5-24

[allgear]

Looks to be getting windy. Anyone going to Waukegan?

[Safe_Cracker]

Meter seems to be down but Keegs has been under a bubble so to speak no wind and colder temps. I went there last night just to verify and the meter is down and it was cold as heck haha but still not enough wind..

[gbleck]

Drove over after work and it was dead calm.

[dewsy]

next time, just call up the Waukegan harbor and ask them if it's windy there.. I did that yesterday cause the trees around my house were LIT.. When the lady answered, she said the meter is broken, then I said ok, can you look outside and see if there are any flags movin, she said no.. so it might save you some time to give them a call..

-dewsy

[Gerard]

With big differences between inland and near shore temps compared to the more stable early spring season.... we are now entering "Thermal Season"

For those of you chasing the wind and wanting to avoid getting skunked do a search on this forum for Thermals. Tim G. has written a few nice long explanations with regards to thermals. The thermal character of lake michigan is pretty simple to decipher and also very consistent.

There is no need to try to figure out Thermals from trial and error, it's already a discovered wheel especially in Lake Michigan. The aticles written will truely explain it's effects and make wind and beach searching way easie.

Example was yesterday afternoon. Montrose was blowing 17+ knots from the east whcih was not forecasted but "expected " if you understand our thermals.

Cheers,
Gerard
www.chicagokiteboarder.com

PS
I would suggest avoiding calling those beach phone numbers to ask about wind conditions. They will evnetually tire of the calls and avoid answering in the future. Just my two cents from expirience.

[adseguy]

It's that season now. Really hot weather and the need to kite!

Unfortunately they don't mix well. I'll check the off shore meter in Chicago and it'll read 25knts, but I get to the beach and I won't even have enough to throw up a kite. It's just what happens. We get these high pressure zones that form above the big lake and we just don't get anything to shore. This is where people just get skunked for days on end. What helps me choose my days are a couple things:

1.) Temperature change. I like to see a good drop or rise in temp. This indicates fronts and/or large high pressure/low pressure zones.

2.) Windy all day? If it's marginal all day then it might not work, but if it blows for a few hours it probably will with a storm right before or right after.

Again the normal everyday winds we get in the spring and fall can be enough most times, but not in the summer. We need a storm front or a big high and low pressure zone that passes through us. I notice that the winds in the summer are generally from the West to South.

[Safe_Cracker]

I found this... http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com/lakem ... rmals.html

And this http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com/lakemichiganwind.html

[Gerard]

Safe cracker: Do a search on the "forum". Tim has written lenghty discusions about this.

I disagree with you Adseguy During summer, you don't need to wait for a storm front .

Montrose has it's own thermal on Northerly days when it is very very hot and at between 6 and 8pm we always get a 30-45 minute thermal that is really ridable BUT will not show in the crib. Crib may show 12 knots and Montrsoe shore will register 18 knots.

You just thave to understand the thermals which are diff for the north and south halves of the lake.

Gerard
www.chicagokiteboarder.com

[adseguy]

You're right about that Gerard! I was just trying to convey that the winds aren't the same so a different tactic has to be used. The example I gave was on an East wind which almost happened yesterday. It blew 22 knots at the crib, but it wasn't rideable.....Oh well.

[Safe_Cracker]

http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com/kiteb ... mals#33448


This one ?

Polo