Horsetooth Reservoir Info

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

We are looking very forward to seeing what Boyd and Carter lakes look like in Loveland.

Boyd: an hourglass shaped fairly small lake on the plains, surrounded by residential properties.

I raced a Laser sailboat on this lake from virtually the first month it was opened, still filling up and before shoreline development ... and for many years afterwards. Pretty shallow water for the most part with very gentle shoreline drop to the main body. It can get breezy, but I've spent many days here with light-moderate winds without much surface chop.

Carter: located along the same ridgeline area of Horsetooth west of Ft Collins, but a smaller lake. IIRC, had more county fees than Horsetooth. Deep water, very stark and steep shoreline for most of the lake. In my racing days here, it was a much windier lake ... stronger violent gusts/chop ... than Horsetooth. Carter has mostly rocky shorelines where seeking a beaching location to get off the water when the action gets tough is almost impossible; Horsetooth has more gentle/less rocky places to beach a boat if needed.

If it hadn't been for the YC sailboat racing activity on Carter, I'd not have sailed there. On many days, it was a severe physical workout with a dinghy sailboat. My first regatta there was with my Lightning 19' sailboat ... and while that day was "moderate" compared to many days that I spent there with my Laser ... it was survival sailing with the Lightning. We raced the first day of a weekend regatta and when we got off the water the first day, my crew refused to sail the second day ... it just wasn't fun with an older "woodie" that didn't have flotation and self-rescuing capabilities like newer Lightnings, or the ability to be readily righted like my Laser dinghy when it capsized.

IMO, unless it's a very calm day on Carter, I'd not want to be out there in a 16' powerboat of any sort, fiberglass, deep V, tri-hull, or tin boat. It's that violent a body of water on many days.

I think if you previously enjoyed Horsetooth, you'll most likely find it to still be the preferred lake for your powerboat activities of the three lakes.

[BabyBoomers2]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

Boyd: an hourglass shaped fairly small lake on the plains, surrounded by residential properties.

I raced a Laser sailboat on this lake from virtually the first month it was opened, still filling up and before shoreline development ... and for many years afterwards. Pretty shallow water for the most part with very gentle shoreline drop to the main body. It can get breezy, but I've spent many days here with light-moderate winds without much surface chop.

Carter: located along the same ridgeline area of Horsetooth west of Ft Collins, but a smaller lake. IIRC, had more county fees than Horsetooth. Deep water, very stark and steep shoreline for most of the lake. In my racing days here, it was a much windier lake ... stronger violent gusts/chop ... than Horsetooth. Carter has mostly rocky shorelines where seeking a beaching location to get off the water when the action gets tough is almost impossible; Horsetooth has more gentle/less rocky places to beach a boat if needed.

If it hadn't been for the YC sailboat racing activity on Carter, I'd not have sailed there. On many days, it was a severe physical workout with a dinghy sailboat. My first regatta there was with my Lightning 19' sailboat ... and while that day was "moderate" compared to many days that I spent there with my Laser ... it was survival sailing with the Lightning. We raced the first day of a weekend regatta and when we got off the water the first day, my crew refused to sail the second day ... it just wasn't fun with an older "woodie" that didn't have flotation and self-rescuing capabilities like newer Lightnings, or the ability to be readily righted like my Laser dinghy when it capsized.

IMO, unless it's a very calm day on Carter, I'd not want to be out there in a 16' powerboat of any sort, fiberglass, deep V, tri-hull, or tin boat. It's that violent a body of water on many days.

I think if you previously enjoyed Horsetooth, you'll most likely find it to still be the preferred lake for your powerboat activities of the three lakes.

Just to let you know, we are "fair-weather" boaters. Were this way here in northeastern Florida and we were when we lived in Parker, CO. If there was rain or too high of wind in the forecast, our boat didn't go out. Here is the same way, except we have "tides times" to contend with. It could be an absolutely beautiful boating day, but if the tide time wasn't correct, we can't go out. The draft on our cuddy cabin is 3 1/2 feet and we've got stuck a few times in a sand bar, but was able to get out.

Where we fished for trout on Chatfield's No Wake area, the depth was around 35 feet and the center depth was some 40 feet or so. Pretty shallow compared to Horsetooth. Cherry Creek was the same way, not real deep, but deep enough for the 16' Invader Bowrider we had then.

Funny, but folks on the Denver forum who have boated on Chatfield and CC, told us about how crowded it gets at both. We tell them that most of the crowd gets to either reservoir around noon, when we were getting off.

Horsetooth was somewhat too big for us and the small coves were nice, but we like some people around us. The depth of the water was amazing and almost scary to us. Our Fish Finder said it was 150 feet deep when is way deeper than either Chatfield or CC.

Chatfield is pretty small, compared to Horsetooth, but in the No Wake area, we'd see two or three full-size cabin cruisers tied up to each other. Sort of shocking to see full-size cabin cruisers on the lake, but they were there.

On any lake, the only things we do is......cruise around, fish or beach the boat and relax on the beach. No tubing or skiing.