Planing a short vacation next week 08.05-08.09 to Ludington with my wife. The area looks rich on lakes and parks and honestly I feel overwhelmed for lack of vacation experience. Any ideas for fun activities highly appreciated. Also I don’t know what equipment to take with me, since the space in my car is limited. I’m thinking the windSUP and the 94 Kode with the 4.7 and 5.7 sails. What would you take in my place?

Hey Ady,
My name is Randy Bass. I am a long lost friend of Ried. I live in Whitehall, MI. You can sail off the city beach at the pier. You could pick a spot along the road out to Ludington State Park, and there is a launch on the east side of Hamlin Lake. Hamlin gets thermal wind on hot days. Stay away from the outlet of the river at Ludington State Park. The high water level has matched up with the river level and is creating some bad mojo. It is like a rip current. Two people have been sucked out and drown this summer. The state park is my favorite in Michigan. Lots of hiking, kayaking, dune climbing etc. There are also mountain bike trails east of town and disk golf in the same park. Lots to do in Ludington. If you need more info let me know.

Oops, sorry Reid I spelled your name wrong!

Whitehall can have some very nice waves despite having a short-ish pier. Pentwater is a nice little town to visit, but not the best for wind.

One of the best frisbee golf courses in the country is nearby if you want to check it out: www.flipcitygolf.com/

If it's a sunny warm south wind day, hit Little Sable Point. Get to Silver Lake State Park and follow the road to the lighthouse. There is a little parking lot and beach just before you get to the lighthouse, but the beach there is underwater and the non-sailors will enjoy the beach at the lighthouse much more. IMHO, the prettiest lighthouse in the Great Lakes. This spot can have twice the wind of surrounding areas on a sunny warm south wind day because the dunes (just to the north) heat up and suck air across the point. (beware of slightly offshore wind, strong sideshore current and trees in the water)

Make sure to get some fresh fruit while you're there. Best on the planet

Drew

Thanks for the info Randy and Drew! I doubt there’ll be enough time to check out all of your highlights but I’ll do my best. It looks like the forecast for the next week is for temperatures in the 70s so my guess is there won’t be any thermal winds around the dunes. Who knows I may get lucky with some weather front , we’ll see. If nothing I’ll have my windSUP that always saves the day and I ordered a pair of good hiking shoes for the trails.

Of the few restaurants we dined in, I liked the Ludington Bay Brewing the most . Great beers, good service, lovely fenced off patio and one of the best thin crust pizza and shrimp tacos I ever had! Recommended ludingtonbaybrewing.com/phone/index.html
I also liked The Deck right on the south beach in Muskegon. We had coffee only here /11 am/ but the location, the relaxed beach setting and the wood fired bbq they were preparing looked very tempting nonetheless, live bands also I think thedeckmkg.com/

One mistake I keep doing every time I go on a trip to Michigan is forgetting about the biting flies. No exception this time as well and we had to endure the nasty bites every time we went to the state park in Ludington . Doesn’t matter if the beach or the paths they were everywhere and me and my wife are an especially bad case of biting bugs magnets-the fricking flies ate us alive in the canoe. I just googled for repellents and remedies and found out that besides wearing long sleeves and pants-not good idea for a day at the beach-drinking several spoons of apple cider vinegar a day and/or applying Sawyer picaridin repellent is the best protection against biting flies www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP543-Rep...175&s=gateway&sr=8-3
Deed didn’t work for us, on the contrary, it seemed to attract them.