What is the worst Sailing State?
- Thread starter shemandr
- Start date
Of course it is, but don't call me Surely.
In Hawaii they wear less than that. Was (may still be) a good place to be young, stupid and irresponsible.
When the wind does blow, its always against me. I'm forever tacking. Reaching, what's that?Pacific Northwest a terrible place to sail, so please do not come. For starters, it always rains, sun never shines, sailing wind forget it, friendly people nope, nothing to see. Just move on.
That's true. I wanted to edit the title of the thread to strike the word state and replace it with venue or area. I wasn't able to do that. BTW my inlaws (Kind of once removed) have a beach house in Indiana.
A better question might be, where is the best place to sail in each state? Then we can vote on which of the "best" places is the worst (and which is the best). But I have a hunch that in most states, determining the best might even be controversial.
How to define the place ...is it a town location ... bay ... ocean ... lake?
I'll start with New Jersey and throw it out there for consideration as best location ... Forked River, on Barnegat Bay, with access to Atlantic Ocean.
I'll throw out there for best location on the east coast ... Newport, RI
How to define the place ...is it a town location ... bay ... ocean ... lake?
I'll start with New Jersey and throw it out there for consideration as best location ... Forked River, on Barnegat Bay, with access to Atlantic Ocean.
I'll throw out there for best location on the east coast ... Newport, RI
If we’re going with location instead of the entire state I can speak about two lakes in South Carolina. Lake Murray has superb sailing with lots of restaurants and services. Wateree Lake is a beautiful lake that offers taking and gybing as long as the wind is blowing. Very few restaurants and no (read absolutely none) services for sailboats. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve sailed a bunch on Wateree and enjoyed it. Then I discovered what a great sailing lake is all about.
OK Best and Worst sailing, nifty idea.
In Minnesota best is easy, Wayzata on Lake Minnetonka.
https://www.sailingworld.com/racing/good-life-five-great-sailing-towns-you-may-not-know-about
Worst, Amazingly enough, the 2nd largest lake in the state, the 20-mile-across (in all directions) Lake Mille Lacs. How can this huge lake only an hour north of the Minneapolis-St Paul Metro suck? Well, its' perfectly round so no places to hide, no islands or bays to speak of to drop anchor or get in the lee. There are no sailboat friendly marinas or launches, and its shallow so a very nasty chop develops in any breeze. 99.9% of the boats there are Walleye fisherman. NOBODY sails there.
In Minnesota best is easy, Wayzata on Lake Minnetonka.
https://www.sailingworld.com/racing/good-life-five-great-sailing-towns-you-may-not-know-about
Worst, Amazingly enough, the 2nd largest lake in the state, the 20-mile-across (in all directions) Lake Mille Lacs. How can this huge lake only an hour north of the Minneapolis-St Paul Metro suck? Well, its' perfectly round so no places to hide, no islands or bays to speak of to drop anchor or get in the lee. There are no sailboat friendly marinas or launches, and its shallow so a very nasty chop develops in any breeze. 99.9% of the boats there are Walleye fisherman. NOBODY sails there.
I would tend to believe that a coastal location would have to be favorable to inland lakes, yet even that may be unclear. Coastlines may often be too inhospitable for sailing. In South Carolina, there seem to be numerous lakes or reservoirs that are large enough to challenge the coastline as a preferred sailing venue. Is the coastline useful for sailing or is it just the ICW for passing thru? In New Jersey, there are a few inland locations (Lake Hopatcong being about the best of the inland locations) that are ok for sailing, but none would challenge NY Harbor, Raritan Bay, Barnegat Bay or the coastal area from Atlantic City to Cape May for "best" in NJ. But the coast is inhospitable from Sandy Hook to Atlantic City at least. I don't think many people sail Delaware Bay except to pass thru on the way to the ICW canal.
Take a state like New York, for instance. It has Long Island Sound for great sailing and access to the entire world. It also has Great Lakes sailing and A LOT of inland lakes that are large enough to be great sailing areas as well. The east end of LIS has to be one of the best areas on the east coast for sailing.
How would you choose for Minnesota? On the face of it, Lake Superior would have to be considered as "best" location in Minnesota. But is it really? Minnesota's coast line is way inhospitable, with only a few very small harbors to provide access. Do Minnesotans go, instead, to Bayfield, WI for Lake Superior access? Is the "best" sailing in Minnesota proper considered to be one of the numerous inland lakes that are very large and interesting?
