Meeting Greg at the base camp Starbucks and loading up on carbs before the long ascent . See you on the top guys

I'm all packed up and ready to head down. I'll be at the lake around 10:30am. The wind is picking up in Bloomington.

Got my ass handed to me. Was out of control on 4.2, tail walking, skipping across the water. Ugh!

That was a gnarly experience! Great to see you guys again and meet some new people. i'm still processing how an inland lake can be so brutal! There were surfable waves on the inside. Crazy. I had a great time. I should of listened to you guys and rigged a 4.2 instead of 4.7! I now know what Clinton can deliver and have been humbled! Camping was great, peaceful and scenic. Looking forward to visiting again!

Some good indicators of the conditions yesterday:
1. My keys, stuffed inside my hitch receiver, we’re blown out the back of the hitch and we’re in the ground.
2. Side view mirrors on my van were folded down wind.
3. My Goya Volar took a small trip from the rigging area.
Oh ya, it was stronger on the water !
Still had a great day meeting some new folks, and sharing some windsurfing tales!

Wow, a second 4.2 day in two weeks!?! After a wind-poor summer ?! This has got to be some sort of a vindication. When me and Greg arrived at Clinton Chris, Reid and Wendel /who I was happy to meet in person finally/ were already there. Reid gave us the run-down and despite his advice to rig 4.2 I went with the 4.6. It took just a couple of minutes to realise that it was a big mistake and I took the treacherous way back to the parking lot. At this point it was clear to me that I’d rather go home then go through this again, I mean this launch is like a max difficulty NAVY seals obstacle course-wading over submerged trees, swimming between little coves -it’s insane. Reid has given it the absolutely matching name for a reason-it’s a Purgatory indeed! Greg didn’t fare much better with his 5.0 so he came in soon after me. Quick derigging and I dragged him to the Beach -my all time favourite launch. We stopped at the Road on the way there, but this spot was still in a wind shadow a little-the wind hasn’t shifted fully yet. The Beach felt literally like Heaven after Purgatory. The local kiters and windsurfing Jake were already there having a good time and the wind has dropped some, so it wasn’t too intimidating. I rigged the 4.2 this time and went about to work on my straight arms gibes, while Greg experimented with his 80s Gaastra 4.4? sail . The chop was nothing like at the Purgatory, but I still managed to twist my foot in a gybe gone wrong so I’m limping a bit today.
The wind dropped significantly at some point later, so I decided to rig up my 5.2 , which was another mistake-I should have chosen the 4.6 because it went up again. Tired of his no-leach-twist oldie sail Greg switched back to the 5.0 Revo and finally had the sweet rides he came all the way to Clinton for. He was roaring-fast on his 115 Starship and literally drew circles around me ,while I had to keep the 5.2 wide open a lot of the time. Now and then I had comfortably powered rides too. Reid and Rich showed up around 4:30 and we went to the Power Gybe for a beer.
Another great day at Clinton-the Beach launch is the best one can get, the air temp close to 60 and the water even warmer then that, some clouds but a lot of sun too. I haven’t selected my best GoPro snapshots yet but here’s a funny catapult sequence:







And a selfie :


...and another one:


...and some Greg watching while tacking:


All I could come up with for a video

Check this out! Greg appears in the picture ...


...and 20 sec later he is long gone!


Greg showing off :

Awesome pics Ady. Love the expression emerging from the drink! Your coordinated rig and board color is beautiful. And please keep editing short vids; they are great.

Wow is what comes to mind on all and every aspects of this trip! I drove close to 700 miles total in 24 hours to find total chaos on Clinton Lake. It had to be more than 40kn in the gusts. But it was worth every minute! It all started on a whim: Saturday afternoon after a family shopping trip back from Milwaukee, I thought “that’s the occasion to go to Clinton Lake, or it’ll never happen”. So off I pack up my stuff and head down to meet Ady in Chicago to share food a drinks. Next day, we then both headed down to Clinton. Thanks Ady for being such a great host through this entire journey! That was awesome. It also was great meeting Reid, Rich and everyone sailing there that day.

Like Ady mentioned, the Purgatory launch is something else! My 5.0 is my smallest “modern” sail. I have to give it a try anyway. That didn’t last too long and after 200 yards out, it clearly was way-oversized for the conditions. Return back to square one. Fast forward and here we are both, Ady and I, at the beach. The wind still going nuts, What can i do? I pulled my secret weapon: a vintage 1986 4.4 Gaastra Slalomfoil! I kept this thing from my Windsurfing heydays. The last time this sail flew was in 1988; 30 years ago! Kind of nostalgic pulling it off the bag, rigging it and sailing it one more time. It was nice to gave it one more go but it clearly was not a gentle ridding experience. No wind bleeding out. Just raw power. Not civilized one bit! I gave it my best but this sail is best hung on the ceiling of my office! It was a good and proper retirement for this vintage nonetheless. Here are a few pics for eternity!




Little takeoff sequence... landed for once without crashing!

Finally, coming back to my senses, the 5.0 will have to do. For about a little more than an hour, I had a few fast runs with Ady, failed a bunch of jibes, somewhat got a few okay ones in the bag, and just had tones of fun pushing the Starship has hard as I could! I will come back for more!

Crisscross with Ady.


The counter-point of Ady’s pics above.


Fast and straight


Microsecond before crashing that jibe


Nice light...


Committed and that one ended up the way it was intended!


Tired but happy!

Ady wrote:

Great shots and video, Ady!

Greg from Sheb. wrote:

Great shots, Greg! I'm still working on my photo "play list" to post. I think you boys will like these.

Great pictures everyone. I appreciated Ady's description of the launch at "The Purg!" That was my Vietnam windsurfing experience, hike, swim, clear submerged dead logs and trees, hike, and then swim again. Next time I'll paint my face camo and carry a knife in my teeth. The Doors "this is the end" was playing in my head and i thought i heard someone yell "CHARLIE DON'T SURF!" somewhere in the distance. If anyone has any pictures of the launch please share.