Sailing on Aurora Reservoir (Colorado)


E-mail questions and comments to me, Robert V. Mitchell (Rob) at: TrvmitchT@TvcnT.com (remove the T's first)


Aurora Reservoir is a small lake on the open prairie southeast of Denver, CO. It's not very big, but it's restricted to human, electric and wind-powered craft. The park rangers can use their gasoline-powered boats for safety reasons.

I've sailed at Aurora three times: once on a Montgomery 15 and twice on my Catfish. Two of the times were part of a Salty Dogs Sailing Club activity and involved finding 'buoys' on the lake and recovering proof of visitation.

The time I sailed by myself I ran into a little problem. I had been sailing uneventfully for about an hour. I was pretty much upwind of the loading ramp and needed to tack. Apparently the clevis pin on the lee shroud had come loose and when I tacked it fell out. Since there's only one shroud on each side of the boat, the mast fell over into the water. I recovered the mast and organized the rigging and sail so I could hold the boom up to form a triangular sail. So I started back towards the ramp standing up on the boat, holding the boom in one hand and the tiller in the other. It was awkward but I made slow progress towards my destination. Unfortunately the wind shifted a bit so I wasn't able to make it back. Fortunately some folks on shore recognized my problem and notified the park rangers. They came out and towed me back to the ramp. I was tired and discouraged and called it a day.

The lesson I learned that day was to check the rigging before launching and to carry spare parts.




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