Take a state like New York, for instance. It has Long Island Sound for great sailing and access to the entire world. It also has Great Lakes sailing and A LOT of inland lakes that are large enough to be great sailing areas as well. The east end of LIS has to be one of the best areas on the east coast for sailing.
How would you choose for Minnesota? On the face of it, Lake Superior would have to be considered as "best" location in Minnesota. But is it really? Minnesota's coast line is way inhospitable, with only a few very small harbors to provide access. Do Minnesotans go, instead, to Bayfield, WI for Lake Superior access? Is the "best" sailing in Minnesota proper considered to be one of the numerous inland lakes that are very large and interesting?
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That article is racing oriented, for sure. During my recent visit to Leech Lake, I marveled at how interesting it would be to sail that lake.
Interesting that the article mentioned Flathead Lake in Montana. That location was first on my radar back in the 80's or early 90's when Windsurfing Magazine wrote about an interesting tri-athlete competition that was based there. It was held in April and had a windsurfing race combined with ski racing and something else for the 3 sports. Maybe it had sailboat racing in there as well. I would have liked to go there but it was too much of a stretch. I could see Montana for retirement, but it seems to be overrun by people from Minnesota!
How about criteria?
Great places to sail include view, wind, shoreline, water/ wave characteristics, but then there are facilities, supplies, communities, accessibility, regulations and restrictions, safe protected harbors... what is the important criteria here ?
- Will (Dragonfly)
Great places to sail include view, wind, shoreline, water/ wave characteristics, but then there are facilities, supplies, communities, accessibility, regulations and restrictions, safe protected harbors... what is the important criteria here ?
- Will (Dragonfly)
That's easy. It's all about proximity and ACCESS.
If people can't get there in a reasonable amount of time, its no good.
Part of what make Minnetonka great is it is on the edge of a 3.5 million people metropolitan area. That's a lot of access. Close to people. It's 5 minutes from my door. I've sailed Leech lake. Nice, but 3.5 hours away. Bayfield rocks as well, I used to go 4 out of 5 weekends. But its 5 hours away.
Lake Pontchartrain in NOLA is VERY similar to Mille Lacs in size, shape and depth, but its proximity to the city makes it a much nicer place to sail.
It's all about proximity. Nobody cares about water/wave characteristics if its close.
Will, what would you consider best sailing location in New Hampshire? Portsmouth or Lake Winnipesaukee?
Missouri might be the state where I would guess it might be the least sailing oriented. I can't think of any place where people might sail, except Stockton Lake. Does anybody sail on the Mississippi River along that stretch?
;^)
Keillor describes Lake Wobegone as 'up around Holdingford'. Sadly there is no lake there at all, and not a sail-able lake for MILES.
Sadly, I have lived in NH with a sporadic hiatus while my wife was a traveling nurse for 5 years, since I started high school and I have never sailed here. With Dragonfly, that will change. Lake Winnipesaukee has sailboats on it, with lakeside facilities and restaurants in a number of different towns around the lake. There are islands and coves and bays, there are areas of high boat traffic from the Mount Washington dinner cruise ship to bass boats and jet skis; and there are remote areas that see little more than a few kayakers. The 12 whole miles of Atlantic coast has heritage and Portsmouth harbor is large and well developed with plenty of sailboats. For me, Portsmouth is almost 3 hours away where the lakes are an hour to an hour and a half. That also puts Lake Champlain within the same radius, so I would say the lake. The coast is too expensive with too much money living there. I would go to Rockland, Maine, long before launching in Portsmouth or Rye or Hampton Beach. I would like to sail to the Graves of Spanish Sailors and Smuttynose, however. It all looks pretty good. The reservoir 10 minutes from my house is big enough for an afternoon sail, but that's about an hour of from one end to the other. What it has is no development on its shores other than the dam. I can stop anywhere for a shore-side picnic and I have never seen a jetski on it. Rarely more than two other boats within sight. That's a plus.
- Will (Dragonfly)
Well, the question isn't "what's best for you". We would all just list our own location. It's more or less, "what's best for sailors" in general. So I would gather that Portsmouth is probably best in New Hampshire, since you are saying that is where much of the money is. Generally, that is the case. The best locations attract the money. It's not always the case. In New Jersey, I'd say the real money is attracted elsewhere for lifestyle pursuits, but plenty of it is also spent in the state, and it is difficult to choose where is the over-riding preference.