[KenD]

possible plans for moving to texas around temple, are there sailable lakes near and or is the gulf within a four hour drive. I can only assume that shoal draft is the prescribed keel for either place.I just sail coastal now.rather not be on a lake but better than nothing. cost of slips in area and coast. can you sail year round? thanks in advance for your wisdom.

[aggiemom39]

Ken--we live in Temple and there are a few sailors here. A couple of options--depending on the size of your boat. Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow are manmade lakes and would probably be okay if you had a smaller boat--shoal draft so you don''t hit the stumps of the trees. They are just outside of town. An aquaintance has his boat there and I believe it is in the 23-25 foot range. Call Franks Marina @ 254-939-7443 or Stillhouse Hollow Marina @ 254-939-5741 for more info. About an hour south near Austin, is Lake Travis. Larger and really deep-100 ft plus in some spots-but again manmade, really just the Colorado River damned up. We sailed a 31 foot Hunter there for several years. Great folks at Yacht Harbor Marina. One major problem is that Lake Travis''s level can drop dramatically each year when water is sent downstream to (rice?)farmers. You might not have enough water under your boat in the marina. Also, very crowded lake in summer especially weekends.We enjoyed it most in the fall. July/August can be horribly hot on Lake Travis with little wind. Slips on Travis are more expensive than the coast--our 31 footer would probably cost $325/mos now. We now sail a 35 footer out of Kemah--between Houston and Galveston. Takes us about 3-4 hours to get there, depending on when we leave in regards to Houston traffic. Kemah/Seabrook/Clearlake has a large sailing population and is on Galveston Bay. Gulf of Mexico is about a 4 hour sail away if you want to get adventerous. Many folks from the area compete in the Harvest Moon Regatta along the Texas coast in the fall, or in the summer will race down to Mexico. Shoal draft again advisable in Galveston Bay. Plentiful slips. I think we pay about $250-275/mos for well-maintained floating docks, pool, etc. Check out bayarearumrunners.com for info about the area or tmca.nu And yes--we do sail year round.

[KenD]

Aggiemom
thanks for your reply.I just got back from the chessapeake bay had to talk to sparrow our 30 ft seafarer about the possible move.She draws 4''10",I hope that doesn''t take her out of the picture for Galveston bay and beyond.My first mate,(or is she really the captain)and I have thought about taking Sparrow down the coast ,and across the gulf. Do you think I should sell and get another boat down there.

[sidney777]

[aggiemom39]