Minnesota CP-16's

[Steve Ullrich]

Hello Folks,

I'm wondering how many of us are in Minnesota?  I'm also wondering if the Minnesota members ever get together for a day or two of sailing anywhere in the state?  How about Wisconsin?  With Pepin right between us maybe we should get something set up and take her over for a weekend?

[TeamSlacker]

Finally catching up here after the previous hacked site.

We're in St. Cloud but ready to trailer our 16 '2Lobsters' anywhere. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see if something gets going.

Normally our quick evening sails or weekend we'll run to Grand Lake by Richmond/Coldspring.
Once in a while head down to Green Lake by Willmar, or up to MilleLacs for the day.

[Steve Ullrich]

Looks like you have a few options around St. Cloud.  I kind of wish we weren't in the metro. The local lakes close to us are easy to get on during the week but power boats take them over on the weekends.  It isn't easy to find trailer parking.  We kept our last two sailboats on mooring balls at Waconia.  There is a lot to be said for having a boat on the water and ready to go when ever you please.  Mille Lacs looks like a good destination to me too.  I'm sure we'll make that a day trip too.  From where we are in Savage we have a lot of close options: Minnetonka, the St. Croix, Pepin all look like they will be on the docket for day trips.  Probably the weekend trips.  We'll probably haul the 16 up to the Apostle Islands for a weekend too.  I'd also like to spend a weekend on Leech.

Good to hear from you. Keep me posted if you should decide to haul her in towards the cities.

Steve

[NateD]

My wife and I live in East St. Paul, but we keep the boat on the trailer and we're willing to travel. We rented a cabin on Mille Lacs July 5-11, and we would be happy to host if anyone wants to spend a day or two sailing that week.

TeamSlacker: My dad's family is from Cold Spring, and my mom grew up outside of New London. I have driven past Greene Lake more times than I can count, looks like a good sailing lake.

I don't have much planned for weekends now through the end of the summer, and would love to meet up for a day or two somewhere. I can't do it June 27/28, but other than that I'm pretty open. I'm willing to hit any place in the state.

[Steve Ullrich]

Nate - Thanks for the invitation as well as for the additional information you provided me directly.  Jane and I are looking forward to sailing Mille Lacs with you.  We have a slip reserved at Doc's, which was incredibly cheap by the way, for the 10th and 11th.  See you on the 10th, if not before.

Steve

[TeamSlacker]

A couple years ago I took Lori to the Apostle's on a day sail charter on the 'Animishi' for her birthday. At the time we didn't have the CP16, just an old Sears Jetwind (like a snark). It was awesome up there. I'd love to get the CP up there, but it's one of those trips that I would rather do with other boats, 'safety in numbers' kinda thing I guess. Pepin is another one on our 'go to' list. Just tuff for an out of town greenhorn like myself to just hook up the trailer and go, when you dont know what you are getting into.
Lake Superior/North shore is also on the 'go-to' list. Even tho we'd just want to stroll up and down the coast a bit from one of the public access, the big lake still scares me, as it should I guess.

Green lake is a great sailing lake imho. The public access in town lacks parking and seems to get busy on the nice days, but every time we've been there, we've managed to get a spot.
A little sailing story on Green. I use 'mycast' on the cell phone, and usually have the storm and lightning alerts turned on. But for some reason, I forgot to turn on the alerts in the Willmar area one day we went there. Was a nice sailing day, we were just strolling around the lake. Headed off towards the center and droped sails, pulled out the cooler and had our picnic lunch. I noticed it was getting dark to the west, so we finished up and told Lori we should start heading back to the access. No sooner did we get the sails set, and it was BLACK on the west side of the lake, the lightning started, and the wind picked up. No way we were going to make it back to the access on the SW side of the lake. The closest shore was about downwind, so I let the main and jib out and just ran downwind, fastest gps speed I've seen on the boat to date! I just picked a house that looked like it had room and sandy beach. Got there just as the rain started. The lot owners saw us coming and helped us roll there mooring tire out and get 2Lobsters tied up and secured, and invited us in the house to weather out the storm. Sitting under a lightning rod in the middle of a lake was the most scared I've been in long time :0 and I hope to not repeat it again. The storm blew over, bid gracious farwell to our hosts, and headed back out on the lake for some good sailing.

I already have other plans on the calendar for the Jul 10-11th weekend, if things chage I'll let you guys know. Otherwise keep up the posting here and maybe we can all hook up this summer. If we are planing on day trip to Green or someplace I'll post up too.

[Steve Ullrich]

Nate, Slacker, any other Com-Pac sailors in the Minneapolis area:

The weather forecast for Sunday calls for winds in the 10-15 range and partly cloudy skies.  Looks like sailing weather to me so Jane and I are planning on spending the day on the St. Croix.  I located what looks to be a nice place to rig and launch from: http://www.boatingatbeanies.com/launch.html

I especially like the fact that Beanies offers shuttle valet service to off-site parking if their on site lot is full.  They also have a clear area for rigging sailboats.  Our plan is to be rigged and on the water by 10:00 a.m.  If you folks don't have other plans maybe we can do some sailing and raft up for lunch on the St. Croix.

