Minnesota WakeWorld Meet and Greet - Lake Minnetonka
 

Was talking to a couple of the guys from my crew and we thought it might be a fun idea to try to get EVERYONE from WakeWorld together for a Meet and Greet day on Tonka. A lot of us here have our own crews that we ride with within the city or area but it might be fun to try to get all of us out there with all of our boats and get a nice WakeWorld "tie up" going in a bay somewhere. Would probably be a better idea to call that a "fun day" instead of a day of riding so we can just all tie up and kick it and meet up and maybe exchange numbers and find out where everyone rides. We have 5 or 6 boats in our crew and 7 or 8 guys regularly. I'm sure there are many others in the area.

Anyone interested in doing this? We were thinking that the weekend AFTER Memorial Weekend might be a good idea. That way we have a good chance of nice weather and we won't have to battle the Minnetonka Memorial ramp chaos. It's still busy of course but it shouldn't be as bad.

We could just pick a bay or an area and tie up and party and have some fun and mix our crews. It could make the summer more interesting if we all have more boats and riders and people to link up with. We should probably try to make it one of the bigger lakes - Minnetonka or Prior. Tonka is more central to everyone. I think if we invade a smaller lake we might have some parking/ramp/lake issues.

Who's in? Saturday June 5th on Minnetonka (or another lake if something is more desireable to the group).

We could say 1pm? That way people can go early and get a spot and ride or come later and should be able to get the boat on the water still..

I'm in.

I'm in!

Word N.

I would be in, but got a baby due June 8th. So, not likely.

Couple of good spots are:
- Goose Island, wakeboard in Phelps Bay.
- North Arm
- Halsteads on the south end (kinda green though)

Trailer parking is best near North Arm

I'm gonna try to make it, usually work on Saturdays but a mans got to have his priorities!

I'd probably be able to make it.

I dont have a boat but im down to meet people and try to ride a bunch of different spots this summer

Let's keep this thing going. Chad has some good ideas on where to meet, etc.

I'm in.

I might be coming.

Me and My X-Star will be there! Great Idea. Jay we can just ride my boat if you wanna save some Gas!

I'm in! ....if someone has room for me!?!?!?

Let's try to get all of the BOATS out that we can Andy... If we all pile into our "crew" boats - we won't know who owns/rides what and the picture and riding opportunity won't be as cool.

Let's try to get as many different rigs out there as we can, even if it's just you and your girl or something. If we want extra people to "fill" boats - we can take all of the thirds who reply and split them up into boats that aren't full..

The more boats - the more fun it will be I think.. If we just all wanted to get together - we could do it over a beer and pizza. Let's try to get ALL of the rigs out there and get some good video and pictures and REP MINNESOTA!


Plenty of room for everyone. If you're a "third" without a boat - our crew alone has 6 boats alone so there will be PLENTY of room.

The week before we'll start organizing meet spots and legit locations.

sounds good let me know when!

Anyone from northern MN going? I would love to make it but I will probably have to work.

count me and my boat in...

Andy - wurd. HOWEVER, if you want to save a 60 mile trip of boat towing, we can ride mine...I live 5 miles from the launch!

I'm down. Not sure if I'll have a boat by then or not. Pending the sale of mine...

No worries to any of the guys without boats or living up north. We'll make it work!

oh and Jesse, June 6th - 1pm ;-)

Sounds cool, but I am not much for tying up and I dont drink so I probably wont be there, have fun though.

I'd be down to come if someone's got room.

I'm certain I will get crap for this, but I may just tag along with you Jeff and leave the boat in the garage. May be a game time decision. I'm pulling for good weather!

I've got room. We'll find a quite bay far far away from Big Island and enjoy some sun and mingling.

I've got room for the boatless, my cooler has room for your beer:D:D

a quiet bay on Minnetonka on a weekend at 1pm....i think we may all have to do some sort of voodoo or something to make that happen!

Yeah, good luck finding a quiet bay on Minnetonka. If you want super quiet and perfect water, there are other lakes to consider....

C'mon you haters. Of course "quite bay" on Minnetonka means something different than it does on a small lake..

But there is a difference between finding a bay tucked out of the way than it is rubbing gelcoat was some asshat "bro" on Big Island in his Dads cruiser.

Oh and if anyone has another suggestion for another lake - by all means! Go ahead.. I simply said Minnetonka because it's big enough, it's central to everyone on the western half of the city (where most of us seem to live anyways) and they have ample parking and ramp space..

If someone wants to choose another location - I'm all for it.

