Anything going on up there ?

Looks like light wind tommorrow. I might make it to Wolf around noon if I finish up some work and if the wind looks decent..
Playin it by ear right now.

Someone sailing Sheboygan today? Seems they might get a bit of wind and waves. I'm planing to check it out, but Im not sure where to launch from .

Ady wrote:
Launches page > Lake Michigan > North Side Beach

That's where Im headed. My concern is the eventual wind shadow since the wind will be on the lighter side to begin with and my 94 needs power to punch through the shore break. Kohler park?!
Whatever may come my windsup is ready to save the day

Just arrived at the South launch /Illinois St/ . Not much wind but seems to picking up . Gazillion kiters S of me. Going to check the N launch now and decide where.

Exactly what I thought-its a wind shadow here at the N launch.Its a surfers zone.

Back to the S launch. I may be able to get the 94 moving with a 5.7

Nice days like this are over too soon unfortunately and here I am sitting in some Culvers somewhere along the way recharging for the home run. Couldn't make it with the 94/5.7 combo. Sailed through the shore break no problem, but kept shlogging and couldn't waterstart after I dropped at the tack. At this point I have been in front of the retention rocks downwind of the beach and I thought that Im skrewed royaly, but fortunately the bottom is shallow and sandy so I walked my kit back without damage. Took out the windsup after that and for the next srvetal hours had lots of fun playing in the shore break next to the resort. Tack or Heli on the outside, jibe or Duck on the inside worked perfectly with the exception that I burrowed the fins in the sand a few times- gotta turn sooner. Speaking of sand its a beautiful fine thing in this magnificent bay and there is a shallow sand bar some distance from the shore that would create an awesome wave playground with more wind. I guess this is what they call the Sheboygan reef ?! The bay was teaming with people doing all kinds of water sports-Sailboats were having a regatta, a group of guys on jet skis came to play in the shore break next to me and I've never seen so many kiters in one place! Just one windsurfer though ,sailing between the kiters and came in shortly after I launched and then another one some time later who was struggling to stay up and disappeared shortly after, so I was all by myself at that spot hopping Gregory might stop by .
A great fun day regardless and looking forward to visit Sheboygan again soon!

Thank for the updates, Ady, glad you had fun! Was checking in on the meter throughout the day. It was reading S - slight SSE early.

Sheboygan pier (MPH)


Ady wrote:
Where the cool kids hang out.

Must take some serious S wind to get it to go off. The "Sheboygan reef" is straight west just beyond the pier.


Ady wrote:
Once a South-sider !


Ady wrote:
Some photos of our Dave Troup of what that spot turns into on a nice north wind.

Dave Troup


Dave Troup

3-4 seconds intervals between those waves easily! I'm surprised there is nobody else besides David in the pictures. It was very busy on the water yesterday-there must have been over 20 kiters at times besides the sailboats, jet skis and of course the surfers in the north bay. Certainly being Saturday and the magnificent weather were a major factor. Not many beach-goers though, the water was a lot colder then what I had at Calumet on Wednesday and after couple of hours my feet started feeling cold despite the 3mm booties.
It was kind of impulsive trip-all by myself-something like "now or never ", but it has been on my bucket list for far too long and it looked like the closest place to get any half decent wind and waves so I just went for it.
As for kit choice, I would have been planing hard with my 110/7.5 no doubt, but I don't like sailing fast a 75 cm wide board in swell -it gets airborne easily-and its like asking for trouble. Wolf, Calumet and Clinton are the right spots for that. I went for the waves and although at the wrong launch for the conditions-the very end of the beach downwind I think I had the best waves in the area all for myself-selfish And for playing in the break with my windsup I don't need much room anyway.
I checked out the Kohler-Andrae park S of Sheboygan first, because it looked like it will get the most unobstructed wind, but the park was crowded with families and the long but narrow beach was full of screaming little kids . Also I didn't see grass area for rigging close to the water and there is an admission fee on top of everything. The almost empty beaches with free parking and abundance of grass in Sheboygan after that felt like Heaven! Now I want to stay there overnight and enjoy a dinner at one of the nice little restaurants around the harbor area. That would be an awesome end of a great day on the water!

The irony of it all is that I had to go to Chicago to pickup the in laws at the airport on Saturday. If I had red your post I would have tried to look for you... Anyhow, i went out Friday pm (where the kites launch from) and it was good the first 200 yards out but too light out even with my 9.4. This is quite unusual to have this kind of conditions. Usually when it blows SE, it is pretty consistent throughout... also the bluff on the south side is boosting the wind near shore so its best to launch from the south side of the beach. I'll show all the various launches on a separate post. I went on the water Saturday from 11-1 at the south side of that beach and I got a few good runs on the big 159L light wind and the 9.4 V8. When I left to pick up the inlaws, the wind had picked up some and was sailabke on smaller kits I think. Regardless, the forcast was a lot more optimist than the conditions were.
For what it's worth, my little experience with sailing in swell in Sheboygan is that It is fine to handle my large 124L and 159L in 4-foot swell. I have no problem with that - just needs to bear downwind a bit and use the Kees a bit more to prevent the board from taking off on the crest of the swell.
Ady, I got to share my phone number with you. Next time, you could text me directly...