Carter Lake Sailing Club, Colorado, June 2-3, 2007

On Friday, June 1st, I drove to Colorado to help out at the Carter Lake Open regatta. En route, I stopped in Aurora (Denver), to visit with Steve Frank at the Colorado Community Sailing program at Cherry Creek Reservoir. Then I drove north, about an hour beyond Denver, to find a room and connect with the Carter Lake Sailing Club folks. Shown above are the two piers of the CLSC marina. Beyond it is a public commercial marina.

Another view of the Carter Lake Sailing Club marina, taken Sunday morning.

Not far away from Carter Lake is Loveland, Colorado, which is blessed with a couple of decent-sized lakes of its own. View to the west, in the general direction of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Following up on the US Sailing Advanced Race Management class that Carol Anne and I completed at the Houston Yacht Club last February, I accepted the Carter Lake Sailing Club’s (CLSC) kind invitation to help out at their big annual race, the Carter Lake Open. My idea was to gain more experience with how different groups organize and run their regattas, which will also help me in eventually becoming certified as a regional-level principal race officer (PRO).

Carter Lake is in a park operated by Larimer County and is about an hour northwest of Denver, not far from Rocky Mountain National Park, and perhaps a half-hour drive from Boulder. The lake is perhaps ¾ mile wide by 2-1/2 miles long and has two marinas; one commercial and one operated by the CLSC. Each marina has its own boat ramp, and the CLSC marina has a mast-raising pole. A short walk uphill from the marina and mast-raising pole is a simple, rustic, but comfortable clubhouse with a large covered deck, which is the Carter Lake Sailing Club’s home.

Interior view of the CLSC clubhouse, which was built by one of its founders. Behind where the photo was taken in the other end of the clubhouse is a kitchen. Outside is a large and mostly covered deck, with a view through the trees to the lake.