Not hating at all, I think it's a great idea...just didn't want anyone to expect to find quiet waters on Minnetonka. I guess I didn't know what you were meaning by "quiet". If it's just implying something mellower than big island, then that's to doable

Yeah, quieter waters on Tonka is different than a small local lake. I can't think of another lake big enough and central enough that we could easily fit 10-20 wakeboats, tow rigs and trailers and not cause a huge issue for the lake. If someone has an idea - let's try it. I've spent a lot of time out on Minnetonka and I know its super busy but it makes the most sense..

Anyone have other lake ideas?

Fish Lake
Long
Independence
Bryant
Christmas
White Bear
Lotus
Bald Eagle
The River

Kinda the lakes where everybody seems to ride the most, all gonna have their issues just pick what has the least and we'll make it work.

Fish, Long, and Bryant all have very limited parking, and will be tough to accomodate many people on a weekend afternoon. I guess on long you could go park on the streets of the city. For Fish, anyone with a boat would have to be there by about 10-11am to get onto the lake. Bryant has a no wake rule until noon, so you "might" be okay there.

Bald Eagle and White Bear both scare the s**t out of me with how shallow they were last year...maybe they've risen with the snow we got this winter?

Exactly my point. Tons of "little" lakes but no where with the space and parking capacity for all of us.. Tonka and Prior are the only realistic options unless we all decide to go on the St. Croix or the Mississippi.

Prior was extremely shallow last year as well - so much so that I lost $5k in running gear and fiberglass on a submerged boulder. At least with Tonka we don't have to worry about finding enough launches, parking and depth. We just have to worry about drunk douchebags and rich ****s.

I'd rather take my chances with the douchebags. Medicine has a crappy launch. Christmas has parking for 6 boats. Fish doesn't have the parking and you have to pay to launch. Bryant you have to pay and they have minimal parking and no wake rules..

Tonka just seemed "easiest" - which is why I mentioned it first. If anyone has a better solution - I'm all for it!

I'm voting for the St. Croix or the Ole Miss. For the record, I boated numerous times on Prior and didn't seem to have any issues....... :) Just saying....Plenty of parking in Hastings at the public ramp below the lock on the river. (Jaycee's park) Nice spot and there is usually good water on the section leading up to the end of the St. Croix.

Let's face it, weather will dictate the outcome regardless of location.

sounds like fun. Although Hastings is not a very central location...

Yea I'd doubt I'd make it if it were down there.

My home base is the Mississippi so I would be there for sure! Personally I think the river is great for rafting up because you float down the river and the scenery changes the whole day! :) Honestly Tonka is kinda intimidating for me. So busy and big.

I prob wont show, got alot of sports to go to, and I'd say Long Lake is really good.

Did you figure out the parking spot you where talking about on Tonka on the West end with lots of spaces?

it's a city park/launch off what I think is highway 41 in Mound. It's in a quiet bay in the SW corner. Lots of parking but a HUGE walk up/down the hill from the launch to parking.

Minnetonka sounds cool..... I normally hydrofoil on the North Arm when I'm out there. The North Arm, and Maxwell Bay both have pretty good ramps. If you get out there before noon you'll have the best chance of finding an open spot. Not a lot of traffic going through the North Arm, mostly people trying to do water sports if there's anyone there.

I saw Jason's post on the lakes- has anyone boarded on Christmas? I hear that's a nice lake. Any info on the ramp and when its best to ride? Is it protected from wind?

We put out on Christmas quite a few times a year Will. The ramp is very nice and protected from wind. The downside is that there is literally only 6 parking spots with no capacity for more.

The lake is VERY deep. Something like 80 feet in a few areas if I recall correctly. It is a bit colder water temps due to that. the water there is SUPER SUPER clean. I filled up a empty water bottle and it was literally clearer than a full bottle of Aquafina.

Wakeboarding is Ok there. There is a lot of tree protection but the lake is a big circle so it gets blown out from power turners and anything above about 10mph winds.

Very quiet, nice little lake.. Stef and I enjoy going out there for days to just relax. Her parents live a block off the lake so it's easy to meet them there for hanging out.

Christmas lake is one of my favorite lakes to ride in the Metro. Ramp is kinda so so, it's in a super weedy part of the lake and not super easy to load a big crew up, if the wind is blowing at all the chopped weeds in the lake get blown right to the ramp and you have a mess to deal with when you pull out(TWSS ha) . There is also a huge prop wrecking rock pile near the ramp that can easily ruin your day if you don't know where it is.

