Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe · near South Lake Tahoe / Tahoe City · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Wind Sports
At a glance
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Best season
- Late spring–summer (frontal & thermal)
- Water temperature
- Cold (50s–low 60s°F) — 4/3 wetsuit (alpine lake, snowmelt-fed)
What is here
- Amenities
- Sail the iconic blue lake · Stunning alpine scenery · Variable frontal & thermal wind · World-class beauty
- Best for
- Riding the most beautiful lake in the West
- Features
- The iconic alpine blue lake · Stunning mountain scenery · Frontal & thermal wind · Cold, high-altitude riding
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Cold alpine water · High altitude (6,225 ft) · Gusty, variable wind · Big fetch, sudden weather
- Good for a first timer
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Lessons
- No
Wind Sports detail
- Discipline
- windsurf · kite · wing
- Conditions
- chop
- Venue
- lake
- Wind kt
- 18
- Wind
- SW frontal + afternoon thermals, 12–25 kt — variable alpine wind, spring frontal systems strongest
- Intl tip
- Ride the iconic blue alpine lake — spring frontal systems bring the best wind (12–25 kt); summer thermals are gustier. ADVANCED: cold snowmelt water (4/3 even in summer), high altitude (6,225 ft), gusty variable mountain wind, sudden weather. Various beaches by wind direction. Stunning scenery. Combine with the Tahoe fishing/hiking guides. A bucket-list setting for experienced riders.
The guide
Riding at Lake Tahoe is about the setting as much as the wind — sailing across the impossibly blue, clear water of the largest …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Lake Tahoe — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.09, -120.03