3 DN's reportedly sailed Minnetonka today in 12 - 20 mph wind. Look for a report on conditions experienced by those who sailed.
I drove up I 94 from the Twin Cities Saturday to log a little much needed time with the Princess. Unlike Wisconsin, the Center of the Iceboating World, It's been unquestionably winter in Minnesota until quite recently, (cold temps, snow, etc).
We ran out of the snow just north of the cities, (Rogers) and were subantially clear of snow all the way to Fergus Falls. Right now there are perhaps 40 pretty good spring lakes lakes in Minnesota, (suitable for sailing), e.g., generally clear of snow, solid shore, lots of ice and the sun hasn't gotten to it yet.
Specifically:
- Lake Osakis, Osakis MN was clear of snow, a thin 1/8" thick shell ice (which will be gone by now as temps and wind up here today were both in the 40's) resting on the underlying snow ice looked about great, much better than MTKA, certainly boatable.
- Pelican Lake, Ashby MN was better, no doubt boatable, I expect Ottertail and yup Battle are equal to Pelican or better.
- Lake Christina is not a reliably great spring lake, very shallow water and south exposure at the Milepost 8 launch site crush it pretty early.
- The lakes in the Brainerd area were reported to be substantially clear of snow as well.
As I can't avoid going past several of these on my way to work tomorrow, I'll note how today's big breeze and warm temps effected these lakes and post an updated ice report tomorrow.
I expect we could find a regatta size hunk of suitable+ ice for next weekend if people indicate interest in one more epic battle.
Given the forecast warm temps, we'd probably want consider taking a "regatta" to a latitude a little higher than Mpls, (in order to be on thicker smoother ice, and be to be kinder to our buddies without angle runners).
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