Here's something to ponder a while...

[Sixpoint]

Okay, picture a lake.

A sizable lake, this one is, at around 190,000 acres. Not a Great Lake or anything, but plenty big enough for most purposes.

This lake is a long, sort of narrow lake - we'll say 65 miles long (north to south) and between 1 and 5 miles east to west.

On this lake, there is a very consistent breeze/wind from the west, usually somewhere between 3 and 12 knots.

Question: How come in 30 years of living near this lake have I only seen a handful of sailboats on it?

The lake in question is Toledo Bend Reservoir, on the border between Texas and Louisiana.

I realize that the facts I've given about this lake are very limited in scope, and there is a long list of possible reasons that I haven't even touched on, but I assure you, as far as I know I have given all the relevant information on this lake as it pertains to boating. The lake is WILDLY popular with powerboats of all different shapes and sizes...just no sailboats. Well, a few, but not nearly as many as I would think there should be.

Can anyone toss up any theories with the little information I've given? Or, can someone maybe even just point me at a question that I'm not asking?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[smackdaddy]

I sail on Travis here in Austin and it's similar to TBR. What's the general depth there? That could be a factor.

Most of the sailing on Travis happens in a pretty small area - the widest and deepest part of the lake. And being restricted to one area all the time can get a little old. But I guess that's kind of always the case with day and weekend sailing no matter where you are.

"Picture yourself on a boat on a river"

[cb32863]

What Smack said.... Plus as you said it is very popular with power boaters, that could be an issue as well. Might not be all that much room with them zipping around and what not. The lake I sail on is very popular with power boaters as well and it can get pretty stirred up. Some folks don't realize not everyone likes to wake jump....

[sailingdog]

Also, many sailors don't like to be in areas with high powerboat counts...many powerboaters are rude, obnoxious and ignorant of the rules of the road—and a real danger to boats around them that don't have the speed to dodge or get out to the way.

[Sixpoint]

@smackdaddy

That is a question with a very complex answer - and I suppose that's part of the answer I'm looking for in itself.

Very generally speaking, I'd say that there's a good mile down almost the entire length of the lake that's deep enough to float any realistic sailboat - spit-balling, I'd say 10 feet as a minimum. But then in most places in that mile-wide channel, it's more like 30-50 feet deep, and 60-70 in some places.

Outside that channel though...I'll say that it pays to pay attention. You may have 30 feet under you one second, then it will come up to 3 feet, just like that.

And of course there are places - lots and lots of places - that if you want to get a boat in there, it better be a shallow draft, flat bottom. So yeah, I can see how if one was "trapped" in the water; that is to say if one had a boat that was left in a slip all the time, the lake would get pretty small after a while of looking at the same stuff over and over.

The flip side of that coin, though - and the thing that makes the question stick with me - is that if one were sailing for sailing's sake, there's almost always nice beam reach up and down the lake's length. Granted, there is a bridge that neatly bisects the lake's length, and I don't know precisely what the clearance is under that bridge, but it's up there. I'd think that most daysailers would breeze right under it, so to speak, with plenty of clearance. And even if they don't, they still have 30-ish miles of lake on either side of that bridge.

Anyhow, I plan to sail it and I suppose I'll find out for myself when I finally pull the trigger and get my trailer sailer next year.

[Sixpoint]

Also very good points about the powerboating, but though it's popular with them, it's hardly ever crowded with them. When I'm out on my rescue boat, it's rare to come close enough to another boat to have to think about give-way or anything. Most of the time it's just another boat way over there.

On some weekends it does get nuts, when there are fishing tournaments, but those are rare. Well, fishing tournaments are common, but the big ones that crowd the lake are rare.

And thanks for the answers; this Toledo Bend thing is actually part of my research for getting my first sailboat.

[smackdaddy]

Originally Posted by cb32863

What Smack said.... Plus as you said it is very popular with power boaters, that could be an issue as well. Might not be all that much room with them zipping around and what not. The lake I sail on is very popular with power boaters as well and it can get pretty stirred up. Some folks don't realize not everyone likes to wake jump....

Heh-heh. I actually LOVE the wakes - and I'm serious about that. The bigger the better. It's the only time I get to train for "sea state".

[smackdaddy]

Originally Posted by Sixpoint

The flip side of that coin, though - and the thing that makes the question stick with me - is that if one were sailing for sailing's sake....

You nailed it right there dude. That's enough in and of itself in my book.

It's so easy to get caught up in the cruising, exotic destination, living aboard, having the perfectly maintained boat, knowing everything there is to know, yadda, yadda - when at the end of the day, sailing itself is just so damn fun.

Go sail dude!

[Sixpoint]

smack -

I can't WAIT to sail.

The main thing that's holding me back at the moment is that I want it to be something I can do with my family, and I have a 16 month old daughter.

So, I guess I'm hijacking my own thread here, but does anyone have thoughts on when a child is old enough to be a safe passenger in a sailboat?

[smackdaddy]

Thank Cruisingdad for this:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/cruisi...ling-children/