Still a couple days off, but if the forecast holds or improves, I might make the drive to Clinton to sail on Sunday. It looks like NE wind with the current forecast, so where would be the best place to launch? Marina Sail Park?

Saturday looks better, however Clinton doesn’t setup well on NE. I’m thinking the marina road is probably best bet.

Eric Raven wrote:
Marina Sail Park is no more. The state sold that land from underneath CLSA to the new marina owner. He turned it into longterm camping for camper trailers - the whole area is private. CLSA is working on a new spot a little up the ways - and they were forced to build a road to it(it's not ready).

Sunday: If it's straight NE we'll launch off The Road. If it's NNE we'll launch out of Purgatory(main pool can handle shifts better - wide open) Right now (7/28) Euro model has gusts to 31 NNE.

The Chicago side of lake Michigan could go off too. Illinois Beach, Waukegan Beach, Evanston Beach, Montrose Beach.

Well, I do need to go to Chicago and I would really like to sail lake Michigan, but I also really like the Illinois version of "Clinton Lake". Are you tryin' to talk me out of sailin' with you guys, Reid???
I need to pick up a large painting in Evanston, so I was thinking of sailing at Greenwood beach. Are these other places better?

I knew you needed to make a trip up there and was giving you a heads up. Yeah, if you're going to Evanston, Greenwood beach makes it easy. We might get some SSE wind here Friday afternoon, weekend for north winds still up in the air with the models. The L of the low is going to pass right over the lake , rain and storms in the mix. We'll see what the updates look like.

Euro model still hanging in there for Sunday. 6.3 to 5.6, N-NNE.

Just got back from Smithville Lake (Missouri); sailed 5.7 for about 90 min, which was not as good as I was hoping for. The favored north wind launch site got rip-rapped by the corps or engineers last year with and 8 ft WALL of treacherous stones, so no joy on the favored north wind launch site at this lake from now on. There's LITERALLY no way to get to the nice little beach without risking serious injury.
On the PLUS side, tomorrow (8/1/2026) is gonna NUKE at Hillsdale lake (south of KC), which can be absolutely EPIC on a north wind. Forecast says it's gonna HOWL for like 6-7 hours!
I'm gonna need to rest on Sunday, so not gonna make it to Illinois this time, but one of these weekends, it's gonna set up and I'll make the drive!

Eric Raven wrote:
Saturday 8/1/26. Euro model gust forecast.

That looks killer, so jealous!

It WAS great! Sailed a 4.5 for over 2 hrs , took a break , went back on a 5.3 for another 90 minutes. Gonna sleep really well tonight for sure! It was STILL windy when I left at 5:30 pm!

Cool, I’ll have to catch the next one.