Lake Sailors

[Justin Lee]

Just wanted to post something on this forum. I am interested in finding out how many of us Sail on lakes & which part of the country you sail on?

[Sean Engle]

Justin - can I interest you in being a moderator for this board? Also - how about doing a profile of one of your Bear Lake YC Ericsons for the profiles section?

[Jerry Griffith]

Justin

Count me as a lake sailor. I cruise Lake Erie. Home port Catawba Island, OH.

Jerry Griffith
s/v Valhalla
1974 E-27 #681
Defiance, OH

[Sean Engle]

There's several of you Lake Erie people here - I'm from Chagrin Falls originally!

[fruitcakes]

Justin,

Count us in as another Great Lakes Sailor! We sail on Lake Erie, out of Erie PA.

[Tom De Forrest]

Great Lakes here, too. "Holy Cow" on Lake Michigan out of Muskegon.

[Pat Cook]

We too are lake sailors. Sail our E35 MK II from Manistee, Michigan on Lake Michigan

[Mike Norderhaug]

Great Lakes also! Ericson 38 on Lake Michigan out of the Milwaukee Yacht Club.

[John Young]

I also sail on a lake. This would be the almost, Great Lake, Lake Champlain. Actually there are quite a few Ericsons on this lake, including a 1987 E34 for sale out of Shelburne, VT. In my marina alone there are four E26's, including mine. Lake Champlain sailing is very comparable to the BVI, except for the palm trees and the fact that the lake is frozen from December to April.


John Young
1987 E26
OUTNUMBERED

[Malissa]

Great Lakes sailor here too! I sail on Lake Erie just outside of Toledo, Ohio!

[Bob in Va]

Wow, you Great Lakes guys are taking over! I've got to admit, though, that when I look at a map that's an awful lot of blue up there. Smith Mt. Lake (where I sail) in Virginia is pretty puny in comparison, but it has about 525 mi of shoreline and some beautiful scenery. Couple that with southern hospitality and a laid back lifestyle, and you might not want to go back north. In fact, one theory around here as to why the Civil War (or what is known here as 'The War of Northern Aggression') took so long is that once the yankees were down here they didn't want to go back. I've sailed the lake every month of the year, and though some winters are cold by our standards (13+" snow so far this winter), it was in the 70s for almost a week last year in January.

[Landlocked Capn]

Lake Travis, Austin, TX here.

[jim kizziar]

Canyon Lake, Texas. (only SLIGHTLY smaller than Lake Erie or Lake Michigan!).

[escapade]

Ya Jim, riight! Let me know when you get a lake in Texas (you know, everything is bigger in Texas) that takes 40 to 50 hours to sail the length of. (re: Port Huron to Mackinaw race, 258 kn.) Bud Dankers E34 "Escapade" Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron)

[fafeagin1]

I sail in a bathtub lake. You can see downtown OKC from Lake Hefner. There are no water skiers or jet skiers on the lake to cause any problems. It a small lake but a great place to be based out of. Takes a total of about 30 minutes from my house to the lane out of Hurricane Harbor out into always great sailing winds.
Bigger is not always better !!!:egrin: :egrin: :egrin: :egrin:

Fred

[SteveS]

There are 3 E27s that I know of.

[lfalke]

Hello from Missouri's Lake JACOMO. Sailing Ericson 23 - Helga; local yacht club http://www.jacomocruiserfleet.com

[Startacker]

Greetings from Lake Mead, Nevada. We have about 110 miles of lake here and the saying is: "If you can sail Lake Mead, you can sail anywhere".
It's 12 month a year sailing here and is beautiful on our Ericson 30. Summertime gets a little warm though, up to 115 in August. That's when the Pacific coast looks wonderful

John & Candi
"Gypsy Woman"

[Steve Swann]

I had to just add my 2 cents. We just bought "Sea Horse" a 1977 E25 and hauled her back from Florida to Idaho. She is in wonderful condition and has an 8 hp. inboard Yanmar diesel. Sailed with Jeff and Lorraine Marble, of Fairfield, Idaho on their trailerable E25 "Amigo" (another trailer-sailor couple) to get a taste of what we bought. I always wanted an Ericson, even when sailing something else. Jeff's boat thrilled us. The small Ericson suits us because we have so many beautiful lakes in the NW that we couldn't resist. We are looking forward to the transportability and the adventures. Anybody write if they have any suggestions, hints, or comments. Steve.

