Howdy

[McKinneyYD]

The obligatory and embarrassing self-introduction follows:

I'm Mack, and I'm a sailor.

Firmly planted in mid-life, I've sailed for... geeez... well, it spans 4 decades. I grew up on Lake Ontario's south shore, first starting in Blue Jays and quickly moving into keelboats. My family has had in their stables an HR-25 #63, a C&C 30 #104, and a Soling #US448, the last of which became "my boat." I still get to sail on my folks Nonsuch 354 during visits to the Great White North.

After careers in Civil Engineering, the ministry, and custom woodworking, I am now pursuing what I wanted to pursue all along; the rewards of yacht design. Because 4 degrees weren't enough, I've decided to become a student again!

I've just finished "restoring" to sail-ready our humble ODay Javelin, and am trailering that around to the various lakes in Texas in anticipation of the day when I can no longer refer to myself as being land-locked. You can take the boy from the water...

[smackdaddy]

Hey Mack, welcome to SN dude. Have you sailed on Travis yet? A true tack-fest but a lot of fun.

[McKinneyYD]

Actually, just got the boat wet for the first time (the boat's in 7 years or so!) on Bastrop last weekend. Now that the sunburn has subsided, we are thinking in terms of Travis for this weekend. I'm down near Kerrville, so Travis is in our radius. Know of a good place to launch?

[smackdaddy]

I've never launched at a ramp (we keep our boat on the water). But here's a link to all the ramps:

LCRA - Boat Ramp Information

I'd say the best place is the Mansfield Dam ramp. That's the best area for sailing for sure. Just check with them and make sure ti works for you.

Great sailing community on Travis.

How was Bastrop? We lived out there for a few years...before I got into sailing. Beautiful place with the piney woods - but doesn't seem like a great sailing lake.

Kerrville? Sweet!

[McKinneyYD]

Thanks for the tip. Bastrop was great for the Puddle Duck racers, but our Oday Javelin made the lake REALLLY small! There were high-tension lines running just north of the ramp that were only a couple of feet above our mast. Aluminum mast. You get it -- my palms sweated every time I was under it.

We had a very blustery day, which I realize is hard to find in Texas, but the boat moved out well and was pretty stable. We had to tack a lot, thought.

Worst day sailing is still better than, etc.