All right gang. I took my grandson to Michigan City for his first lesson. I’ve never been and didn’t know better. The winds were 12 mph which is ok for first time but were from the North so there was wave stack up from the city that were a continuous 3-4 ft rolls so we had to give up. Now I’m thinking Clinton on Wednesday. If wind is from the NorthEast as forecasted where should we put in for a 1st time lesson?

NE is a tricky direction for Clinton, the lake just isn’t setup well for that direction. I would try the Marina or perhaps off of the corner to the left of the boat ramp at the campground. Waiting for the rebounding southerly may be a good idea. Reid, will Peninsula day use work on a NE? Dan, PDU is off of hwy 10 on south side of the lake.

Thx for the response, Chris, however, grandson heads back to Vermont on Thursday and Cedar Lake still has the e-coli advisory. It does look like the forecast is tending towards the west a little. Is there a better place to put in for winds from the west?

How about the three launches near Boondocks? It looks like you can launch perpendicular to North East from there. The other thing I’d like to be able to stand in the water to give instructions. Are there any waist deep spots?

The Road launch is what you want for NE wind and teaching.

The Marina launch is off shore on NE and you'll drift into deeper water and in front of the marina - not good

The launches around the Boondocks are deep and you could drift away not able to get back on NE - not good


What you want is The Road launch. The whole shoreline is shallow and gradual - lots of waist deep water. NE wind comes all the way down the bridge pool. If anything happens you'll just drift back to shore. Water will feel like a Holiday Inn heated pool.

The Road launch.



The Road launch closer. Park on the south side of the road. Just east of the guardrail(see photo below). Make sure your wheels are off the road when you park. Lots of grassy rigging. Watch for cars. You'll see an opening to the water.


The Road 2018



Forecast looks light.

Exactly the response I needed. Thank Dr Clinton (Reid) Fillman.

The road launch was perfect for what we needed and my grandson did well for a first time. Thx. It is the 1st time I’ve been on CL with a board. I loved it. Now I hate to beg more info but would the gang be willing to list the favorite launches for the 4 wind directions. I’d like to become more of a frequent visitor. The truly sad truth of this is my wife was born and grew up in Clinton and we’ve visited her family multiple times each year for the past 40 years.

Good to hear, Dan!

As you noticed The Road also sits perfect for NW wind. It's great for big northwesterlies in the fall. Just fall in to warm up.

A better way to look at Clinton is what wind direction doesn't work. And that would be NNW.

Every spot has its day. It's like having 12 lakes. Checkout the launches page. Zoom into Clinton and click an orange icon. It will give you best wind direction(example below) . Click the diamond in the red bar to the right of the launch name for driving directions.

Start a thread when you might make your next pilgrimage and we can finetune it for ya. Red carpet treatment.

70% chance it will be the Marina launch. It grabs the dominate S-SSW winds..

Launches page: windsurfillinois.com/index.php/launches

Marina launch example