Lake Pepin Messabout

Early Saturday morning, I picked up my brother in law John, and headed over to Lake Pepin to check out the Messabout event.

We were not able to launch Moonshine from the launch near the Messabout campground, as the parking lot was 100% full at 9AM.  Instead we launched from the Lake City marina downtown.  There is a $10 launch fee, but the ramp is paved and steep to aid launching.  Also, it is protected from wind and wave by a breakwater and large marina building just to the South.  There was ample parking for the boat and trailer.  You will,  however need a motor or oars to navigate out of the narrow channel to the harbor.  Once out on the lake we found ourselves in 1 foot chop and winds from SE in the 5-7 mph range.  As we headed downwind over to the Wisconsin side of the river the wind began to build to 10 or so.  About 3 miles of sailing and a couple of jibes took us down to the beach North of Lake City where the Messabout was taking place.  There were probably 10 boats sailing off the beach.  They were mostly homebuilts ranging in length from 10 to 18 feet.  Balanced lug rigs seemed to be the most popular rig choice.  All of the boats I saw seemed to be handling the sea conditions just fine.  By that time, the wind had built to 10-12, and there was a pretty good chop running up the lake.  We sailed a few squares off the beach area and then anchored about 50 yards offshore for lunch and cigars.   The sky to the South was starting to take on a darker shade of gray that suggested rain, so John and I decided to start the sail back to the marina.  I had put in my first reef while at anchor.  This was a good choice, as the boat sailed with much less heel and we made better angles beating back upwind.   I was expecting to need 6 -8 tacks and at least a couple of hours sailing to beat back up to the marina, but, I was pleasantly surprised to make it back with only 3, in something like an hour.  Honestly, I was enjoying the sail, and wouldn’t have minded exploring the lake a bit more, but at that point we were getting a little light rain on and off, and I could see that my crew was getting a bit chilled.  So we dropped sail and headed back into harbor.  

After putting the boat away we drove down to the beach area and talked with a few of the Messabout sailors.  We talked with a guy sailing an Oz Gooze and got a look at a newer Scamp.  They seemed like nice folks, but the party was kind of breaking up at that point due to incoming rain.  

I expect to go back to Lake Pepin again, as it’s a beautiful lake.  The water is surprisingly clear for the Mississippi River, I thought, and the scenery is interesting with the surrounding bluffs and waterfront.  There are a few cities on the lake that could be visited that appear to have nice restaurants and shops.   It has a bigger lake feel to it – kind of like Lake Petenwell.   With the wind coming right up the river over a 10 mile fetch, you do get a pretty good chop running against the current.  The larger waves we saw on the sail South might have been 2.5 – 3 feet.  That was with a 12-15 mph wind.  With winds above that I would expect conditions could quickly become “interesting”.   We saw a few big river barges pass on the Wisconsin side of the lake.  Neat to see, but I would give them a wide berth.

-Dennis

Gratuitous photo of Author’s boat at Lake City Marina launch