Windsurfing near Lake Del Valle
- Shadow Cliffs (17 km)
- Bethany RSVR (23 km)
- Lake Cunningham Park (29 km)
- Palo Alto (39 km)
- Shoreline Sailing Lake (39 km)
Found the following about Lake Del Valle on a discussion board:
"Long skinny lake aligned W to E, so a WSW aims at the top, funnels down the whole length, more or less. Usually mid to late summer late PM barely planable breezes, otherwise a begginner, lightwind lake."
"I used to teach there years ago. It can be good in the afternoon like LeeD stated. Actually I think it is aligned Nw by Se. When it gets good it can be easily 5.0-4.5 say 20+mph, but honestly the summers I taught there, that only happened maybe 5 times. Other than that, it is really warm (water and air) and can be (when it is not crankin) very gusty. I have a hard time sometimes with 7.5 and 150l (coulse that was my older Klepper 7.5. Have yet to use my Naish there. I've been going there last year every few weekends to teach my Gf and sister. It is fun if you are in an explpre mode. Lazy lake sailing but up north near the boat launch it funnels down and blows bout 5-10 mph faster than the main sailing area. Highly reccomend a daggerboard and be careful of FW fins as the banks hide shallow hazzards and the gradual slope of the launch site can eat up some pretty G-10 in no time.
Wind is almost always NW bu tcan swing N NNE. You will be mostly planning then sloggin, plannin, sloggin. It's fun not dealin with the salt and cold water for a change.
Park fees are $3 entry and they will charge and extra buck (either per or for the boards on your rack) ...so if you can hide them, you can save a buck or two. It gest real crowded on Weekends, even if windy. Lots of kids but they stay away from the rigging areas. Best is weekdays if the wind is up. They have a rental shack there too so if you forget something or don't want to bring it they'll have something...maybe not 70l wave boards but good enough to have fun.
If you are hungry afterwards, I highly recomend the pizza joint on the right on your way out of town...I think it's called Magoos...awesome food."
[1] (http://www.sporttaco.com/rec.windsurfing/anybody_sail_lake_del_valle_3960.html)