building Winni Sailing

[tntm_71we]

Dear Fellow Posters,

I must apologize for not having involved myself prior to now as this site does a terrific job of addressing issues of great interest to me and to my fellow members of the Lake Winnipesauke Sailing Center. I promise to be more involved from now on.

There was a posting on the site this morning by lakegirl, #7 under "building Winni Sailing", followed almost immediately by another post from nvtngtxpyr. Both posts, especially the one from lakegirl took a number of unpleasant and grossly inaccurate pot shots at me and at our Lake Winnipesaukee Sailing Association's efforts to locate a sailing center at Ellacoya State Park.

I really don't care about the personal attacks, but I do respectfully object to our plans for a new Sailing Center an Ellacoya being misrepresented. The proposed building will be a single storied structure except for a portion on the end that will be two levels high. The complex will add a badly needed dimension to life on the waters of our treasured lake, and it will offer increased, but controlled public access to the lake for boating activities that are clean and green and fully sustainable. We will teach children and adults how to sail and we will offer an adaptive sailing program for people with disabilities. We will put people who are sight impaired and who are paralyzed from profound injuries and birth defects out on the water giving them a sense of freedom from the constraints they encounter on land. We will give their lives new meaning. One of our strategic partners will be the Wounded Warrior Project and another will be the Easter Seals Society of New Hampshire. The Gunstock Adaptive Skiing program staff has agreed to be active in our new facility along with Ability Plus and Disabled Sports USA.

The new center will be named the LWSA/Adams Memorial Sailing Center in memory of one of our first sailing school students more than twenty years ago when we first began our program. David Adams, whose parents still live in Alton, went on to sail competitively at UNH winning several Junior National titles. He even came back to teach sailing to youngsters in our school program. Sadly, David was fighting a terminal illness for many of the years he was with our organization, but we will keep his spirit alive by naming the new facility in his honor.

The LWSA/Adams Memorial Sailing Center is still very much in the planning stages. Although the Parks and Recreation Division of DRED has given our project a green light to develop our plans and to announce our intentions, we are still a distance away from being approved to begin construction. We have met with our abutters at Lake Shore Park and we have addressed a number of their concerns, but understandably, there is a bit of a "not in my backyard" reaction to our plans and I have no doubt that "lakegirl" is a resident of that community or a friend of one of the owners. I am also happy to say that there are many supporters of our plans that live in this unique community as well. Lake Shore Park has nothing to fear from the new sailing center other than they might now have to share the beauty and the opportunities provided by this unique resource with a few more people than have been there in the past.

We will remain sensitive to all of Lake Shore Park's legitimate concerns, but Ellacoya belongs to the people of the entire State of New Hampshire -- it is not Lake Shore Park's private domain. For most of the Park's residents, the new Sailing Center will offer an attractive amenity for children and adults alike. When and if our plans are finally approved, the LWSA's use of this resource will be reasonable and sensitive to all of its neighbors concerns, but we will not stand by and allow anyone to misrepresent our group's plans and aspirations. I have spent the last five years looking for a site for this center and testing the waters to be sure there's a need for what we offer. Ellacoya is the right location and now is the right time to build this important new addition to what the area has to offer residents and visitors alike.

This past year we taught over 200 area children how to sail out of logistically tight quarters and in an area of the lake that is far from ideal, if not downright dangerous for the children involved. We scholarship children into our program if there's a need for assistance. We have a demand from adults who want to learn how to sail, but we have no facility suitable for this purpose. Unfortunately we do have a demand for an adaptive program, but we lack the equipment and a location. The LWSA is serious about its commitment to bring such a facility to Lake Winnipesaukee. We will be an asset to the entire lake as well as an asset to Lake Shore Park. We will meet anyone, anywhere and at any time who wants to see our plans and learn more about our programs. I can be reached by phone at 603-759-2510 or on line at [email protected] . A pamphlet on the Center and a photo that sums up everything I said in two words -- "GONE SAILING!' are attached. Need I say more!

Sincerely,

Thomas N.T. Mullen, President
Lake Winnipesaukee Sailing Association, Inc.
A 501(c)(3) Charitable Corporation www.lwsa.org

[fatlazyless]

From what I know about the beach and grass field/tree area in the vicinity of the rv campground's large, seasonal bathroom/showerhouse, that seems like an excellent spot to create a sailing school. On a scale from 1-10, it gets a 10, all things considered.

It is an extremely picturesque spot, and at the same time as a state beach & rv park, the beach area and seasonal bathroom/showerhouse building and immediate land does not give the user-public very much use. It is an under utilized piece of Winni waterfront state land, and building a sailing school sure seems like an excellent use for that spot.

The sailing beach in front of the rv campground is not as nice as the Ellacoya State Beach swimming beach, about 100-300 yards up the shore and across the brook, and is much narrower in width. It is relatively narrow, and slants back to zero width as it approaches the Poor Farm Brook, that seperates the sailing beach from the swimming beach. Someone sometime, many years ago, built a poured concrete retainer wall that seperates the sandy sailing beach from the flat grassy in-field area that surrounds the bathroom/showerhouse building. The concrete waterfront retainer wall must be about a continuous 200 yards long, and about three to four feet high. The area transitions from green grass in-filled with some nice trees, to the retainer wall, to the narrow sandy beach, to the big wide open Lake Winnipesaukee.

