NOAA: Gusty south winds will continue on Wednesday with many locations seeing winds gust up to 45 mph at times during the afternoon.















West Side water temp, add 5 for rough Marina temp.



Marina looks like the spot with S wind at 180 to190 degrees. West Side starts working with 170 degrees. This is looking like 4.7 to 3.7 wind all the way to sunset.

Holly shit, got my 4.2 and 88ltr chilli pepper board loaded.

I didn't get to sail the chilli pepper board today. But I sail 4.7 in very challenging conditions. It was a fucked up squirrely wind but strong. I got some blazing rides and lofty jumps. Ended with a straight down wind ride in! Reid and me had worked our way up the lake to the corner so getting back was wild.

I got some decent time in Wed after work here at home (inland lake) on the Evo 92 and the SF5.8 (and was quite overpowered in the big gusts!)
The gustyness & squirellyness of the wind is very disconcerting... today is the third day of it in a row. I hope this is not going to become the norm.
That being said, sailing without an uphaul always makes me feel like a badass

Drew

Cool, which lake? You should feel like bad ass, not many people windsurf, it takes years of dedication just to learn how to get in the foot straps, locked in the harness and have the ability to water start. Everyone in our small subculture are bad asses, especially the ladies. Heck, 75 percent of Americans are over weight and out of shape to.the point they couldn't even dream of being able to windsurf.

Like driving a bike without handlebars
Drew, would you give us a heads up in advance when the conditions are going to be great for wave riding in your area? St Jo right?

We stopped at Marina Sail Park first. The wind was side-off there. Then we went to West Side. It was looking good until the wind went S-SSW - coming from the water fall. It killed all the wave action and got really holey. If the wind doesn't at least come from where the dam meets the grassy hill the West Side loses all its dynamics. So we thought about the bridge pool. We checked the Marina again on the way over and it was still side-off with no ramps. We pull into F13 and it was looking pretty good. Chris and I rigged 4.7s and right as we hit the water the wind goes from SSW to S. So we decided to launch here and head up wind to The Corner and make the best of it. Chris was hitting huge lofty jumps off the in your face ramps. We were way over powered in the gusts. We made it all the way to The Corner. The wind was cleaner there and we could get long reaches. The wind went SSE while we were up there and The Corner likes that. After awhile a dark cloud was heading at us so we started back for the monster down winder. Chris had a head start and made it all the way down to F13 from The Corner on one reach in the ragging wind and one jibe to get in. The wind started to shift on me and I made it in 3 jibes. Chris had to leave around 4:30. The wind started to shift back to SSW and just kept getting stronger. Lucky to be at the right place at the right time I rigged a 4.2 and had a ragging sesh. Dust started to fill the sky coming off the fields and let me tell ya it hurts your eyes. The visibility was so bad it caused a fatal accident on one of the nearby highways. I got off the water around 6:00.



Bloomington: peak sustained 36 mph, peak gust 44





Champaign: peak sustained 40 mph, peak gust 49





Decatur: peak sustained 34 mph, peak gust 47





6 of the day's 10 photos

More Of The Day's Photos Here



That's dust out there.



Nice swell.



This family decided it was a good time to move.












Looking way up the lake at The Road Launch





More Of The Day's Photos Here

Man Reid, that"s worthy of a thriller movie script! And I saw and smelled the dust clouds on my way home from Evanston. Had to close off the air intake, really bad.
Almost can't wait to be cold again