Potential Ramp Jam This Weekend on Harriet


Due to an unfortunate combination of scheduling, delays, and weather, the first regatta on Lake Harriet coincides with the first weekend after the buoys became available. To support their Icebreaker regatta, the LHYC has ALL the parking lot spaces reserved starting at 5PM Friday to 1PM Sunday. For more details on what this means, follow the email thread that I had with the regatta organizer.

CLH:  A question: I am a sailor on Lake Harriet (boat already in the water!), who runs a web site about sailing on Lake Harriet. Several people have asked me about the parking lot and the ramp this weekend. It's likely to be very busy; do you have plans/instructions on where racers should park their trailer for their scows? It would be great to keep the lot as open as possible for others launching there boats. Good luck with the races!

LHYC:  Thanks for checking with me. The LHYC has the entire lot reserved from 5 today until about 1 on Sunday, and we are expecting the lot to be pretty full all day. However, the busiest times will be Friday night from 6-8, Saturday morning from 7:30-9:30, and Sunday afternoon from 12-1:30. So if you tell people to avoid those times, it would help with congestion.

CLH:   Doe this imply that it will be impossible for other buoy holders to launch their boats from the ramp this weekend? I want to post an update on this and want to make sure I have the right info.

LHYC:  It won't be impossible to actually launch boats. But the parking lot spaces will be full and reserved, so rigging could be an issue. The curb on the south side of the lot that is reserved for rigging might be open, but that might be it. Also, the dock will be pretty full during those times I emailed you, and between 12-1:30 on Saturday for lunch.
This situation is extremely unfortunate, and completely the result of the MPRBs failure to put the buoys in on time. The LHYC is considering complaining the park board about this situation. I hope people won't be too inconvenienced with our regatta.


There you have it, the parking spots are reserved until 1PM on Sunday. technically you can use the ramp, but the spots are expected to be filled, and the dock will be very busy. The rigging area referred to in the conversation is shown in orange in the image below. The other option would be to launch VERY early in the morning, perhaps at dawn.

Comments

  1. BillMay 8, 2010 at 6:33 PM

    good job on giving this information very helpful!

    ReplyDelete

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