Besides that the reason I like it so much is it's super deep, if it's windy you can ride pretty close to shore and get block from the trees and still be in 30-50' of water. There are only 6 parking spots so you have to show up early, but it also keeps the lake from getting filled with weekend wallies, there is a secret parking spot nearby but you have to walk about half mile, kinda nice if you over sleep. Lake is long in one direction so if there are a couple of boats riding and they know whats up you can run passes in the same direction and keep out of each others wakes.

For all of the Tonka "regulars" - let's pick a bay or cove now so that we can start dialing in where and when we want to meet, what launch, etc..

Here is the map - someone make a decision and we'll see if we can all agree upon a bay to meet up at.

i've also ridden on Christmas...my complaint is that there was tons of bounce back. Even if you are the only person out there you can ruin you're own water.

Really, Honestly, I know tonka is where everyone seems stoked on but a smaller lake would be killer. A lake that we could just take over and have it all to our selves would be MONEY!!!!!!

If you guys really wanted a smaller lake, I think we could make Long Lake work. I live blocks away from the launch, and everyone with a trailer could either park their entire rig, truck & trailer, up in front of my house and could just snag a ride back down to the launch. OR ya'll could just park the trailers up in front of my place and then drive your vehicle back down to the launch. There is way more parking for cars w/out trailers. I "think" we could be pretty successful in "claiming" some territory for ourselves (like line boats up a certain distance from shore and then one boat at a time you could take sets between us and shore.

Just another option to throw out there.

I also have a GINORMOUS deck (literally huge...you could probably fit 20-30 people on it) and yard if anyone wanted to come back to my place and do a grill out or something.

here's a map of things

I crash to much for bounce back ha ha.

Smaller lake works for me too, less travel to pick up people at the docks.

A smaller lake is fine if we want to ride. I wasn't planning on having this a ride thing - more like everyone bring their boats, meet, hang out, kill some drinks and exchange some phone numbers and stories and share the stoke.

Right now if you look through the thread it seems like there is between 8-10 BOATS and 20 people. We're still a month out so let's say we add 5 boats by then and 3 people back out, we still have a dozen boats. Do you have anywhere near that kind of parking Jay or does the public launch hold anything close to it?

12 rigs is a LOT of space. That's the only reason I mentioned Tonka in the first place. Plus we can't make the assumption we'll be the only rigs at the launch. Just want to be sure that we have plenty of places for parking. It would suck if we made all these plans and then the launch was full and there was only room for 4 of our rigs and everyone made the trip.

Just some things to think about. I'm down for whatever. Prior has more parking than the smaller lakes but that lot fills up super quick as well and it's a long haul to Prior if you're in the north half of the Cities..

Don't matter to me - let's just be sure it will work for everyone who wants to come.

Yea, you could fit that many in the neighborhood. Like i said, you could also leave the trailers up there, and drive your truck back down to the park.

Doesn't matter to me either what happens.

I vote that we do a preliminary meet and greet this month.:D June 5th is too far away. Less boat traffic this month.

I second Long Lake and Jay's place after, that means my trailer and rig go in your driveway right:D:D:D

I am feeling Long Lake TONS! I wanna ride my arse off!!!! I hate riding on Tonka!

I am going to bring my rig regardless, I know that a few other people who dont post on here that are planning on coming and bringing thier whips as well!

Speaking of that..

So Andy - you have a couple of people that aren't WW'ers that are coming with boats. I know that Jason has a couple other boats that are non-WW'ers.. I have another non-WW'er.. Plus, this was posted on TeamTalk by Jason and it got 4 people from there..

So we're talking something like 20 boats potentially..

Jay - I haven't been to your place - do you feel like you have even close to parking for that much? I don't want to line your street with rigs all day. Is that even legal? How much room do you have at your place? How many spots are there on the launch?

I'm all for Long Lake if there is enough space. I don't want this to turn out to be a hassle or something where people are getting ticketed for parking.



Oh and if this is a success - maybe I'll try this again late in the summer and try to get some sponsors and make it a bigger deal. We'll see how this goes and then see what we can pull off for later in the year or early next.. Maybe a CIE Spring Ride type event?

Really wasn't meant to be a riding thing - more of a meet and kick it type deal - which is why I picked Tonka.. If we wanted to ride - Tonka certainly wouldn't be the spot..

If we go to Long - of COURSE we'll be riding but I'm a bit concerned about the space for parking.

The launch has room for maybe 6-7 rigs. I can talk to a local business that's by there (it's an empty building that they are trying to sell)...maybe they'd let us use their parking lot for $5 or $10 a setup? My street alone probably has parking for 8-10 or so rigs, just on one side. It's pretty wide so you could probably do both sides. If an automobile can park on the street then I'd assume that an automobile with a trailer can. Doesn't have to be just my street either...there are all kinds. I'll call city hall and see if they have any ordinances...highly doubtful though.

