As newbie on water this spring, I long for a lake close to the cities with a lot of shallows. Also nice would be a lake set up where I could walk out beyond the wind shadow of the upwind shore and begin my mucking about down the whole length of the lake and just focus on getting this pop-out-of-the-water-and-go thing dialed in without having to worry about getting back to where I started from. Once I can consistently stay up wind (hopefully soon), this will no longer be an issue.
I've been eyeing Medicine Lake over the last few weeks and I tried it on Sunday's poor winds late in the day and it worked well. The whole east and south side are sand bottom, with a minimum of 100 feet of chest deep or less of water depth. The lake axis is 1 1/2 miles long and perfect for NW or SE winds.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... c0a9b2fd1f
The best launches are noted by the green balloons. I walked out at the North launch (not French Park) and found I could wade out 600 feet before the water became chest deep. At the East access, I went out 200 feet to waist deep water to launch. I didn't go far enough the find how far out the chest-deep water would be. Sandy bottom. The East launch had a messy shoreline to get in through, and some green slime got on my lines (yuck), but it allowed me a pretty safe place to get going. At the South end, 4-500 feet out I was on the bottom again. The whole east side also has a nice public path close to the water without homes directly on the water. Not South Padre but aside from some little globs of green slim, a pretty good place for a newbie. Except for the west side you really CANNOT end up in a place where you can't touch down and wind your kite lines away from the shoreline.
From my windsurfing experience, Medicine gets rather weedy by June so this is best used early and late in the season. But right now it's good.
Of course... be careful. Always double check all your stuff.
Barry
Possible Newbie Lake?
Moderator: MK
I am curious about the north launch site (not French Park) you show for Medicine. I have sailed Medicine for years, but I have never been aware of anyplace to park by your green pin on the map.
It would be great if we had permission to park and rig by that huge lawn at the drug treatment center - has anyone ever checked on that? That would have been perfect on Sunday - SE wind.
It would be great if we had permission to park and rig by that huge lawn at the drug treatment center - has anyone ever checked on that? That would have been perfect on Sunday - SE wind.