iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

We have sailed 4 of the last 5 days on Elk Lake north of Traverse City MI. The first couple days the Ice was absolutely clear smooth ice so even with light winds we sailed for hours. We now have snow cover, but can sail with 10mph wind. With winds at 10-12 today we got alot of sailing in. Yesterday with winds around 12-13mph we sailed fast all day. The conditions in front of white birch are not as good as the north end of the lake being as they were in the lee shore when we had the 30 mph winds that cleared the snow storm we had. We got an additional couple inches today, but it is light fluffy snw, like I said we sailed with only 10-12 mph winds. A beginner that sailed with us had a tough time getting going fast enough to make it thru the drifts, but the seasoned sailors had no problems. For a beginner we have enough snow they would need 12-15mph to learn to sail