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 Scott on August 18, 2011 at 10:44pm

Hi Dan,

The other guy out there was Jim F.

He was on a brand-new Bic 148l board, and just getting used to it.

It was an awesome day for me - first time out on lake Huron, and

the wind was so steady compared to Cass Lake (and to the Gorge)!

I'll be back at the first opportunity. We got a little bit of footage of

you sailing from Jim's boom-mounted GoPro cameras. I imagine that

Jim will put together an edited version of the footage at some point and

post it here - as he has done for some of our Cass and Hatteras footage.

Was nice to have some company out there. Hope to repeat it soon.

Scott

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Permalink Reply by Brian on August 19, 2011 at 7:44am

Scott,

Didn't know there were some other SE MI sailors up there. 148L in those winds must have been a handful! I'll look forward to the video.

(Did we meet at the Cass Lake Swap?)

Brian

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Permalink Reply by Don Ferguson on August 19, 2011 at 8:26am

Funny I thought the same thing when I read 148 L, but then I thought maybe a typo!

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Permalink Reply by Scott on August 23, 2011 at 8:57pm

Hi Brian,

While I did see you and Jeannie and the swap this spring, we didn't meet.

Jim did speak with you a bit though. Hope to sail with you guys someday.

--Scott

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Permalink Reply by Brian on August 24, 2011 at 9:44am

Yeah, if you guys are ever at Caseville, give us a call. If you see me at Cass, please introduce yourself.

brian

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Permalink Reply by Dan Katlein on August 19, 2011 at 8:49am

Hey Scott,

Yes, the wind was suprisingly steady (much more so than I expected) and it was nice sailing with you guys as well. I'm not sure what I would have done Sunday if you hadn't been our wind dummy. I'd probably still be standing on the shore wondering if I should sail or kite. It's hard to tell what the wind is really doing at that location when the wind has that much E to it. Of course, if it had been NNE as has been forecasted I probably would have been sailing at my cottage and I never would have met you guys. You are welcome to come up to Caseville and be our wind dummy any time.

I didn't even notice Jim's cameras but I thought I saw one on your boom. Anyway, looking forward to seeing the video if it gets posted.

Dan

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Permalink Reply by Brian on August 19, 2011 at 8:58am

Speaking of wind dummies, if you guys are ever sailing at the park (or even kiting) on a SW or W give us a heads up. We can't tell sometimes what the wind is doing over there because it's blocked by Oak Pointe.

Brian

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Permalink Reply by Dan Katlein on August 19, 2011 at 9:19am

Gotcha covered. Jeannie's number is now in my phone.

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Permalink Reply by Scott on August 23, 2011 at 9:11pm

Jim is the camera guy - he had one on his boom, and he put one on my boom.

With the super-wide angle, you have to be uncomfortably close to someone

before they make much of an appearance in the image - I didn't want to get that

close to you so your image is small, but hey - when he puts up the video you'll

still be famous!

--Scott

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Permalink Reply by Jeannie Driscoll on August 16, 2011 at 7:17pm

Don, so glad you and Annabell could come. we hope you will come again. It was a lot of fun having you, and really nice having windsurfing guests to share such an exciting day! NE is definitely my favorite wind direction up there, glad you were able to get a real taste of those great swells we get on a NE fetch. It was a great 5.0 85L day for me...thanks for being the wind dummy that helped me pick the right combo!