Cherry Lake in Altona, located in the western suburbs of Melbourne is a great place to sail a yacht. Except in a North wind, when short choppy waves of 1 to 2 and sometimes approaching 3 feet make the lake unsailable.
Otherwise it is great for all boats up to and including 10-Raters, Marbleheads, and IOM's unless in periods of extended lack of rain, when first up, the 10-Raters and the Marbleheads won't be able to sail, and then as the lake dries up, the IOM's will be left kinda floundering as well.
Amazingly enough though, boats with an equal or even bigger sail area, such as the "A" Class, the EC12 Class, the A2 Class, and the Nautic12's will never have any problems sailing there no matter how long the drought has been around, as they only need roughly 300mm or 12 inches of water to sail in. These boats have got to be the way of the future!
Where the "yachties" sail at Cherry Lake is at the "Millers Road" entrance to the park.
Sailing by the regulars has been almost non-existent over the Winter period, but hopefully, the arrival of Spring will kindle some adventurous feelings and sailing will get back on a reasonably regular basis. (Crossed Fingers).
