Map › Germany › Bavaria — Ammersee / Herrschinger Kreuz › Ammersee / Herrschinger Kreuz
Laghi interni · Bavaria, Fuenfseenland · Landkreis Starnberg · Herrsching am Ammersee
Ammersee / Herrschinger Kreuz
also known as Herrschinger Kreuz, Herrsching
Nearby Ammersee / Stegen 8 km · straight-line distance
On the clock
13:00 · 17:00
There is no daily onset here. The wind comes with a front, so it can start at any hour, hold overnight, or stop twenty minutes after you rig. The small afternoon lift between about 13:00 and 17:00 is worth a knot and is not a reason to wait around. Indicative pattern from long-run hourly data.
The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.
The wind
Direction
Kite sizes
metres · typical quiver highlighted
Character
synoptic
fills in: There is no daily onset here. The wind comes with a front, so it can start at any hour, hold overnight, or stop twenty minutes after you rig. The small afternoon lift between about 13:00 and 17:00 is worth a knot and is not a reason to wait around. Indicative pattern from long-run hourly data.
Typical strength
West and southwest fronts give 15-25 kn, with holes and gusts inside that figure rather than a steady number; the bay reportedly adds up to one Beaufort to a west wind. Across the year only about one daytime hour in twenty gets past 12 kn, so the spot lives on the forecast. Indicative: modelled hourly data, with no published station record for the cross itself.
Thermal or synoptic
front-driven inland lake wind
The quiver, in words
For 75-85 kg, 9-12 m covers most frontal days and 7-8 m is what a strong west sector wants. A very big kite is more trouble than help in a launch this tight and a wind this broken. Indicative sizing worked back from the wind range, not from a local survey.
Direction to shore
W and SW come in onshore to side-onshore across Herrschinger Bucht, and the shape of the bay reportedly lifts a west wind by up to one Beaufort. Summer easterlies are offshore here.
Dominant direction
SW, WSW, W, WNW, NW; west to southwest are the key local directions
Forecast
Month by month
- Jan, riders' month18
- Feb, riders' month19
- Mar, riders' month21
- Apr, riders' month18
- May, riders' month8
- Jun5
- Jul6
- Aug6
- Sep, riders' month7
- Oct, riders' month10
- Nov, riders' month23
- Dec, riders' month16
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)
Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.
- 18%Jan
- 19%Feb
- 21%Mar
- 18%Apr
- 8%May
- 5%Jun
- 6%Jul
- 6%Aug
- 7%Sep
- 10%Oct
- 23%Nov
- 16%Dec
windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · season highlighted
| Month | Windy days | Force 4+ | 12 kn or more | Knots | From | Peaks at | Air | Readings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 18% | 37% | 31% | 10 kt | WSW | 12:00 | 1.1°C | 62 |
| Feb | 19% | 33% | 30% | 9.7 kt | WSW | 12:00 | 3.7°C | 57 |
| Mar | 21% | 42% | 42% | 11.7 kt | W | 15:00 | 5.6°C | 62 |
| Apr | 18% | 47% | 40% | 11.2 kt | WSW | 14:00 | 7.7°C | 60 |
| May | 8% | 44% | 34% | 11 kt | NE | 16:00 | 13.6°C | 62 |
| Jun | 5% | 40% | 32% | 10.5 kt | NE | 16:00 | 18.1°C | 60 |
| Jul | 6% | 39% | 31% | 9.8 kt | WNW | 16:00 | 19.5°C | 62 |
| Aug | 6% | 34% | 24% | 9.7 kt | W | 14:00 | 19.4°C | 62 |
| Sep | 7% | 28% | 17% | 8.5 kt | S | 16:00 | 14.8°C | 60 |
| Oct | 10% | 19% | 18% | 8.3 kt | S | 13:00 | 12.2°C | 62 |
| Nov | 23% | 42% | 35% | 10.1 kt | WSW | 11:00 | 5.1°C | 60 |
| Dec | 16% | 29% | 23% | 9.6 kt | S | 11:00 | 1.8°C | 62 |
modelled
A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.
Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal. A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.
High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024
The water
Type
lake
Standing depth
A big shallow area between the shore and the Herrschinger Kreuz, about 250 x 120 m, ankle to hip deep depending on the lake level.
Tides
none; freshwater lake
Temperature
19-24°C summer · 3.5-6°C winter
Wetsuit
Wetsuit always, and cold-water gear for the autumn-to-winter frontal season, which is the season. Surf shoes: the bottom is stones and shells and shingle.
Currents
No current. The risk is wind: it shifts, it gusts, it drops, and if you lose height the drift takes you into Herrschinger Bucht.
Your level
The scene
What riders come here for
Launch and rules
three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you
With a school or a boat
No school names this spot
Nobody has been recorded teaching or running a boat here.
On your own
Room to launch: small
Somewhere else
Ammersee / Stegen, 8 km
Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.
Rescue
Launch
A very tight roadside access north of the cross. Kiters walk south toward the land tongue before launching so the access stays open, rig on the grass at the sides with the path and landing area clear, start from the water a few meters out, and land in the water or with help behind the tree.
Space
small
Rules & access
Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.
Rider tips
- Walk south to the land tongue before you launch; the roadside access north of the cross is too tight to block.
- Rig on the grass at the side and start from the water a few metres out; keep the path and the landing zone clear, and landing kites have priority.
- Get upwind of the small jetty straight away; lower down the wind fades and the drift is into Herrschinger Bucht.
- Wear surf shoes: stones, shells, shingle.
- Park along the road; from Munich take the A96 toward Lindau, or ride the S8 to Herrsching (1 hour 31 minutes from the airport) and bike or taxi to the water.
- If a rider is missing or in trouble, call 112, then stay on site and reachable.
- Write your name and phone number on kite and board in permanent marker before you go in; a marked kite that gets loose does not turn into a search.
- Count on a helper for the landing, and offer the same back; the space is too small to sort it out alone.
- A summer easterly is offshore at the cross, and that is the day to drive round to Utting instead.
Getting there
Airport
Munich Airport (MUC)
Route
By car from Munich take the A96 toward Lindau, come off for the Ammersee and follow local roads toward Herrsching and Breitbrunn; park along the road and rig in the wooded shore area. By train, the S8 runs from the airport to Herrsching, and from the station it is a walk, a bike or a taxi to the launch.
Transfer
about 45-50 minutes by car from Munich Airport to Herrsching in light traffic; about 1 hour 31 minutes by direct S8 train to Herrsching before local transfer
Cost level
medium
Staying
Herrsching and the Ammersee towns have hotels, guesthouses and holiday apartments; Munich is also a practical base for day trips.
No-wind days
Andechs monastery, Ammersee ferries, cycling around the lake, SUP, sailing, swimming areas, Munich day trips and Fuenfseenland hiking.
Photos
FAQ
Is Herrschinger Kreuz suitable for beginners?
No, riders need to launch cleanly, hold upwind and avoid drifting into Herrschinger Bucht; the launch is tight and shore wind is often weak and gusty.
What is the wind like?
West and southwest front-driven wind are the main setups, arriving onshore to side-onshore in Herrschinger Bucht, with wind holes and rotors common near shore.
When is the best time to kite here?
Ammersee is a front-driven lake that works from January through May and September through December, rather than in calm summer months.
Are there rules to follow?
A voluntary agreement discourages watersports on Ammersee from early November to late March for bird protection, and landing kites always have right of way in the tight launch zone.
Last updated: August 2026