I've had 3 years to understand how this place works: Ady and Alan are right when they says that surface wind can be 5-10kn below what it is 60 feet in the air: Warm air currents over cold lake water is the cause (generally producing fog). It never fails to happen but doesn't happen this often. S or SE over reasonably warm water (60-70 degrees) will fill the bay and produce good surface wind here.
Anyhow, this week, Tuesday's NE and Wednesday's E winds will push warm currents back to shore and will likely make SE 15-25kn on Thursday a good day for windsurfing here in Sheb.
Well, at least it does look promising for now.

Saturday July 21. It’s been 2 weeks since my last session. The right knee is a bit better and I decided to sail at the Windpower launch on Lake Winnebago. N 20-28kn. Water was super warm and that was nice for a change. I lasted for 90minutes! Fully powered on the Starship and a 5.7. Poncuated the session with a proper full speed catapult head first going down wind and resulted in a little crack on the nose. No big deal; it was bound to happen anyway. Though, I have to say that it been a while since I last got catapulted. No one to film! Too bad; it would have been nice to watch! Bill and Mike were sailing along and a couple of learning windsurfer on tiny sails and large boards. Anyhow, this Lake is such a hard place to sail: chop is sever, messy and very tight.

Blowing NE 20-25 right now! Heading out to sail along Sheboygan south jetty. Quick electrical tape temporary patch and off I go! (Yes! It works!)

Sunday, July 22. By 10 am, the time I made it to the south jetty, the wind had dropped to about 15kn under cloudy and rainy skies. Didn't pack the 8.5 so off I go with the 7.0 on the 115 Starship. A few good runs but a bit light so I came back to shore and took my son for a round of mini-golf just near-by and a burger. By 2pm the sky had cleared and the wind clocked at a good 25kn. So, back on the water, this time with a 5.7. This lasted about 1.5 hour or so and that was a ton of fun. Protected by the south jetty, the water was flat but sailing past the lighthouse, a massive 6' swell was there to surf. The pics my son took below don't show how deep the swell was (too far off shore) but it was impressive and such a rush surfing on the return runs. I launch right from the jetty: A friendly local kiteboarder built and installed a temporary wooden stair attached to the rocks. A bit precarious but this was enough to launch safely on flat water behind the breakwater - much better than the beach launch and its nasty shore break. Still the only windsurfer on the water today!

Afternoon session










Morning session

Awesome pics.

I was thinking about something like those wooden stairs for The Corner launch at Clinton.

Reid Fillman wrote:
Thanks Reid.
Here's a closeup of the stairs.

Thursday July 26, lake Winnebago, WSW 15-20kn, 125 Bolt + Lion 7.0. I sneaked out of the office and sailed non-stop from 1:30 to 5:30. Awesome time on the water working on my jibes!

...A couple of B&W pics my son took a week ago.

www.sheboyganyouthsailing.com
Have you thought about this for your kid?

Ady wrote:
Yep! Good suggestion. I know a few people there and tried to get him to go for it this summer but that didn’t really got him excited so far. We’ll see next year!

Maybe sign him up for a sail boats camp first. In any case the most important criteria IMO are the activities to be sailing centered /any type of sailing will do/ and to be done together with other kids his age. The sooner the better and absolutely no parent supervision involved besides transportation. A friend of mine signed up his 12 years old son this summer for the local sailing camp and the kid started showing interest for windsurfing too. My friends only regret is that he didn’t do it earlier.

Saturday August 4. Alan joined the fun in Sheboygan for some Surfing and Windsurfing. Unfortunately, the conditions remained light. Towards midday we did a handful of runs in a gusty 13-15kn. And towards the end of the day I couldn’t resist a last run on the Lightwind kit.

Sunday August 5. SW 15-20. By 1pm things started to be interesting on Lake Winnebago. The 125 Bolt and the 7.0 Lion was perfect in the gusts. Then about 1 hour of nothing and I bet that closer to sunset we would have a bit more air, so I went to rig the 8.5. And bingo! Nice and steady SW at 14-18kn let me try the new North boom with that sail. Air and lake temp were just perfect and that was great to be able to sail just with board shorts and light top. Awesome day and very satisfying weekend!

Saturday on the big Lightwind kit (photo by Jon Erlien @ Erlien Design Photography)

Saturday August 18 - 7:30am - 10:30am
It has been almost 2 weeks since I went out sailing. I was ready to go in any conditions and Saturday morning was just that: N 11-15kn, light near shore and powered 200-300 yards out. I took out the Lightwind Falcon and the 9.4 V8 despite a 3 to 4 foot swell out past the lighthouse. I needed power and wasn’t going to wait for the gusts... Trimmed properly, the kit was the right choice. And once more, the kites (all except one on a foil) were watching from shore with envy! I launched at the Kite Beach and made my way to the jetty and lighthouse for both flatwater and swell riding! Unusual summer day with low ceiling clouds passing-by and a slightly gloomy luminosity. Awesome morning!