[rssailor]

Hello all of you out there. I noticed that there have not been many posts lately on this thread. Where are all the lake sailors.
I am from Sacramento, California which is good place to have a sail boat. There are about five hundred sailboats on Folsom Lake at the marina. Sailing is good all year around on the lake when there is water. Best time of the year to sail at Folsom is in the spring or late afternoon during the summer when the delta breeze kicks up. My Ericson 25+ is an annual visitor here and this is where I grew up and did most of my boating when I was younger. How many of you lake sailors out there have problems with fluctuating water levels? Ryan:egrin:

[Bob in Va]

At Smith Mt. Lake in Va we watch the water level pretty closely because the water becomes quite thin in some spots when the lake is down. The lake provides hydro-electric power, and the amount of water let through the dam or pumped back up into the lake can vary, depending on demand as well as on the previous year's rain/snow falls. The greatest impact is probably felt by trailerable sailboats, especially those drawing two or more feet, because when the water is down in the lake, most ramps don't extend far enough out to launch/recover. Last year I had to wait to pull my E23 until the water came back up after a few snowfalls. Even when the water is down, the bottom is relatively soft in most places, and because my centerboard angles back, it can absorb some contact with the bottom, but it still hurts to feel that tell-tale thump that means I wasn't paying close enough attention. When I build a new board for the boat it will have a kevlar strip molded into the lower part of the leading edge to give a little more protection from such instances. It's a little too cold to sail here now (20s) but late March will see warmer breezes and some pre racing season practice. Until then, the winter projects list dictates my sailing activities.

[Startacker]

A quick reply to not only being land locked but watching lake levels. Lake Mead has dropped almost 80' in the last couple of years and where we used to sail before is now a huge rock sticking out of the water. We still have plenty of places to sail but night sailing takes on a whole new adventure in our Ericson 30.

John & Candi
"Gypsy Woman"

[rssailor]

How is the sailing at lake Mead? Are there good ramps for launching a fix keeled sail boat? Wow eighty feet down is a lot of lake surface area lost. Does the lake come up in the spring with snow run-off? Folsom lake varies about sixty feet or so per year. The marina basin goes out of the water usually during the winter and all of the boats in the marina have to come out of the water and are stored on their trailers during the winter. Ryan

[mdgann]

The world's saltiest sailors sail the Great Salt Lake of Utah. I am an Ericson 23 owner and sail from the Antelope Island marina. The only other marina on the lake is at the South end of the lake with a Yacht club that started in 1877. The lake is cut in half by a railroad causeway, but we can still sail about 45 miles in a straight line. Without the causeway the lake is about 90 miles from North to South and averages about 25 miles across. Great sailing as the power boaters and skiiers are afraid of the salt. No fish for the fisherman either. Right now it is too shallow for putting in at the Antelope Island marina as we have experienced about 6 years of serious drought. This year looks like the end of it though and I plan on putting back in in April or May.

[pyroray]

E-27 Inland Empire Sailor. My home port is Bayview, ID on beautiful Lake Pend Orielle (pronounced: Pondaray). The lake is about 30 miles north & south and maybe 8 miles east west at the northern end. A few bays on the south end and Islands on the north end. The lake is like a wide fjiord.
I'm a fair weather sailor but love to go check on the boat when the snow is still on the mountains, which come right down to the water. All other lakes in the area freeze, I've never seen this one froze up. Probably due to the depth in excess of 800 feet in the bay and deeper in the main body of the lake.
There are mountain goats that come down the cliffs to water with their young in the spring. I've seen bear swim across the lake and then virtually run up an almost vertical slope (the guy following way to close in the fishing boat thought he could stick close and help in case the bear got in trouble). Got a good laugh out of that guy.
There are no skiers, an occasional jet ski, and the fishing boats are usually on the shore line. Once around Cape Horn and heading north the mountains obscures the weather and sometimes you can be in for a surprise storm. I have two sets of reef points and have used each. Sometime I've just dropped the sails and ran.
People say lake sailors can sail anywhere, that is an especially true statement about lake P.O. I've had the wind bend me over and turn me 270 degrees before I could right her. Almost lost the wife off the bow, good thing she's quick with her hands and knew what the lifelines were for. That is the worst mishap in my 15 years sailing here.
Races are scheduled for the spring and the fall for a reason. The summers are hot and surface water temps can get up in the 70's. But in the fall when the Elk start to bugle and the mountains turn white it's just way to cold.
This is the most beautiful inland sailing I've experienced. It's the only inland sailing I've experienced. The Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands on the Straits of Juan De Fuca are my salt water sailing favorites. But thats for another post.

