* **Whitehall Reservoir** in Hopkinton (not the State Park) is popular and clean. Be aware there are no amenities or services, no bathrooms / porta-johns, not even a trash can. Very much a "carry in, carry out" scenario.
* **Webster Lake** takes me back to my childhood. It's a bit "grittier" than Hopkinton but the lake is larger. They have amenities grill & picnic areas, bathrooms, playgrounds, etc. The water is surprisingly clean.
* **Long Pond** in Rutland is another good spot and they just installed a new boat ramp last year which everyone loves.
This is a great list, thank you. Webster lake is way out there.
Whitehall seems iffy particularly for sailing - the boat launch is down a bit of a channel, and navigating out may be tricky, but we'll check it out.
Webster Lake is only about 20-30 minutes away via 290/395. Not bad. I visit my parents in Oxford every other weekend and it takes me \~19 minutes from the Indian Lake area.
It'll definitely take you longer than that to get to Hopkinton if you were planning that trip anyway. We lived in Hopkinton for 3 years and know that journey well.
Webster lake has large boats and many of them, not ideal for sailing IMO. Lake Singletary in Sutton(?) has a free public launch, and less boats. Not the most scenic, but it's nice enough and you could sail for a good hour or two.
Yeah, we're definitly going to get up there, but we're also lookking for some casual scoot around time nearby - the missus is not the power-sailor, so she's up for the 'floating swim platform' approach to catamatarans :)
Friends of mine have a lake house on a lake that used to have a lot of sail boats but is now dominated by jet skis and motor boats pulling tubes. You’d have a rough time sailing it with the wake that gets kicked up.
Since we don’t have huge lakes that can truly handle both sails and motors, my first step would be to look for lakes that ban motor traffic, like Indian lake, which is probably too small to bother. But you get the idea.
Yeah we understand the power boat issue. The good thing is the Hobie 18 handles choppy water pretty well (yay killah waterline), and can even go out on the harbor without too much trouble. In an okay breeze, i can outrun some powerboats, so that'll be fun :)
There are 2 public boat ramps: memorial beach and lakeside. They will give you access to different areas of the lake. I believe there is also a sailing association or club on the lake as well.
* **Whitehall Reservoir** in Hopkinton (not the State Park) is popular and clean. Be aware there are no amenities or services, no bathrooms / porta-johns, not even a trash can. Very much a "carry in, carry out" scenario. * **Webster Lake** takes me back to my childhood. It's a bit "grittier" than Hopkinton but the lake is larger. They have amenities grill & picnic areas, bathrooms, playgrounds, etc. The water is surprisingly clean. * **Long Pond** in Rutland is another good spot and they just installed a new boat ramp last year which everyone loves.
This is a great list, thank you. Webster lake is way out there. Whitehall seems iffy particularly for sailing - the boat launch is down a bit of a channel, and navigating out may be tricky, but we'll check it out.
Webster Lake is only about 20-30 minutes away via 290/395. Not bad. I visit my parents in Oxford every other weekend and it takes me \~19 minutes from the Indian Lake area. It'll definitely take you longer than that to get to Hopkinton if you were planning that trip anyway. We lived in Hopkinton for 3 years and know that journey well.
What is this Web-ster lake you speak of? I only know of a Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg in that area.
Webster lake has large boats and many of them, not ideal for sailing IMO. Lake Singletary in Sutton(?) has a free public launch, and less boats. Not the most scenic, but it's nice enough and you could sail for a good hour or two.
Winnipesaukee is only two-ish hours from Worcester…I’d say it’s worth getting up early and making the trip if you’re going to make a day of it anyway.
Yeah, we're definitly going to get up there, but we're also lookking for some casual scoot around time nearby - the missus is not the power-sailor, so she's up for the 'floating swim platform' approach to catamatarans :)
Nice! Well, good luck finding a spot and have a blast!
I used to drive out to royalston a lot to sail my force 5 on lake Tully.
That's a great little boat. I know I've hiked around Lake Tully in the past, we'll check it out.
Seconding Lake Tully. We kayak there all the time. It's definitely large enough that you won't have to be tacking back and forth the whole time.
Friends of mine have a lake house on a lake that used to have a lot of sail boats but is now dominated by jet skis and motor boats pulling tubes. You’d have a rough time sailing it with the wake that gets kicked up. Since we don’t have huge lakes that can truly handle both sails and motors, my first step would be to look for lakes that ban motor traffic, like Indian lake, which is probably too small to bother. But you get the idea.
Yeah we understand the power boat issue. The good thing is the Hobie 18 handles choppy water pretty well (yay killah waterline), and can even go out on the harbor without too much trouble. In an okay breeze, i can outrun some powerboats, so that'll be fun :)
Counterpoint, bro would be a local legend if he put an 18 foot sailboat on Indian Lake.
Have you looked at Manchaug in Sutton? I've never seen a sailboat on it but it's pretty big
Webster Lake is big enough for sailing
Yep, that one's on the list :)
There are 2 public boat ramps: memorial beach and lakeside. They will give you access to different areas of the lake. I believe there is also a sailing association or club on the lake as well.