Lake sailor

[jotruk]

I am stuck on a lake in central Texas. It is a beautiful lake and the wind is pretty much blowing all summer long. the only problem is the fartherest you can go in one direction is 7 miles, it gets old after a while. There is a bridge across the lake at the 7 mile mark and it is to low to get under most of the time. I am looking farward to some day doing the coast on my own boat. I have got to do  the Texas 200 but it was on someone elses boat. Just wanted to complain a little and get the bs off my chest.

[Captain Smollett]

How wide is it?

The reason I ask is that getting bored with 'just sailing' is understandable, but you also may have the opportunity to do some more challenging drills.  MOB work, for example.

If the lake is wide enough and you have the searoom, you could work on heavy weather...sail changes, heaving-to, trying various drag methods, etc.

The beauty (in my mind) of working these things on a smaller lake is you get to deal with the wind without the true seas for that wind force.  The small lake we sailed in SC had the water state lagging the wind by 1-2 Beaufort Numbers.  Good training opportunity...work the wind alone and get used to that before seas are added to the mix.

The other thing you could really train is light air...< 5 kt windspeeds.  Heavy air gets the press, but light air makes the sailor.  As Lin and Larry Pardey put it, light air sailing (vice motoring or motorsailing) is one way to save a big chunk of money on longer cruises.  Going 2 kt for free is cheaper that 4-5 kts under power...provided no schedule to keep and sufficiently patient.

But, maybe I'm just weird.  I enjoy the challenge of light air sailing.  I've even had another sailor, who was motoring, ask if I wanted a tow!  That was a day I was doing good to keep the boat moving about 3/4 knot in a controlled, steerable direction.

"Training" on the lake is a way of 'making lemonade.'  I understand the draw to bigger water and farther destinations.

[jotruk]

All the things you talked about can be done and have been done by me on this lake. the lake is L shaped and very narrow for the most part. The prevailing wind is from the south and the lake is more or less north south so get a lot of down wind work and a lot of taking. I have had a boat on this lake for 7 years and it gets tiring just going the same area all the time.

[Captain Smollett]

it gets tiring just going the same area all the time.

I understand.

Do you have a time frame in mind for when you might be able to move your boat to other sailing / cruising grounds?

[CharlieJ]

All the things you talked about can be done and have been done by me on this lake. the lake is L shaped and very narrow for the most part. The prevailing wind is from the south and the lake is more or less north south so get a lot of down wind work and a lot of taking. I have had a boat on this lake for 7 years and it gets tiring just going the same area all the time.

I can  understand this perfectly. I'd go nuts sailing in a lake- I like to G O somewhere when I sail. Even long ago when sailing the Dolphin Sr, or the Prindle here on the bay, I always was sailing TOO somewhere, instead of just sailing.

Lakes always, no matter how large, have that "Plug" at the end called a dam.

[Captain Smollett]

Lakes always, no matter how large, have that "Plug" at the end called a dam.

True that having a "where to" can make sailing more fun.  On the lake we sailed in SC, there was a State Park that was a fun sailing destination because they had a small store that sold ice cream.

That lake was a bit bigger, though, and gave a lot of opportunities.  It was about 21 miles long dam to dam (this lake had two 'plugs'  haha) but was only about 2 mi wide at it widest point..but lots of coves to explore.

Fishing while sailing can be a fun challenge, too.  Sailing speed is not a bad trolling speed, and you can slow down if need be.  We troll lakes in Colorado (with FiL's power boat) all the time that are FAR smaller than 7 miles.