Lake of the Ozarks?

[spennie]

Anybody ever Windsurf or Kitesurf the Lake of the Ozarks? My friend is moving there, and we're curious about the possibility of sailing there.

--Spennie

[GGSkater]

The lake is a dammed up river and as such the water is nestled amongst forested hills. Even on a good breezy spring day the winds will be gusty.

The area gets very light winds in the summer as its weather is dominated by light S or SE breezes bringing up Gulf moisture with a H pressure center often sitting parked over Alabama. Quite often in the June - August months you get lazy breezes of 3 - 8 mph.

The final problem is boat traffic. Because the lake is scenic (as its nestled in forested hills) and more importantly because it is a private lake (not a Corps of Engineers but built by the predecessor firm to Ameren, a private utility) this means docks and development can go right down to the water in sharp contrast to the easements that Corps lakes require. Add to that that its affordable and only 3 hours from either KC or St. Louis. So being scenic, affordable, close to metro areas its very popular and far and away unique among other area recreation opportunities meaning its very crowded. Thus, while its a big lake, many of the coves look like suburban subdivisions with boat docks instead of driveways. On weekends the place is packed with pleasure powerboaters.

Better winds are to be had in Kansas, especially Wichita has a nice resevoir near town. On the other side of the area, southern Illinois has a nice lake in Carlyle. But these are over 3-4 hours away by car.

I suggest taking up golf or powerboating or drinking or all of the above. Just don't boat and drink, please!

[spennie]

Thank you!