Wintertime at Wind Power Windsurfing & Kiting Center is a busy time once Lake Winnebago freezes and the Ice is safe. Windsurfing & Kiteboarding in the winter can be better than the summer for a lot of sailors & kiters.
The Winter ice has many advantages:
- you can get more sailing/kiting days as winds tend to be stronger in the winter and the wind requirements on the ice are much less.
- you can use your smaller kits (sails or kites) since less wind is required. This is a great time to get more use of your smaller sizes that don’t get used much in the water season.
- Wind Direction is not as critical with sailing/launch spot. You can sail in front of Wind Power all winter long on all wind directions.
- Learning to sail or kite in the winter is easier and the preferred method. See this post by Kevin – Learn to Kitesurf in the Winter at Wind Power (this is especially true for kiting, but applies to windsurfing too!)
- No dealing with cold water. Yes, the temperature is lower, but dressed appropiately (Ski or Snowboard clothing) with proper protective gear (helment and pads) you stay toasty warm.
- You probably have most of the gear if you windsurf or kitesurf. You may get a different board or use your snowboard for snow kiting.
- See the 09/10 Winter Flyer for pictures of the freeskate, snowfer, winterboard and iceboard.
Here is a Video of Kevin on the Freeskate with a windsurfing rig. The freeskate is similar to a large skateboard with blades instead of wheels. It has larger trucks, and the board is very manuverable. You need pretty clean ice for the freeskate. The snowfer offers a more ‘all-terrain’ board and it works good on ice and snow. And the kiters use mostly skis or a snowboard.
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Snow Kiting Jumping sequence on Lake Winnebago