Sailing near Charlotte, NC

[Bob15530]

Greetings!
I have a Hunter 260 and considering a relocation to the Charlotte, NC area.
Can anyone give me an idea of good sailing lakes in the area, sailing clubs, slip availability, etc.?
It looks like Lake Norman is a big lake with a lot of fingers, but I am not sure if is is a good sailing lake or a ski boat haven.
Is Lake Wylie an option?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Bob

 

[emilbec]

Lake Norman is the place. Couple of nice marina. Some sailboats. Don't know much about the wind.

 

[Steve Kamp]

Most of the sailing is done on the southern end (towards the dam) due to bridges on the eastern fork (I-77) and crossing the main body of the lake about midway. In addition to the marinas mentioned there are also two or three sailing clubs. They used to hold some very competitive regattas.

 

[TDudley]

Lake Norman is the largest man made lake in NC. There is plenty of room for sailing and a lot of sailboats there.

I live there part time and see sailboat races in the morning from spring thru fall. If your boat has a shallow draft you will have access to most of the lake downstream from the Route 150 Bridge. The Bridge would not allow you upstream anyway. I also think you find some reasonable marinas there as well.

Im planning to rebuild a stink pot for Lake Norman for my kids and I to enjoy during the summer. But I would not hesitate to put my 27 foot Hunter there.

Lake Wylie would not be as nice for sailboats. It a pretty skinny lake with high banks on both sides. I would imagine that the winds would be bad because there are not many places for it to get a full head of steam before it is disrupted. Norman has very large expanses that I have seen whitcaps in a strong blow. It actually remined me a bit of the Chesapeak Bay last week when I saw two foot waves. But that was a real hard winter blow.