Hobie Cat Forums

Lots of lake to choose from. Lake Minnetonka offers miles of shoreline and many bays and inlets to explore but can be very busy and full of jet skis and other assorted "stinkpots" on the weekend. The city lakes of Calhoun ad Harriet are a lot of fun with great beaches, good wind and lots of sailors (no power boats allowed..)

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1972 H16 Sail #10420

Lake Minnetonka can be very busy, and there is some wierd shallow places to it as well. There is alway good "scenery" on the water though, which makes it a worthwhile destination to me.

Go north - Lake Mille Lacs rocks. We did a wide open 28 Mile run in 20 + MPH Winds / 5' swells last labor day weekend. Lake wide open, no "stinkpots"

Loved it so much we bought a place up there. http://www.millelacsrental.com

...that sounds like a blast, 28 miles w/o tacking...nice. I had my Hobie up at Maddens on Gull Lake for a week in the end of June. Folks were lining up to take a ride. I'll have to get up to Mille Lacs next summer!

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1972 H16 Sail #10420

Well, we did tack once, had to get back home

Seriously though, I don't get the problem with that lake (mille lacs), where is everyone? Wide open, lots of wind, fairly clean and warm....... everyone afraid of the walleye?

Pretty shallow, and known for squall action. Lots of fisherman get hurt/die on Mille Lacs over the years. There is some awesome pizza at this place south of Garrison, I can't remember the name but it starts with a Z. You organize a big hobie regatta, and I'll bring a ton of people.

The 444 guys have it pretty good at Lake Pepin, the Fleet 52 guys have a good deal at Green Lake near Spicer and you can always come to Iowa and sail with a bunch of hobie 16s or 14s on Clear Lake, Saylorville, Spirit Lake or Storm Lake.

Those are the things that I love about it. About as close to ocean sailing you can get inland. Where else up here are you going to have an opportunity to fly both hulls ? Shallow, yes but that is what the kickup rudders are for Hobies were made for Mille Lacs. In two years I have only seen one other on the water, and maybe two on the shore.

As to the fisherman getting sucked in, I want to know what percentage were half in the bag and no life jacket.

I would guess that a high percentage of the fishermen were pissing off the back of the boat, but I have heard of some capsized boats.

Its a great town/area though, if you ever want to put together a funsail/hobie regatta, contact Karl Brogger fleet 444, they are always doing stuff like that up on Superior and Leech Lake and Lake Pepin.

The 1987 hobie 18 nationals where held on Lake Mille Lacs.We had about 45 brand new 18's racing.I also raced there in the early 90's, they had a laser world qualifier regatta.Great Lake big and round.At the nationals in 1987 we had two long distance races included with the round the bouy ones.

Medicine Lake in Plymouth is decent as well...There are some shallow spots, but they are easily visable by all the weeds sticking out of the water. Very few power boaters, and the few fishermen tend to stick to the reeds.

Did get stuck in some thick seaweed and ended up having to beach since I couldn't turn the rudders, but other than that, a very nice lake.

Picking up an old thread here but looking for some new sailing lakes.

On Medicine Lake/Minnetonka and the rental at Mille Lacs: Where's the best place to put in at those locations and is there beach next to the boat ramp?

thanks!

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Adam
e-mail: ab at medjet.net
H17S, Hobie Bravo, A cat
Fleet 444