Wishing For Wind...

For most of the 400,000 or so visitors who fish, swim or just hang out around Mille Lacs every year, big wind is about the last thing they hope for. Walleye chop is fine for the fishermen, but a big wind creates havoc with just about everybody else.


Except kiters and windsurfers. They love wind. And lots of it!


Mille Lacs is host to 26th Annual Mille Lacs Crossing back to Mille Lacs Lake in its familiar operational area of Garrison from Friday through Sunday. It got some nice exposure on Ron Schara's Minnesota Bound TV September 21, 2008

It was only a year ago that a re-creation labeled 'The Crossing' broke ground as the first major event combining both windsurfing and kiting. If it didn't grab much attention, it demonstrates the pitfalls of redundancy. Looking back nearly thirty years, Minnesota surprisingly became the largest and most active windsurfing community in the country. For the next 25 years, the Mille Lacs Crossing endured as the most attended event on this side of the planet. Ten years ago, local windsurfers introduced kiting to Minnesota and the domination continued with the Kite Freeze as the first international snowkite competition in '03, and the Kite Crossing as the first long-distance snowkite event in '05.

Next weekend, the second edition of The Crossing will maintain this dominance in true form. The field has been opened up to 40 kiters which should match up well to the anticipated 50 windsurfers. Overall course length will be 18-24 miles. The double out'n'back format has opened the door for another first, a biathlon or maybe more suitable, windathlon. Windsurfers who now also kite, will windsurf one lap, then kite the second lap. The spectators will be the biggest benefactors as participants have to switch gear on shore efficiently before completing the final lap. Needless to say, this will be another notch added to the belt shared by The Crossing and the other wind-inspired events on Mille Lacs.

While the tight relationship between the windsurfing and kiting communities helped pave the new path for The Crossing, the strong foundation has to be credited to the 25-year heritage of the Mille Lacs Crossing. The community of Garrison continues to lay out a warm welcome mat and the volunteer staff brings well over 100 years of combined experience in maintaining safety and developing unique events. Established sponsors ever Greene Jewelers, The House and Garrison Commercial Club have been joined by Midwest Mountaineering, Extreme Action Sports, Hoigaards, Scuba Center, Slingshot and Best Kiteboarding to complete the all-star team bringing World-class events to Garrison and Lake Mille Lacs.

We have provided an agenda for the weekend below. We will have at least one boat available for press and media coverage. For more info and/or reserving a spot in the center of the action, please contact Michael Fox at fleet-8@juno.com or 612-508-8083.

Agenda: Friday, September 26th
10:45 AM Racer's Meeting at Garrison Beach
8:30 PM Welcome Party at the Y-Club
Saturday, September 27th
10:45 AM Racer's Meeting at the Y-Club
7:30 PM Banquet and Party at the Y-Club
Sunday, September, 28th
10:30 AM Racer's Briefing Garrison Beach
4:00 PM Awards Party Y-ClubShow Sunday night, which replayed the 25th annual event as a prelude to this weekend.

The old records crossing records are 35 minutes for fastest crossing and 4 hours for the slowest, according to information we could gather.

Editors Note: Make It Mille Lacs supports event coverage for all area high-profile events. Just email your information to info@makeitmillelacs.com.