Mistral Prodigy Windsurfing - $100,000 water front lot

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$100,000 water front lot

By Scott | September 14, 2009

It is likely that I will never afford to own waterfront property. That’s why it’s nice that the Michigan DNR lets me rent some at Higgins Lake. The South Higgins Lake State Campground by Roscommon Michigan is the location for what is usually the last windsurf regatta of the season for me. Every year that I go back it seams I add an extra day to the trip. This time around I left on Wed morning around 9:30, stopped about two hours at the Soaring Indian Casino in Mt. Pleasant and arrived at the campground finally around 4:30 in the afternoon. That gave me two full days before the racing started on Saturday to get tuned up.

To drive to Higgins Lake from the Toledo area I start by heading west down the Turnpike I-80 to the Route 66 exit and then north to Fayette. That’s where I jump on US-127 which goes all the way up to Higgins Lake. It’s a long but pleasant country drive on 127 for the most part. Below you can see my $100K lot with Lucky Dog (my Serro Scotty trailer) on it.

he regatta provided me with some great competition as usual with around ten Prodigy boards there to race against. We ran 8 races and my best finish was a 2nd but most of the time it looked like there were at least 4 or 5 guys finishing ahead of me. Hopefully I’ll get a copy of the official scores sometime. I just know I didn’t get a trophy. I did win a pair of cheap water shoes in the raffle. Given all the races were ran in light winds I improved a lot on my pumping techniques however I still can’t pump like Chris B. (OH10) does. Chris can pump off the start line better than anyone and manages to get to clean air every race. Some good news was I sold the demo Prodigy I brought with me to Tim H. who has been coming up there for a few years also. He had an Equipe XR which I bought as a trade in. Tim was very happy to be sailing the stable Prodigy and won the Novice class his first time sailing it.

Right across the road from Higgins South State Park campground is Marl Lake. It has a nice hiking trail along side it I did one morning. Marl Lake would be a super place to do a bit of SUP, canoe or kayaking. The hiking trail starts out easy enough but by mile two the tree roots are really thick. I was tired afterwards because those roots require a lot of high stepping. The second half of the trail back to the parking area is wider with few roots. You make good time on the last half but you got to watch you keep turning right at any forks. The trail combines in spots with some local ATV trails so it’s possible to take a wrong turn. It’s best to pick up a map at the camp office before you hike the Marl Lake trail.