Good sailing lake

[Jeff5341]

Anyone have ideas on a nice sailing lake / community in North or South Carolina? We planning to move south in the next year or so. We have looked at Lake Norman and Lake Keowee. Any input and comments welcome...Thanks

Jeff

[manhattan08]

Jeff - I recently purchased and now keep my Hunter 285 on Lake Norman near Charlotte. You cannot ask for a better lake. My boat draws 5.5 feet and there are very few times that I have to worry about running aground.

There are a number of marinas on the lake and a lot of opportunities for racing. Check out outriggeryachtclub dot com. As you can see, there are races about once a week.

Whats also nice about Lake Norman is that its not far from Charlotte and a good airport.

What size boat are you looking at sailing?

[kd3pc]

Norman is quite low now...can't even get the boats away from some docks...what used to be water front is not.

You will tire quickly of sailing options, as they are few. Very little space or clear shots where the wind is with you. Think beating all day..Lot's of power boats and PWC.

Very pricey to slip or belong to one of the clubs. Can be very tough to get a larger boat serviced and in and out of the water, unless you are buying a boat already on the lake. Good social and bench sailing area. Little risk of hurricane damage.

Just depends on what you call sailing, we settled on the coastal areas - a little further, but lots more sailing with less aggravation.

[manhattan08]

Norman is quite low now...can't even get the boats away from some docks...what used to be water front is not."

What do you mean??? The lake is near full pond... If you have trouble getting your boat away from a dock, its probably because you are in a shallow cove....

"You will tire quickly of sailing options, as they are few. Very little space or clear shots where the wind is with you. Think beating all day..Lot's of power boats and PWC."

I sailed last weekend between 3 and 4 knots for the afternoon and only covered the southern half of the lake without "doubling back".

"Very pricey to slip or belong to one of the clubs. Can be very tough to get a larger boat serviced and in and out of the water, unless you are buying a boat already on the lake. Good social and bench sailing area. Little risk of hurricane damage."

Pay to play. I bought my boat in Oriental and had it transported to LKN. I thought the folks at All Season's were more reasonable than Deatons at the coast. They also seemed much better customer service oriented.

Just depends on what you call sailing, we settled on the coastal areas - a little further, but lots more sailing with less aggravation.

to each his own. kd3pc - Have you actuallyy had a boat on the lake? Are you trying to justify and rationalize your decision to keep your boat at the coast?

[kd3pc]

Man

Yes, had a 36CC - when St Barts had an office there...their office was at the I77 end of the lake...finally got them to move a 361 to a "yacht club" about 3 miles further west, so I could actually trial her, (as the 331 at the office was aground three times in a week when I drove down to trial her) And with no tides, it was up to Duke Power to let her out, or not. One of a very few sailboats there and I heard about it the whole day, and was only a "visitor" so I was reminded of that each and every time I went to the boat. When asked about hauling it for bottom/repair/upgrades, was told that "they have a crane at the other end of the lake."..went down hill from there.

I was down at that end a few months ago...and their "old office" is landlocked, nice...has a grill next door, but landlocked. As were many of the "smaller coves" as you call them.. With only 50 sq miles, it is not a large lake.

You may want to explain where and how you got your boat in to the lake when it was brought up from Oriental...I imagine a crane...

And yes you do have to pay to play there, on all fronts. Some like that, I am not the blazer/drinking set. They did like my Lotus Esprit, and generally I got free parking next to the clubhouse, for the time I was there. The valet guys loved taking pictures with it.

AS I said it, depends on what you call sailing, and what and where you want to be...

to each his own, sorry to have stepped on the toes of LKN..

And to your last question, I Don't miss it all, as I have the freedom to go to the Chesapeake, Pamlico, Albemarle, Atlantic and anywhere in between, and with a slip for less than $200 monthly have money left over to do some diving as we go.

[manhattan08]

KD3PC - when were you at LKN? Was it during the drought?

[MarioG]

Belews lake near Greensboro is nice sailing, we had our C-22 there last year and never had a problem. I would keep the boat in the Coral and launch every weekend.

[Jeff5341]

Thanks everyone for the replies and comments. My only sailing experience was with a 24' Aquarius at a small Lake in Ohio. So far, we have only looked in the sail view community at Lake Norman. We are also considering Keowee, but I can't find too much information on sailing conditions there or the other larger lakes in the North and South Carolina areas. An ideal retirement area for us would be in a community that offers amenities such as lake view, tennis courts, pool and community dock space.

Jeff

[MarioG]

Hey Jeff what about the coast? There are alot of nice sailing areas here and if your retired you can hang out at places like the Bean in Oriental and swap sailing stories.
We had a huge houseing developmental thing going on here that anyplace they could build lake side communities, seem to go up before I got back to the lake...that was every week..lol

Good luck its been nice to sail 9 months of the year here in NC.