Welcome to Upwest Maine!
Hi Debbie, we live in New Sharon, about 30+ miles east of Rumford, on Rt. 2. Webb Lake is a very nice lake, beautiful mountain surroundings, good wind but has a shallow south end. In fact, the deepest point is only like 40 feet! But the launching there will cost you a few dollars, as it's in the State Park, or in the local campground (a dismal launch which we investigated but refused to get mired in). There are no marinas, and I don't know of anyone who publicly rents slips or moorings. In my opinion, you'd find the extra drive worth it to sail Mooselookmeguntic, which is my favorite sailing place! Mooselookmeguntic is over 16,000 acres, while Webb is just over 2,100, of which 10-15 % is too rocky or shallow to even gunkhole into. M. Lake has some thin places, too, and it also has a serious kick when the wind picks up. Also, while Webb is surrounded by camps, about half (maybe more) of M. is "Public Reserve Land", forever deemed undeveloped and only allowing 'primiitive' camping. These sites are managed by a local campground. Also available at about the same distances is Upper and Lower Richardson Lakes, and Rangeley Lake, which all have free public launches. Mooselookmeguntic and Rangeley have marinas with slips for rent seasonally (daily late in the year), I think the Richardson lakes do, too, but I have only seen them from the dam, and not yet sailed there, so I'm not familiar with them except to know they also have a huge portion of undeveloped shore with primitive camping, too. A lot depends on what you want to do. We have a 16' Compac, and keep it at a friend's camp on the nearest lake for quick forays on windy days (we prefer whitecap sailing), it only takes 20 minutes from leaving home to be dropping the rope, so to speak. But it's only 750 acres or so, and for more adventure we go sail-camping, or at M. Lake, stuff the cabin with gear and pitch camp on shore. I still can't believe how much is left to explore there! Lots of wildlife, we have seen a bald eagle there, tons of loons, the mountains surrounding are awesome (you can see the lake from the Appalachian Trail from the ridges to the south!), I think it's hard to beat. The season will probably seem short to you, some years the lakes don't ice out until mid-April or later! We usually don't get sailing until June, though missing a lot of nice days in May, and pull in October on (usually) a mild breeze with blazing colors all round. Now you can tell me, how do you like your boat? We just saw a Venture 22' for sale, and while I'm not wowed by it, it looks like it could be a fun boat for our inevitably larger groups that don't fit on our 16' Compac. What do you sail, and what are the strengths and weaknesses? Thanks for any response, your friends in "Upwest Maine", Tony and Cathy Ramsey
