Windsurfing & Stand-Up Paddleboarding in Michigan

Caseville Mich

Saturday Aug 14 Ann and I are on an exploratory mission to Caseville Mi. Big wind forecast for a NorEaster to blow in on Sunday and it seems to be the only spot within driveable distance (3hrs from home but we were in Tawas Mi checking things out on Saturday). Unfortunately for us the Cheeeseburger Festival is on in Caseville and it is impossible to get a room overnight either Friday night or saturday evening. Brian and Jeannie were kind enough to offer their cottage to us for the night which we graciously accepted. We arrived at their cottage late Saturday afternooon and after a bit of familliarization decided to go to the Cheeseburger Festival to sample the wonderfull selection of food. We slept well that night owing to an all night downpour of rain, the next morning we awoke to find the wind, was, as forecast blowing in very nicely. My first runs out were on a 6.6 and 100 ltrs and of course I made the huge mistake of not looking over my shoulder to see my starting point. Here if you come in too upwind youj end up on some boulders and can possibly break a fin or worse. come in downwind and you end up on nice fine sand. Not wanting to chance it I land way to far downwind and have a long walk back. On the second and third sessions I am on a 5.5 and 90 litres and well powered and starting to dial in on unfamiliar terrain. As the day progressed the waves on the outside got bigger, and bigger at times they were almost head high, and made for some great carving jibes off the sides of the waves, although I was a bit intimidated at first. The water temp here was very warm for an inlet to Lake Huron and I was feeling quite comfortable by the third session. All in all some great sailing and I highly recommend trying this area caution however this is an intermediate to advanced sailing spot on NorthEasterlies and uphauling would be very difficult due to the size of the waves. Again Ann and I would like to thank Jeannie and Brian for being most gracious hosts.

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Permalink Reply by Brian on August 15, 2011 at 6:26pm

Don,

It was a pleasure hosting you and Ann and Alexander Keith, and it was great fun sailing with you guys on Sunday. Larry R also put on a show with his kiteboard in the waves.

There are no worries about rocks if you're sailing from the county park, or any place between the county park and Oak Pointe, Jeannies cottage is about three miles east of the county park and there are some rocks in that area.

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Permalink Reply by Brian on August 15, 2011 at 6:56pm

One more thing . . . If you're sailing from the county park, the breakwater provides much more protected sailing conditions. Also, the water is pretty shallow and so it's a great place to learn on a SW wind. We probably would have taken you there to check it out, if it weren't for the Cheeseburger Festival.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Katlein on August 17, 2011 at 3:25pm

You should have come down to the County Park. Because of the cloudy skies it was almost empty. I was out on a 5.8 and a 103 liter board, along with two guys from Cass Lake (Scott on a 5.5 and 100 liter and another guy with a 7.5 and what appeared to be a bigger board), and a couple of kiters. A good time was had by all.

Dan

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Permalink Reply by Brian on August 17, 2011 at 3:52pm

Dan,

We thought about coming to the park, but didn't think there would be any place to park with the cheeseburger going on. Dang!

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Permalink Reply by Dan Katlein on August 17, 2011 at 3:54pm

Ther couldn't have been more than 10 cars in the parking lot.

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Permalink Reply by Brian on August 17, 2011 at 3:57pm

BTW, in front of Jeannie's we had waves on the outside that were roughly head-high, measured from the bottom of the trough - at least I couldn't see over the big ones!

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Permalink Reply by Dan Katlein on August 17, 2011 at 4:04pm

Yes, I saw you guys out there. I stopped down when Larry R was standing on the shore with his kite overhead talking to a female windsurfer that I now assume was Annabell. I wasn't sure if I was going to windsurf or kite so I went down to the somewhat friendlier confines of the park where John Z was hanging out in case I decided to kite. We had some really nice rolling waves at the park but not as big as you had up at Jeannie's place.

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Permalink Reply by Don Ferguson on August 17, 2011 at 5:48pm

But we had Alexander Keith's!!

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Permalink Reply by Jeannie Driscoll on August 17, 2011 at 8:17pm

Still, you can't rig in the grass at the county park and the trek to the water with the gear is killer....maybe not as big of a deal if you are kiting. But I agree it would have been fun to sail with a big group....if you want a change of scenery Dan, you are welcome to come sail out of our place any time you see we are up. Jeannie

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Permalink Reply by Dan Katlein on August 18, 2011 at 8:31am

I agree with everything you said. Thanks for the invite. Maybe I'll come track you down on the next big NE when we are both up there. I gave Brian our contact info so you are welcome to come by and rig on our lawn if it goes SW. Here's hoping for some good fall blows!!

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Permalink Reply by Jeannie Driscoll on August 18, 2011 at 5:48pm

Great! Hope to see you soon. Just arrived back up in Caseville...saw the Bring More Wind sign out, so you guys must be up here too. Jeannie

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Permalink Reply by Dan Katlein on August 19, 2011 at 8:56am

The sign stays out all season (helps me to find my driveway in the dark). Unfortunately we are not there this weekend although someone is using the cottage. We'll be up most weekends in the fall though. Feel free to stop by anytime you see a white Chrysler minivan in the driveway. Enjoy your weekend and grab a cheeseburger for me.