One has to love that spot for it definately has to be a spot to catch the wind.....talk about a spot that is home to the wind....that location has to be a good windy area.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

Does NH allow building private facilities on state park land?

[lakegirl]

Mr. Mullen....

I have grown up on this great lake. I like many other people do not approve of what you are proposing. That is my right. As an abutter of your proposed facility.... I also have the right to speak my mind.

As one person.... my voice probably wont be heard....but as a group... not just Lake Shore Park...but people that camp there and have for many years...residents on Shore Road and other residents of the town... or voices will speak volumes. We may not win....be will fight to the end. Again, that is our right. We want to preserve what is there.

[tntm_71we]

Originally Posted by lakegirl

Mr. Mullen....

I have grown up on this great lake. I like many other people do not approve of what you are proposing. That is my right. As an abutter of your proposed facility.... I also have the right to speak my mind.

As one person.... my voice probably wont be heard....but as a group... not just Lake Shore Park...but people that camp there and have for many years...residents on Shore Road and other residents of the town... or voices will speak volumes. We may not win....be will fight to the end. Again, that is our right. We want to preserve what is there.

Dear Lakegirl,

Lakegirl, you are exercising your right to speak your mind and I would be the last person to ever try to infringe on that right. The folks at Lake Shore Park (LSP) have been there for decades and clearly our new Sailing Center will change the landscape. I understand and respect the concerns of those residents and the LWSA will do all it possibly can to have its impact on Lake Shore Park be a positive one.

I don't see us impacting the LSP residents' privacy very much because I don't think folks move there with privacy as one of their primary objectives. Every time I've been inside LSP, it appears as though it's one big, happy summer camp with kids everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The presence of LSP and the large number of youngsters present on that property is one of the reasons the LWSA wants to have its Youth Sailing School at Ellacoya. We'll have a built in source of students and our programs will add a new and very positive dimension to life in that community, not just for the youngsters, but for the adults as well.

Ellacoya is not a perfect venue for our needs. There will be days when our sailing activities will have to occur on dry land as there is much we can do to teach sailing without being on the water. Over our nearly 30-year history teaching sailing, we have learned to deal with situations in which the wind is too high and too low. We can tow our boats to sheltered areas when the winds are too high and for years we have been towing our boats out of Smith Cove in order to find wind. As for water depths, Ellacoya is ideal. Our boats are all shallow draft with drop down centerboards or dagger boards. With the boards up, we draw less than a foot and with boards down, we don't draw more than three feet. Another plus feature of the waters off Ellacoya, if a boat goes over, in most cases a student can stand on the bottom and get back into the boat.

As for the campers, the LWSA intends to incorporate their needs and desires into our logistics and I have no doubt they will find us to be pleasant co-habitants of that lake frontage. First of all, we'll be providing the campers with a viable new alternative for launching their boats. They will actually have a decent ramp with a dock adjacent to the ramp so they can launch a boat and then have something to tie it up to while they go park. LSP should like this because a common complaint has been the fact that many times, newly launched boats drift accross the LSP floating swim line while the boat owner was off parking the trailer. That won't happen anymore!

Secondly, we may be able to provide reliable moorings and or docks for the RV Park residents while they are staying at Ellacoya and they will all be able to make use of our programs. I can see the day when many of the park's RV campers will arrange to have their visits coincide with a particular activity that will be going on at the Sailing Center.

Lazygirl, I have complete respect for your right to voice your opinions and to stand fast to your principles. I hope I can direct your energies at some point in time into support for what the LWSA is proposing and if you keep an open mind, I think we'll have a decent shot at accomplishing this objective. If we can't swing you over to our way of thinking, I promise you we'll listen carefully and thoughtfully to all of your concerns and then try to address them as best we can as we structure our programs.

Lastly, someone asked how can a private business use State of NH land. The answer is simple. The LWSA is not a private business, it is a public, not for profit 501(c)(3) entity. The precise manner in which the LWSA will have the opportunity to use State land is yet to be resolved, but we will most likely have something like a Special Use Permit with many conditions that we must adhere to in order to have the privilege of being in that location. There are many similiar arrangements currently in place elsewhere around New Hampshire so we will not be breaking new ground.

I am available by phone if anyone wishes to contact me to discuss our plans and we will be looking for lots of help getting the facility built. Please call my cell phone at 603-759-2510 and thanks for lending an eye to this message and an ear to our need for assistance. I can also be reached by e-mail at [email protected] .

Regards,

Tom Mullen

[RI Swamp Yankee]

Originally Posted by RI Swamp Yankee

Does NH allow building private facilities on state park land?

I am still wondering. Most states don't allow someone to build facilities on State Park land.