Sun. dec.20 Flood sailing in Des Moines 51 degrees wind 15mp

[Quetzalcoatl]

This Sunday, Dec. 20th...some wind in Des Moines, Iowa. 51 degree air temp, 15mph SW wind.

Actually the best launch site is a bit North of center (on East side of Lake Saylorville) at "Cherry Glen" landing. Just on outskirts of Ankeny, Iowa (10 miles north of Des Moines).

It's usually a beautiful sandy beach (big) with this reservoir being 1.5 miles wide and eight miles long aprox.

I don't know how much of the "Beautiful Beach" will be visible due to all the rain ('sposed to be still flooded) until
sunday afternoon.

But I think I'm going to check it out. If you drive 75 mph (and no stops) you can be there in three hours. I've done it several times before and when our Minnesota Lakes are frozen up

then I think it's worth it.

PS: I will first stop by Clear Lake and see if it's open,,,only 42 warmest temp for sunday and only 12 mph wind there. But if it's open then I'll sail there. My hunch is that it'll be frozen over.

And then it's on to Lake Saylorville (just another 100 miles South)! Eric out.

[Matt V]

Here is the lake level page for Saylorville. This is one of my favorite places to kite but it rarely gets more wind than central Nebraska. Still, on a SSE wind, it can be clean wind that rarely happens anywhere else.

http://rivergages.mvr.usace.army.mil/Wa ... SAYI4&dt=S

Somewhere around 836.00 is the best level with plenty of beach at the normal launches. If you click on "plot" it will show you a graph of the water level. As you can see from this, the lake pretty much instantly goes to flood stage and you have no beach to launch from.

[cjb]

The water level at Saylorville is about 30ft over normal pool. There are no good beaches or parking lots to launch from. Big Creek can be a better option.