Description

Situated about 35 minutes from downtown Minneapolis, Waconia is a great lake to escape to for the day, an afternoon or an evening session. The lake is surrounded by picturesque farmland. On the south side the little town of Waconia is nestled onto the hillside. Lake Waconia offers the entire spectrum of sailing from lightwind slalom to great bump and jump. Typically sails are.5m to 1m smaller than in the cities.

Kiting: Waconia is one of the best local kiting lakes with the exception of Mille Lacs. The launch is very user friendly with shallows at least 150ft out. There aren't many docs to contend with. You can walk the perimeter if you need to walk back from a down winder. There is usually other kiters there to assist. And it is quite beautiful. Windsurfers and kiters share the NE launch. This lauch works great from most directions cept E and NE. If you are not that experienced look for SSE, S, SSW or NNW days for body drags. The west winds are directly onshore and can be dangerous if you can't immediately shoot upwind. The south beach is another option for body drags on South winds. The wind would be offshore though would give you a longer run. This launch may also work well on a NE wind. The beach is fairly crowded on hot days so we may want to ride this site only in the offseason or cooler days.

Sites

• Boat Launch: the main site at Waconia. The sandbar that runs along the east side of Waconia makes for easy learning on light wind days and great ramps on the bump and jump westerlies. When a big Northwester comes in, the line to the island is as exciting as it gets. The parking lot can fill up on a big day, so come early. We've struck a deal with the DNR to park only on the North side of the lot unless you have a trailer. This ensures that the boaters can park with their trailers on the south side. Please respect this.
• The south beach is an alternative for north winds and the only site for north east winds. The facilities and rigging area are better than the boat launch and it includes a nice beach. The downside is on hot days the beach is quite full. Respect the beach goers or we could loose access.

 

How to Get There

From Minneapolis there are three alternative routes. 1) highway 7 to St Bonifacius south on 92/30. 2) Highway 5 to the park just east of the town of Waconia. Follow the short road to the lake. or 3) Highway 12 to 6 west of Long Lake. Follow 6 as it zigzags to 92. Follow 92 though St Boni. to the lake.(it becomes 30)