Looking for info on sailing on Winni

[sgold44]

My uncle is thinking about moving his 36ft sailboat ketch from Lake Champlain down to Winni. Are there any sailors out there who can give us some input as to what sailing is like on Winni? His boat has a 4'-6" keel. He's looking for a marina also on the lake.

[Just Sold]

Check with Fay's Boat Yard in Gilford, http://faysboatyard.com/ They have quite a few sail boats in slips and in their mooring field.

[Slickcraft]

Yes Fay's is the place. Also try contacting the Winni Sailing Association:
http://www.lwsa.org/

[Dave R]

I have not sailed Champlain, but I have some friends who do. They say the wind is more reliable on Champlain than it is on Winnipesaukee.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by sgold44

My uncle is thinking about moving his 36ft sailboat ketch from Lake Champlain down to Winni. Are there any sailors out there who can give us some input as to what sailing is like on Winni? His boat has a 4'-6" keel. He's looking for a marina also on the lake.

• Boats of that size will find themselves motoring almost every day, especially if your preference is to "sleep-in". Whatever wind you get will come up about 8-AM, and disappear about Noon. (But "early" works for me ). Because it takes about 5-knots of wind to make any ripple at all, a small sailboat has a great advantage in early morning "calm", when there is no sign of wind whatsoever. Five knots of wind is just enough to sail with, but anything above the size of a Laser won't move. Every season, I find myself buying a smaller sailboat.

• I sail almost every day, and have had owned sailboats up to 23-feet regularly on Winnipesaukee. Most days won't support any larger sailboat, as the extremes of the Big Lake's winds are too great. Even the local NOAA wind forecasts—by County (!)—are invariably 5-to-20-knots too low.

• There are those days of 20-knot-+ winds when I won't risk a sail—and from the dock I see "knockdowns" of 30-foot-plus sailboats—and that's in a harbor protected from the strongest winds.

• About nine years ago, I saw the respected O'Day Mariner capsize with two aboard—and as I watched that afternoon—it never got the gunwales above the surface. While the crew was not far from the shoreline—and never really "in trouble"—nobody motored out to their rescue for what seemed like the next hour. When finally someone brave enough to tackle those winds motored out to tow her, the top of the mast nearly disappeared—while being towed upright in waters with a depth of 30-feet!

• Catamaran ownerships "come and go" here, because although they offer great thrills when the "wind's up", their two hulls are susceptible to being knocked-backwards by weekenders' many oversized-powerboat wakes.

Many times, I'd begin rigging my catamaran for a sail, only to watch the wind change to one of the extremes. (This IS New England).

• With your boat's nearly 5-feet of draft, you'd need to be concerned with the Lake's many markers—and some that aren't marked for your 5-feet of draft.

• Many of our afternoon thunderstorms will leave you becalmed for 15 minutes before it hits. Two years ago on a hazy afternoon, a thunderstorm snuck up on me, and my boat got dismasted! (And your uncle's boat has two masts...)

• In short, ocean breezes are the steadiest, while winds in "The "Winnipesaukee Basin" are the least predictable.

Bring a reliable engine.