Lake Minnetonka Sailing School

In Deephaven, sailing has been in style for over a century: Founders established the Minnetonka Yacht Club (MYC) in 1882 before Deephaven was even incorporated as a village.

Lake Minnetonka Sailing School (LMSS) started in the 1920s when MYC members were interested in organized sailing education for their children. For about twenty years, a volunteer group of parents ran private lessons out of the Minnetonka Yacht Club. The informal sailing school operated with a policy of BYOB- Bring Your Own Boat. Don Zinn, Brad Van Ness and Brad Robinson officiated LMSS from a function of the MYC Board of Directors into a separate non-profit organization in 1972. To this day, both MYC and LMSS call Lighthouse Island home.

Today, Lake Minnetonka Sailing School is one of the largest sailing schools in the nation with over 1,300 students enrolling each summer. Senior Coach Gordy Bowers won three Olympic medals during his years as Head Coach of the US Sailing Team.

We are proud to teach a lifelong sport that is truly unique. It doesn’t take place in a classroom, on a field, or on a court. Instead, it unfolds in an environment on the open water where the only constant is change—where wind, waves, and weather create an ever-shifting backdrop.