New Orleans is located on the southern shores of the 633 square miles of Lake Pontchartrain which have given rise to some of the country's most talented sailors including two members of the current US Olympic team, John Dane (Stars) and Johnny Lovell (Tornado) as well as Ryan Finn (Mini) and Benz Faget (nearly everything).
With an average mean depth of 12 feet and what has been described as schitzophrenic winds, the lake is arguably one of the most challenging places to sail in the United States.
John Dane III, 56, and teammate Austin Sperry represented the US in the Star Class at the 2008 Olympic Games. "Growing up sailing on Lake Pontchartrain offered the ideal conditions to excel at this sport," says Dane, one of the older athletes to compete in the games. "The winds out on the lake are shifty and because the lake is so shallow, the water conditions can range from flat to rough and choppy, which all forces one to be adaptive. Tack onto this the fact that I was always being mentored by world champions in New Orleans, and Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf Coast become ideal training grounds."