Steve

[NateD]

Steve,

    I've launched from there 5 or 6 times this year. The rigging part can get tricky if the place is busy. I would say that there are about 10-15 parking spots at the launch itself, then there is probably enough room to park another dozen rigs along the driveway to the place, then when it gets full people park out along the street (which is where the shuttle will come get ya). The issue is that tree branches overhand the driveway, and about half of the parking spots down by the launch. There is a rigging area, or at least a sign that says rigging area right next to the biffy as you come into the actual parking/launch area. If no one else is in that area, you should be able to setup there (the fishing/power boaters rarely setup there, they just back up and drop 'em in). I've only seen one other sailboat at that launch (a 15' Potter), but that was last year, so you should be able to rig there. But if it's too busy/or someone is already using that area, you'll have to rig somewhere else and leave the mast down until you get back to the actual launch ramp. The last time I was down there was two or three weeks ago around 11am on a Sunday and there was plenty of room (but it was cold, had to wear a stocking hat and Carhart while sailing), so I'm guessing it will be busier this weekend.

    I would like to get out on the water there, but Angie's uncle who she was close with passed away yesterday and the funeral is on Monday, so I am not sure if I'll be able to make it out Sunday. If we do, it will probably be closer to 12 before we're on the water. I'll shoot you a message Saturday letting you know if we can make it or not.

    It's a nice area to sail. The wind seems stronger/steadier south of the I-94 bridge. From the bridge down to where the narrow channels is about 4 miles, so plenty of room to play around.

[Steve Ullrich]

Thanks for the tips Nate.  Sorry to hear about Angie's Uncle. 

Steve

[Steve Ullrich]

If you live in Minnesota you need to sail on lake Waconia some time.  Waconia is just far enough out of the metro area to be uncrowded.  At roughly four miles in diameter you can tie off the tiller in normal winds and ride a point of sail for a half hour before you need to come about. Winds today were roughly 16 knots with gust to 25 knots. I had the GPS on for about an hour and my average speed was 4.3 knots with 5.6 knots as my highest.  It was a bit too windy to tie off the tiller today so I got a little bit of a workout.  I was locked in between 15 and 30 degrees of heel for the entire afternoon.  There wasn't another sailboat on the water.  I shared the lake with a couple of parasailors and a couple of wind surfers.  Great day on the water, I'm burned to a crisp.  The In-Towne marina on Lake street has a nice big lot for rigging and plenty of trailer parking on the week days.  The charge $10 to launch.  They won't let sailboats launch on weekends as the lot gets full and customers complain if they have to wait behind us but there is also a public access ramp on the northeast corner of the lake. 

[TeamSlacker]

Sounds like a good time Steve.
This past weekend, after the sun started peaking out saturday afternoon, we packed up for an overnighter and headed to Green lake in Spicer again. Took off sailing for a couple hours, headed back in to the public access and on the way called the pizza joint that is just a block from the access. Stoped at the access to pick up our pizza and went out in front of Melvins (www.melvinsonthelake.com) and tied up to a open mooring bouy. Not sure if they are public or private or what? 2 other sailboats tied up out there, with one open, and not a single other sailboat on the lake.
Had some pizza and beers and listened to the outdoor concert (GB Leighton). Crawled into the massive cabin of the '16 and hit the hay All in all an awesome night. I need to sign up for a free photo account so I can post some pics. We'll def be watching the calendar of outdoor concerts at Melvins and spending some more nights out there.

[Steve Ullrich]

Hey slacker - Thanks for the link.  I mapped Green Lake.  Looks to be a little over two hours from Savage.  Looks like a nice lake.  I'm saving the link and adding Green Lake to my list of lakes that I want to see.  Two hours is a drive but it isn't horrible.  Any place to park a trailer?  Biggest problem I have in the metro area is no place to park the trailer.  Pretty frustrating.  That means I pretty much can't go sailing anywhere too close to home on the weekends unless I'm on the water at the crack of dawn, or wait until 5:30 or so when the power boaters go home for supper.

Sounds like a good time Steve.
This past weekend, after the sun started peaking out saturday afternoon, we packed up for an overnighter and headed to Green lake in Spicer again. Took off sailing for a couple hours, headed back in to the public access and on the way called the pizza joint that is just a block from the access. Stoped at the access to pick up our pizza and went out in front of Melvins (www.melvinsonthelake.com) and tied up to a open mooring bouy. Not sure if they are public or private or what? 2 other sailboats tied up out there, with one open, and not a single other sailboat on the lake.
Had some pizza and beers and listened to the outdoor concert (GB Leighton). Crawled into the massive cabin of the '16 and hit the hay All in all an awesome night. I need to sign up for a free photo account so I can post some pics. We'll def be watching the calendar of outdoor concerts at Melvins and spending some more nights out there.

[TeamSlacker]

The worst parking I've had there was about a block walk. Probably 20-30 total car/trailer spots at the access, and lots of on street parking right there too. There is 3 docks at the access along with 3 ramps, so things move quickly when busy. No overhead issues, so you can step the mast before you get wet. Also a public park between the access and Melvins for a bbq on dry land if you prefer. It is a public access, so no fee$ either.

[Steve Ullrich]

Sounds nice.  You spent the night on a ball off Melvin's without anyone rousting you? Anchor light on?  I showed your post to my wife. She suggested leaving Savage at the crack of dawn and making a day of it before the summer is gone.  I'll keep you posted.  Maybe NateD will join us and we'll have a regular fleet.

The worst parking I've had there was about a block walk. Probably 20-30 total car/trailer spots at the access, and lots of on street parking right there too. There is 3 docks at the access along with 3 ramps, so things move quickly when busy. No overhead issues, so you can step the mast before you get wet. Also a public park between the access and Melvins for a bbq on dry land if you prefer. It is a public access, so no fee$ either.

[fafnir]

If you would welcome a Montgomery 15 on future rendezvous in MN then count me in.  During a short period of poor judgement we sold our Compac 16 and after a short period of time without a trailer sailer picked up another one.  There are a couple of Montgomery owners planing a rendezvous near the middle to end of September in the Apostle Islands if anyone is interested in joining perhaps?  The dates are not final yet.