4-7 kph? That is barely a wisp! Go out early am… before ten usually works well. two pm is a horrid time for wind usually.
I gauge wind by the pines swaying … When they start to top sway I stay off!
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My SOT* is the most wind proof boat I’ve ever owned. And I’ve owned a few. I’m about done with my light weight phase , Carribean 140 and a Skimmer Both are fine boats but solidly in the recreational type.
My Tarpon 160* has handled everything I care to paddle in including 20+ winds and confused surf.
I’m back to figuring out how to load and unload the beast without further damaging my wreck of a body.
We just have to get off our arses and get at it. My Skylark is fine in the wind and water, or at least fine for what we do. And of course---- we don’t want to have to work to hard at it.! 
About 8 miles away, in Soo Ontario, there is a wind farm of 125 turbines, sitting on the ridge line pointing into Whitefish Bay. They are in the planning stage to double its size.
With the ridge line to the north and the higher elevations to the south, we are in somewhat of a tunnel. Weather has been beautiful tho.
In the summer set your paddle to end by noon.
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Did finally get out today— down to a small park outside of Barbeau in the Munuscong Bay wildlife sanctuary area. Nice and peaceful.
@Overstreet said:
In the summer set your paddle to end by noon.
I agree about getting out in the morning. That’s also the best time of day when we work on this reno. Need more morning hours and less afternoon hours in our day.
35 mph was my limit. Hard to turn but I’m better now. Tough tough paddle small breaking chop.
When you unstrap the boat from the roof rack, and the wind takes it and tumbles it down the parking lot, it’s a good sign it’s too windy!! Sometimes a very light boat is not such a good idea…
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Easy visual., whitecaps form around 12.5 knots. Which converts to about 14.4 mph. Interestingly when it gets into the healthy 20’s, you start to see waves getting knocked down.
With Jim and I paddling together we would have a big breakfast and be out in the early afternoon higher speed offshore breezes. Paddling alone I go out by 8 or 8:30am if I can fueled by a banana and a granola bar in my PFD pocket. Or around 5pm when wind cuts down again.
Wind itself is less of an issue than how long you have enuff oomph left to handle a problem, like do a self-rescue if needed. I am getting older and slower and that is less time.
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It might depend on where you paddle. In my case, the wave size doesn’t always have to do with wind. Some of the big ships, tug boats and other powered craft make bigger waves than most of the wind. Yesterday the river was as flat as I’ve ever seen it, but some of the waves I dealt with were enough to get your attention.
Most of the big ships make nice big swells, but once in awhile one comes along and causes waves that are just inexplicable. One such ship came up the river a few years ago that made a very steep wave that was so thin at the top that it would not support any boat. I thought it would be fun to surf the wave, but when the wave set arrived I knew it wasn’t going to work the way I thought. I ended up heading straight into it and since I wasn’t wearing my skirt, I got some water in the cockpit. Later I found out a whole bunch of boats got swamped from that ship.
How much wind is too much? The one time I remember that I headed for shore to get off the water was when a very ominous cloud came up and I knew things were about to get wild. I was right and was glad to be on shore where all I had to do was hang onto the boat to keep it from being blown away.
Been using the maple tree, that I see across the street as I sit here, as my wind sock. Seems to be a very loose predictor of wind-- time to find another tree.
Magooch-- we enjoy riding the swells the 1000fters make as they pass by. Nice and leisurely, a bit like a rocking chair on a porch. The “sport” boats and wave runner wake— not so much.
Too windy is when you overindulge in chili con carne.
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@string said:
Too windy is when you overindulge in chili con carne.
True for sure, but it normally doesn’t create much of a disturbance of the water. I once knew a very pharte smeller who used to light those things for laughs. Started a bit of a brush fire in his nether region. After that he found other methods of entertaining himself.
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@RussSeese said:
That day happened 4 years ago and remains the only time I ever went out for a paddle and never took the kayak off the car. It was the right call, but it still bugs me.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
Sounds like you’ve made it through.
That call may still bug you…but I have a friend who used to fly Coast Guard Rescue out of Sitka, and he would have been bugged to get the call to go rescue you.
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When you feel unsecure you know it’s to windy for YOU.
“I had that happen while I was still paddling forward.”
Where is the laugh emoji?
I can laugh about it now, but not at the time. 
At least as an open canoe paddler, if you’re going against a head wind, if you’ve already switched to a bent shaft paddle, changed over to “hit and switch” paddling, upped your cadence to where you’re starting to feel like you’re imitating an egg beater, and all the while trying to look backward over your shoulder to make sure you’re not going to hit something upstream: get the h___ to shore, preferably in the lee of something. That’s way too windy.
Usually on a river you’re dancing with the current. Often on a lake you’re dancing with the wind, sometimes “ferrying” on it.
On a river in a cross wind I try to stay to the leeward shore if its windy enough to matter. If there are islands, hopping from the lee of one and fighting the wind to the lee of the next can be a useful strategy. On a lake I’ll often hug the lee shore as well, but with the awareness that if I get blown out into bigger waves and stronger winds it might be hard to get back and that you and your stuff will be blown “out to sea” if you capsize out there. There’s some wisdom in possibly braving the waves (if they aren’t too big to safely take broadside) of the windward shore so that if you do swamp you and your stuff will be blown to shore; that’s assuming the shore isn’t all cliffs. On occasion I’ve paddled to a landing on a windward lake shore by hugging the opposite leeward shore and then, when directly upwind of my destination, turning and making a downwind run to my objective with the following waves, some of which can help a little if you can occasionally “surf” a bit on them. Exhilarating.
The first time I tried to solo a newly acquired Prospector downstream empty and against a head wind (under conditions I routinely do in heavily loaded lower volume canoes) I found myself feeling just beat up after about two miles of a nine mile paddle. I discovered that if I sat all the way back on the stern deck plate, the bow of the rockered Prospector stuck up enough out of the water to act like a sail. I just sat there ruddering my way back upstream bouncing off the waves like a motor boat. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. That was fun.
This is, of course, a bit different from leisurely paddling in rec kayaks, but perhaps some of the tactics and principles could be useful nevertheless. Such is my hope.
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That Kenny Rogers song The Gambler pops into my head when the crap gets to be too much!
know when to fold em!
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On a chilly day in early October, on the rocky shore of Lake Superior, in a relatively skinny boat I’ve only paddled once, solo, without anyone knowing exactly where I am, this is too windy.
In my Stratos, I’d go out just for some fun. 
Most people over estimate the wind by a lot. Sailors are pretty good at estimating wind speed for the most part. A lot of the answer depends on the fetch, the distance the wind travels over water and its ability to build waves.
In a canoe, paddling becomes unrewarding when it takes maximum effort to make any forward progress. That can happen around 20-25 mph or maybe 30 on more protected water. I have paddled some rivers in a lot of wind, because there was enough current to overcome the force of the wind.
Sea kayaks can handle larger waves, but tides and tidal rips can be troublesome.
When people talk about 9 foot breaking waves and 40 knots, they are either really talented or major league bullshitters. It can be hard to tell.
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