland. (But if its W or NW wind, its windier than diamond lake)

I also know that round lake is very nice too, public boat launch. I haven't personally tried it yet.

Any other lakes you guys have tried and surfed?

Be brave go for the Big Lake. Just pick a good day and the right sail.

Use a board with a daggerboard and you can always make it back on L Michigan, after the beaches close Labor day you have so many options for safe easy sailing.

How wavey or choppy is the big lake? I live in libertyville. Which launch spot is the closest to me? and which is the best?

The Big Lake is Lake Michigan. I live in Ca. now and only sailed on the Michigan side where the waves get real big when it blows. I was just trying to encourage you to go for it on mild day.

In Evanston at least, after labor day any of the public beaches can be sailed because lifeguards are gone. I've sailed Gillson beach in Winnetka after labor day. Waves and chop are dependent on direction and wind strength.

On a north to northeast wind, Greenwood Beach in Evanston can be sailed by a sailor who cannot waterstart at up to 15 knots, and it will be variably wavy depending on when the wind started. It can be fairly flat for the initial several hours. The wind is usually very steady. It's totally safe to try to sail, the waves are right on shore, if you are able to uphaul and sail out successfully, you can uphaul and sail back successfully. Try a small distance out initially, then longer as you get comfortable. You get washed back to shore. It's a very long beach that you can launch way upwind and give yourself a lot of beach to get back in, there are 2 beaches southward for a true swim-in emergency. Don't try it on days with a small craft advisory. If you are willing to sail 6 knots at an inland lake, the big lake is sailable at 6 knots on a north wind. Above 15 knots, Greenwood is for waterstart/footstrap sailors.

On SE to SW winds, Greenwood or the next beach south Lee Street are sailable, direction goes from sideshore to side off-shore, and these sites vary from flat water to choppy depending on the wind strength and direction. It's not hard to uphaul no matter how strong the wind is. The more west the direction, the flatter the water, but the offshore direction is more severe and the wind tends to be further away from the launch (you head south out of sight from the launch). You want to be confident working your way back upwind, with a daggerboard it will be a piece of cake in light wind, the risk is if the wind is stronger than you can handle and you get blown downwind. The wind tends to get better the farther south you go, it's not very good when you are in sight of the launch, so confidence is needed to enjoy these directions. Use a board with daggerboard initially.

On a NW wind, Gillson beach is perfectly sideshore and a long beach. Chop will vary depending on wind strength, probably very easy to sail up to 15 knots.

Straight E or W avoid Lake Michigan.
Rig small if you are worried about too strong wind. Test your ability to uphaul in the conditions, don't use a 9.5 sail unless its perfectly flat.
They teach beginning windsurfing at Northwestern Sailing Club, often see beginners sailing out of there in all wind directions (they have a rescue boat though) on light days.