[Seth]

Nice post. I don't know how large you group is, but I would be happy to come and give a seminar on sails, sailing, boat handling, or a variety of topics that may be of interest...
If you think there may be some interest, please give me a call and we can talk some more!

Cheers!

Seth 312-735-6360

[funster]

Beautiful Stockton Lake near Stockton, Missouri on our pretty little '79 e25+.

[rssailor]

How do you like your boat? Is the lake good for sailing? Do you have a trailer for the boat? I have a 79 hull the same as yours and it is outboard model with lots of modifications. I race it every once in awhile out here and trailer it some. Ryan

[funster]

We have had the boat for two years and love it. We moved up from a Venture 2-22, so our 25+ is a large yacht by comparison. It is the perfect size for our family (two kids 5 and 3 with one on the way), although I would like to modify the stbd berth to convert to a double. A previous owner added an E-34 bimini top which helps on those hot Missouri summer days.

The previous owner had a trailer that he only used for hauling, and we did not buy it (it would be nice to have the flexibility of going to different lakes, but we trailer-sailed for fifteen years and are tired of it). Stockton Lake is clean, clear lake. It is also relatively wide (about two miles in the main channel) and has good wind all year except for July and early August when the summer highs set in the wind drops off. April-May and Sept.-Oct are the best months, IMO. Water temps right now are about 75 deg. F.

You asked if it is a good lake for sailing - The answer is yes. We have sailed on most of the lakes in the area, and Stockton is head and shoulders above the rest. Does it compete with coastal sailing - no way, but when I jump in for a swim, I get out and towel off feeling clean - that's hard to beat.

Our yacht club has about two events per month with a turn out of around 15 boats, on average, from May through early October. We have the Leukemia Cup every other year and an annual Governor's Cup in September. Also (don't laugh) we have a 50 mile "long-distance" classic in early October.

Our 25+ has the thumper Volvo (7.5 hp) with sail drive. We love this little engine, and so far it has returned the love.

We race our boat and have been fairly competitive in our "rookies" class, but still have a lot to learn. There is a Catalina 25 that kicks our butt, but we are competitive against a Jenneau 27. We blame it on the shoal draft keel, but I am sure it has something to do with our lack of knowledge in the areas of sail trim and race tactics. But hey, we are having fun and learning.

The big mods to the boat (other than the bimini) have been the replacement of the original stove with a non-pressurized alcohol stove, and addition of a roller furling 135% headsail and shore power. If you do not have a bimini and want to add one, I would not recommend the E-34 bimini that we have. Its better than nothing, but is not user friendly for ingress and egress to and from the cockpit. I saw a better set-up last weekend on an E26 or E27 that has a two foot long bimini at the stern (with back stay going through it) and a forward 4 foot bimini at the front og the cockpit covering the cabin hatchway.

Sorry for the long post. I just haven't found anyone to share E25+ stories with.

Happy Sailing!

[Art Mullinax]

I to am a land locked sailor. Has it's good points and better points (no bad points when I'm on the boat). We tried salt water at Hilton Head but things started to rust and corrode that had never rusted or corroded. No matter how much we washed the sails, they started to fall apart. Had all kinds of funny looking creatures attach themselves to the hull. Painfully learned during a haulout that when he moved the bottom paint roller in one direction that was one coat, when he immediately moved it back over the same area it was 2 coats. During our discussion concerning number of coats the local constable arrived and determined I should pay the man and leave!
Our lake is a series of mountain valleys that were backed up for a power plant. The water is fresh and clean. We can take a bucket shower in skinny dip cove. Washing the deck down with fresh water is a snap. Couple of times a year I scrub the slim off the hull. Don't have to worry about getting in the water and becoming part of the food chain. BUT!
When I'm down on the coast and I see a set of sails off in the distance going to some far away place, it makes me sit and ponder the true happiness in life...
Art,
:)