windsurf in zurich

Sports and Hobbies
1
hi Guys,

i have just moved in baden and i was thinking about windsurfing on the lake of zurich.

is it really "famous", i mean is there a lot of people doing that every week end?

where i can buy the equipment, because i didn't brought mine..

if you can help me would be great...

thanks

2
Although Lake Zurich is okay for sailing, there's not often enough wind to surf.

I'm not into windsurfing, but if you're located in Baden, Hallwilersee probably is better.

3
Windsurfing is a great sport, but wind is not always that easy to find here in Swits. That said to start the sport you don't need huge amounts and with a little planning and or travelling you can usually find some to play with. Check out- www.windspots.com for actual wind in many areas and www.windfinder.com will help you plan, be aware it s not always that accurate.

Good luck

4
The lake of Zurich is famous for being useless for windsurfing. Unless there is a strong Bisa (North East wind) blowing the wind comes in gusts and rolls across the lake, giving little and inconsistent winds.

Better are the Sihlsee top end, Wallensee, Alpnachsee and the big daddy with the Fohn blowing, but no parking, the Urnersee...

5
I've windsurfed on lake zurich less then a hand full of times. In a word its terrible. Exactly as Abfab says, gusty inconsistent wind that shifts all over the place.

Unfortunately, Föhn is pretty much the same. Urnersee is where all the locals go and I've heard so many people speaking of epic Urnersee Föhn sessions. I've sailed a good few times in Urnersee now with Föhn and have been very dissapointed. Yes it gets insanely windy, but the quality of the wind is really bad. 45 degree windshifts and 20+knot changes in windspeed out of nowhere. Add that to a waterstate that is as confused as I have ever seen anywhere in the world and it makes for a challenging but not neccesarily terrible enjoyable sail.

Aegerisee in Föhn is quite a bit better, but you need quite a strong one to get all the way up there.

Best conditions I have had in Switzerland are either light Thermic with a 6.8 and 110l board in Silvaplana or really strong Bise on Lake Neuchatel (3.7 and 80l board) Bise is much more consistant then Föhn and it is around the right time of year for getting it about now!