Hey Max, Im gonna add my 2 cents worth of advice here too.
Probably a lot of us have had that same notion of a “best lake” right around the corner when we started windsurfing. I certainly did have and checked maps and on the spot until at some point in time I realized like everyone else before me that there is no such thing like a best lake for every wind direction. Ok, that was the bad news. The good news is that there are indeed best spots but only for very specific conditions and unsurprisingly these are the popular spots that EVERYONE knows about-according to you. Well, these places are popular for a reason and have been proven to work best for their corresponding wind directions for years by many a wind junkies.So my advice to you is: if you have the time and can afford the transportation costs, plan , search , locate and drive to the best spot for the conditions of the chosen day, especially pay attention to the wind direction and speed predictions. Look, 6 knots of shifty gusty wind can take you only that far in your skill progression. All the good windsurfers that I know have honed their skills by traveling a lot locally and internationally in many cases. What you can learn in good windsurfing conditions among windsurfers with solid experience you can never learn on the local pond in 6 knots with bunch of other newbies or intermediates in the best case. If you were one of those people who look at the sport only as an alternative entertainment for kids and friends on 4th of July until the BBQ is ready I won’t have bothered to reply , but judging by your recent equipment shopping spree it looks like you’re very serious about it and not lacking ambition either. I think it’s time my friend to get serious about choosing your windsurfing spots too! If you want to get ahead faster that is.
So, every windsurfer has his/her own methods for planning their time on the water and I’ll tell you mine. Not that is the right method, far from it , but just as an example-one of many possible. I used to have a flexible work time job before Covid as an independent contractor and I was able to take most days off for as long as I desired and I was checking obsessively several times a day through a several different weather apps looking for wind. It all changed rather unexpectedly and now I have a fixed schedule with only Sundays and Mondays off, sometimes not even that. It’s all much more relaxed now for me in connection to the sport. I still check the forecast almost every day-old habits die hard-but I only check the Weather Channel app. I have saved a few towns of interest in the favorites and those include Clinton, Il to the south, Fond Du Lac , WI to the north and Whiting and Michigan City, IN , Evanston , IL , Lake Geneva and Kenosha, WI in between. The farthest ones for me are between 2.5 and 3 hrs drive. Taking into account the wind direction that the spots in this areas work best I check the forecast for at least 10-20 mph of wind for my days off and ignore anything less then that. There are better things to do below 10-20 mph Weather Channel prediction which tends to be on the conservative side but sometimes we have ourselves a picnic with my wife at Lake Andrea and I may bring out my WindSUP with a 5.7 sail and do some light wind freestyling. You can check my video page for some ideas. Most of the time I have my big board and the 7.5 in the car also just in case of a surprise wind increase. But let’s go back to the good ones 10-20 and above. If such a forecast pops up for one or more of my saved towns I start watching it closely and if it sticks I check my other remaining wind app-WindAlert , which nowadays only gives you a free forecast for a single day ahead . That’s perfectly fine with me though. If the good wind forecast sticks to the last moment before I leave I’ll be having most of my equipment in the car -because you never know what you may need and I would have chosen which place I’ll be going to according the wind direction. Last moment change of plans have happened in the past too. Consulting with the local buddies is a great idea too.
That’s all from me now. I hope you can take something of a value from my blabbering and if not that’s fine too. Anyway hopefully I’ll meet you by the water someday!

Good advice Ady. I won't say much but you learn and progress by pushing your limits and watching other hot sailors. If you have to swim a bit so be it.

Ady's advice solid. I described the south direction conditions carefully at Evanston because they are way under-rated for windsurfing at all levels. Some good sailors won't go there on those directions and sail Wolf Lake instead. In terms of overall sailing experience (wind, scenery, sailing area, water quality, beach, rigging/parking) I think its far superior to any inland lake, even if you would use one sail size up than Wolf. There's 4 or 5 of us max instead of the dozen at Wolf Lake on a SW. The offshore winds turn them off. The wingers are now coming out in those directions at Evanston, shifting and changing winds even a greater problem for them. It's a solid option for those close enough to Evanston.

Hi Andy, thanks for the advice. I will take your advice and stick with andrea and silver for now (sometimes I have to do diamond lake cuz I get a 2 hour window tuesday afternoon after work that I can squeeze in a quick session). Waukegan harbor is 30 mins from me as well. I think its pretty safe for my skill set. Have you foiled yet? I wonder if I can go out and try foil when its below 10 mph but above 8? I do know that my falcon lightwind board is an excellent foil board by design and I just purchased a 1700 front wing and super long fuselage.

I feel like I rarely see more than 10 mph wind on my weather app. I use "the weather channel" app and Windy app. Which app do you trust the most?

Max wrote:
Don't most of the apps draw their info from the same general sources/models? It seems like they all show some mix of GFS, HRR, NAM, ICON, etc.

BrianLynch wrote:
Sources and models are above my pay grade, I’m just consuming what’s fed up to me without asking questions. For example this is what the Weather Channel is showing right now for Whiting, IN on Monday:

In the slow wind period of mid summer that’s enough to attract my attention and put me into a daydreaming mode. Wolf rocks on WSW! Quick check with WindAlert confirms the forecast and makes me put a note for Monday in my calendar: it’s an Ady day. Don’t disturb

I take nothing for granted though. The forecast may change several times until then for better or worse.