Anyone heard of "Freedom Boat Club"? (Austin: prices, clubs)

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by mrandell

I wasn't an avid boater (at all), but this has enabled me to spend my weekends in Galveston bay fishing, and hopefully not burning up too much gas.*

*That's another thing...once you get the membership, the only thing that stops you from going out every weekend is the gas cost, not the availability (for me).

That pesky 'no water in the lake' thing is a bit of a bother, I reckon.

Lake Travis Water Level

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

That pesky 'no water in the lake' thing is a bit of a bother, I reckon.

Lake Travis Water Level

Did you look at the Water Web cam on that site? There is still plenty of surface water on the lake even when it is this low, if you avoid the shallow spots. I've seen it much lower and there has always been plenty of room to sail on the lake, its even easier for a power boat with shallow draft to avoid the shallow spots. Most of the original river channel of the lake is still 75' deep when the lake is this low.

The easy way to avoid the shallows, is look at the slope of the land that is above water, if it has a low slope into the water you should assume it will continue at that slope a long way out into the lake. If it has a steep slope, that is also likely. I sailed that lake for 30 years with a 4.5' draft sailboat and only bumped bottom 3 times, only once did I need a tow to get me off the shallow spot, and that was when I let a friend steer for a few minutes while I checked the head.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Did you look at the Water Web cam on that site? There is still plenty of surface water on the lake even when it is this low, if you avoid the shallow spots. I've seen it much lower and there has always been plenty of room to sail on the lake, its even easier for a power boat with shallow draft to avoid the shallow spots. Most of the original river channel of the lake is still 75' deep when the lake is this low.

The easy way to avoid the shallows, is look at the slope of the land that is above water, if it has a low slope into the water you should assume it will continue at that slope a long way out into the lake. If it has a steep slope, that is also likely. I sailed that lake for 30 years with a 4.5' draft sailboat and only bumped bottom 3 times, only once did I need a tow to get me off the shallow spot, and that was when I let a friend steer for a few minutes while I checked the head.

You could likely make a couple of bucks letting the noobs know of your secrets. Sounds like 'they' could use a few pointers.

Me? I'll take my chances trying to angle park my bicycle on South Congress!

[texastrigirl]

And another option if you want to learn a new skill is the Texas Sailing Academy! Robert and Tasha, the owners, are just fantastic and learning to sail opens up more options on the lake year round.

Welcome to Texas Sailing, Located in Austin, Texas on Lake Travis

I would highly recommend them and they have beautiful boats and the price was right.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

That pesky 'no water in the lake' thing is a bit of a bother, I reckon.

Lake Travis Water Level

There is lots of water in Lake Travis. If you have your own boat, you may not be able to launch it at a public boat ramp. But a boat service based at a marina probably has no difficulty putting their customers in a boat.

Everyone who keeps their boats at a marina also has no problem getting on the water. They just have a long walk from the parking lot to their slip.

[love roses]

If Lake Travis is too low, then we just take our boat to another Lake that still has public ramps open. If it's too far out of the way, we make a weekend of it We haven't hit bottom there really, but we've chewed up a number of props whenever it gets really low

[searay]

The water level on Travis is low but it has still lots of water. Getting in by ramp is hard but that will change, it always does. The news media likes to show you photos of empty coves but there is still lots of safe boating to be had.

Freedom Boat Club is the only club in Austin still offering both Lake Austin and Lake Travis access to our members. We also the only one offering Yachts as well as sailing.

[love roses]

The news last night said no public ramps were open on travis.

[searay]

The public ones have been closed for several months. The private ones are still open.

[neddy]

Searay ,
Our friends are members so we go with them but aren't yalls boats already in the water at Rough Hollow?