I spent most of the summer of 2006 sailing Sacandaga lake . Here are the directions and aerial photos. Like Delta Lake (seen elsewhere on this site), Sacandaga Lake was created by flooding farmland and a town or two to create a reservoir with which to maintain water levels in other navigable waters. In the case of Sacandaga it's used to maintain water levels in the Hudson to accommodate shipping up to Albany. As a result, water levels tend to go down during the summer as it's released into the Hudson. Needless to say, dry summers see pretty radical drops in water levels in the lake. Since the fields in that farmland I mentioned earlier were surrounded by stone walls, as the water drops the walls become a menace to navigation. The really nasty ones are well marked, but local knowlege is important at a lake like this. I found lots of local fishermen at the launch eager to acquaint me with the hazards of the day.


My first time out on Sacandaga this summer I ran into this O'Day 22 right after I launched. The wind was ranging from dead calm to about 5mph. I put up my 170% genny and headed north. A while later I noticed that the O'Day was on the same course but slowly turning into a speck in my rearview mirror. I had forgotten how well Vics moved in light air.

The first point of interest on the way north is Sand Island. Here you see it off the Starboard bow.

Sand Island is an uninhabited island that's part of the Adirondack State Park. It's all sand beach around the edges with woods in the middle. Boaters routinely beach for an afternoon picnic and some beach combing.

In the last decade or so, Sacandaga Lake has been attracting alot of new construction. Many of the homes are quite extravagant.



That's the north end of the lake. Just beyond the islands off the port bow is a State Campground with facilities for tents and trailers. I believe there's also a launch



Boat Menu

    Home Page

    Boat Main Page

Bristol 24

    Moving Echo

    Converse Bay

    Valcour Island

Catalina 22

    Cats Paw II

    Valcour Island 2009

    Cole Bay 2010

    Vergennes 2010

Victoria 18

Trips in 2006

    Delta Lake Trip

    Sacandaga Lake

Trips in 2007

    First Sail 2007

    Saratoga Lake

VicFest 2007

    Intro

    Breakfast

    Parking Lot

    Moonlight Bay Inn

    Sailing Pics

    Video

Upgrades

    Boom Tent

    Topping Lift

Comments