Garda in July

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3496

Going to be at Lake Garda in early to mid July. Will I need a full wetsuit or can I get by with a shorty?

Coachg

cgoudie1 · Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 11:16 am Post subject: Re: Garda in July

I was there in summer (many years ago). It's a beautiful place,
Torbole is a fun town, and the Dolomite background is
spectacular. I got by with a 3/2 short sleeve full suit.
But, peoples cold tolerances are very different so

.02

-Craig

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5294 Location: East Bay

Remember, like Rio, it's a dawn and dusk kinda place, with dawn the first choice. Most days, it'll be gone by 9:30AM.

cgoudie1 · Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 10:07 pm Post subject:

That wasn't my experience when I was there in summer (now 10 years
ago). The Peler wind in the morning was almost nonexistent, and the
Ora wind in the afternoon was pretty good from about 1 until dusk.
It looks like orthographic venturi to me, much like Gorge wind that
isn't storm driven. But, I could have missed the Peler winds if they
happened before 9:30 as I tended to be evening festive and late getting
up. ;*)

-Craig

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5294 Location: East Bay

You may choose to go against the grain as you wish, it's your time.
Anyone else knows it's morning and evening wind, sorta like Sherman Island.

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3496

Thanks guys. I'm aware it is morning & afternoon winds with mid-afternoon lull,similar to Sherman except the wind comes in different directions.

I hate being cold but wearing a wet suit is right up there with being cold. I only do Dawn Patrol at Sherman if I know there is going to be no wind in the afternoon. Given the choice of 4.5 with a wet-suit or 5.5 with a rash guard & board shorts, I'm taking the 5.5 eight out of ten times.

My best internet search comes up with water temps at Garda high 60's to mid 70's in July with air temps in the 80's. Even for a cold weather wimp like me that is a shorty at best. The problem is I don't know how accurate or what side of the lake they are talking about.

Craig, I'm with you on the evening festivities. I plan on slow mornings enjoying Italian coffee at the lake. If the Peler requires a wet-suit & the Ora don't I'm leaving the wet-suit at home.

Coachg

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3496

After spending two weeks in Garda I got a pretty good feel for the wind. Their wind effect is similar to the Sierra's & similar to Cabrillo. The difference is in the Alps as they are a rockier formation compared to the forested Sierra's.
I'm not a weather expert like Mike but as I see it, at Donner & Tahoe as the Nevada desert starts to heat up & rise the colder Sierra air fills the void. So generally around noon it starts to blow at Tahoe/Donner and continues until the evening when the desert starts to cool down.

At Garda, this colder air filling the warmer rising air starts around 3-4 am in the morning as the air on the Italian peninsula is warmer then the very cold Alps at night. This is the Peler & it blows until the sun comes up & warms the rocky Alps so usually around 11 am. However, if the Alps stay cloudy & cold-it snowed quite a bit up there one day-then the Peler blows all day until dark. The warmer the peninsula & the colder the Alps, the stronger the Peler. Cloudy/cool conditions on the peninsula & warmer Alps led to weak or non-existent Peler of which occurred twice when I was there.

The Ora is different as unlike the Sierra's, the rocky Alps heat up quite a bit during the day. This heating causes the Alps air to rise and it draws the cooler peninsula air towards it. Lake Garda's topography causes a venturi effect at the north part of the lake so it gets compressed & accelerates as it squeezes up into two different canyons at the north end of the lake. The amount of clouds over the Alps determines how strong or what direction the Ora is. Some days the Ora was much stronger on the west side as it got sucked up the Riva del Garda side and some days it was much stronger on the east side as it got sucked up the Torbole/Lifano side. The Ora generally started around noon & blew past sunset. The difference in the strength of the wind could be quite significant as one side could be 5.0-5.5 & the other 7.0-8.0 and yes, it was a very long slog from one side to the other as it is a very large lake. I thought the lake would have been a great place for a Kona but didn't see any in my two weeks even though on weekends you could walk across the lake jumping from board to board.

As for wetsuit, I didn't bring one & only could have used a short on a few days. The stronger the Peler, the colder the water because of up-welling. On mild Peler days the water was quite warm the first two weeks of July.

Coachg

waterwind2012 · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 61 Location: Monza, Italy

Unfortunately, I read this thread only now, otherwise I could have given lots of suggestions. Anyway, Coachg's last post is pretty good and full of right details. If you want to read more, have a look at this page: http://www.waterwind.it/new/en/spots/spots-reviews.html

You will find the reviews of the main Garda spots: Torbole, Pier, Pra de la fam, Malcesine.

And if you want to read a recent report about a great session at Pra de la fam, go here: http://www.waterwind.it/new/en/reports-and-articles/523-pra-de-la-fam-garda-lake-10-september-2016-you-ve-always-got-to-try.html

Hang loose. Fabio

TrentKCole · Joined: 03 Dec 2021 Posts: 4

Thanks for the good post.