Ice sailing in Colorado, as well as most other places, can be a challenge. We're looking for clear ice with little to no snow on top. Some seasons are fantastic, lots of clear ice, wind and time off to go sailing. Other seasons the weather does not cooperate, and we do little or no sailing.
West of Colorado Springs is Eleven Mile State Park. It's a big lake by Colorado standards. Most years it offers clear thick ice with mountain wind patterns. If it snows and the wind blows the snow gets extremely wind packed and becomes unsailable.
After many years of sailing on Georgetown Lake west of Denver, and dealing with the traffic on I-70, we started sailing at Granite Reservoir in Curt Gowdy State Park, which is halfway between Cheyenne and Laramie Wyoming. If you know anything about Wyoming, it is famous for being windy. Winds at Granite tend to be gusty, although not as many wind shifts as other mountain lakes. The campground is open all year with electricity, so if you want to spend the night you will be warm. It's an easy drive from northern Colorado with very little traffic.
There are also a few lakes west of Laramie. Lake Hattie has been good the past couple years, although it can freeze solid on one area and be open to the west. Twin Buttes also looks like it would be a possibility.
There are several lakes in northern Colorado that we ice sail. Boyd Lake State Park is about 1500 acres when full. Boedecker Lake on the west side of Loveland has been a great place to sail. We haven't sailed either one for a few years.In the Denver area there are a couple more lakes, Cherry Creek and Chatfield State Parks. Both are good sized.
A gallery of pics from a chilly day on Heinrecy lake.
Check out some youtube video from Curt Gowdy here, here, and here.
Video of an extreme day when we tried setting up a race course at Curt Gowdy
Here is a video by a fellow sailer from Boedecker Lake.