That's awesome Jay - thanks for all the leg work.

I am starting to get super stoked for this event....Can't wait!!!!

Jeff, you get this many riders together on a Saturday and there's definitely gonna be some riding going on. Leave the meet and greet for the winter. We don't have enough warm weekends.

Sounds like Long might be a hassle. North Arm and Maxwell bay have ample parking for everyone. And North Arm really isn't that bad for riding, especially before noon. And once anyone else sees the number of wakeboard boats in the bay, they're going somewhere else.

Keep the party on the lake, head to Fletchers after riding, or whatever. There are a lot more options on Minnetonka.

"Minnetonka is too big and scary"

- WakeWorld

All I know is that either way - my BOAT is ready for that weekend..

:p:D:eek::)

I think the parking at long lake is going to be a huge pain in the arse. We could probably do it if it was just wakeboats but if there are other people there I don't think we will be able to find spots. north arm, stubbs and maxwell are usually ok for wakeboarding in the evening and in the morning.

Great looking graphic you got there!!! I couldn't help but to notice the 139 Natural you had in the side of boat, too. Nice board!!! :D

Thanks again for sharing the drysuit!

Let me just say, that I love early spring riding! No kids with daddy's boat tearing up the water. Mother's day was a daydream for riding on the lake!

Not a boat on the lake and butter 90% of the day. Man it was awesome.

The wake is MACKIN Seth.. I couldn't be more impressed with it. The ballast upgrade was WELL worth the $$$.. You were gettin BOOTED on that toeside.. Front rolls are in your near future homey..

Looks like 70's and 80's this weekend and into next week so hopefully we can ditch the dry suits and go to trunks and heater tops by late May..

After seeing CIE spring ride pics I pretty much want this thing to be like that, make it happen somebody!!

does anyone know if minnetonka has any city owned slips that you can rent. I know out on prior there is like 10 slips between the launch and beach, one side of the dock is first come first serve and the other side you can rent from the city, a setup like that would be mint if we took over the whole area ;-)

Prior
 

If you knew ahead of time you can rent all the slips at the beach on Prior Lake. I also live on Prior so if I can convince my wife we could use my house to either bbq or the bathroom......there are a lot of parking spaces at the launch but the fishermen fill them up pretty quick in the mornings. The water level has come up some we'd just have to brief people on where not to go, I've lived on the lake 6 years and tore up my first prop last summer on a rock that someone must have moved.

That same rock tore up my prop, rudder and a bit of my gelcoat last year.

FML :confused:

Prior works for me.

Those Prior Lake slips are about $100 each for the weekend.

Here's what I propose. Lake Minnetonka, June 5th, all day event, launch at North Arm or Maxwell, ride in either bay, float and hang at the sandy beach in Maxwell by Norenberg Park.

Done. It's official. That's the spot, that's the time, that's the place.. This hip hopping lakes thing is killing the stoke..


Tonka - 5th, all day, North Arm/Maxwell launch - we'll take over whichever bay is quieter at the start of the day and we'll rip it up there.. That's one of the quieter parts of the lake for big boat traffic, etc..

See you all on the 5th. I'm pumped to meet everyone and see a grip of wake boats. Bring a TON of buoys and ropes..

This thing die off? Are people actually gonna go?

The stoke is still goin strong for me... i'm just holding it in till closer to june

I'm still in. I'll have a boat full.

Not to be that guy but I HATE TONKA!

I know its lame but, the deciding factor for me on if I go or not will be the weather. If its totally butter and Colin Ryan, Sean Barret and I can go shred for 4 hours on Bald Eagle with zero traffic I will probably just do that, maybe roll out to Tonka after to chill and drink beers but really the weather will be the factor for me. Shiat there have been morning where Colin and I are going to run to a local Comp, but bail cause the lake is too buttery to pass up. I would be more stoked if we werent riding in Tonka, I just dont trust that lake for a good session unless its 6 am on a weekday. I wanna come meet ya'll but at the end of the day all I really wanna do is shred butter with no boat traffic!!!

Wakesurf Meet - June 5th - Bald Eagle Lake

Time: early and all day

Buddy and I ride tonka all the time. We like it, yeah the crowds can be a pain but lots of corners to hide in away from the cruisers and tubers. We'd be down for 5th at Maxwell if it is still happening.

Did I just get "Buddied?" Seriously you made me do this.

Well Chief, chances are good I will be there, just ready to drink beer.