I am going to be taking my family to Disney World in early April. There seem to be a bunch of lakes within an hour or so of Orlando - is there good sailing around there, good enough to justify towing a boat from North Carolina?

Jonathan

Let me add to the question:
Disney World is right on a lake -- are you able to bring your boat and launch there on that lake somewhere? I love the campground, and when I was last there, they had Hobie rentals off the beach at the campground. It never occurred to me at the time to check out whether you could bring your own boat, but I seem to remember a regatta being held on that lake at one time.

Hmmmm....I'm trying to find information on the Hobie rentals, in case I can't talk my wife into letting me schlep the boat to Florida.

On the other hand, I am also looking at a map of St. Petersburg, where my uncle lives, and both Tampa Bay and the outlying islands look very tempting. Where are there good places to put in near St. Petersburg? I'm not clear on the scale of this map - between St Pete / Clearwater and the row of islands, would we be within sight of land the whole time? (We are still novices, and want to play it safe...)

Jonathan

Hey...
Can't give you any specific info. on the lakes around Orlando, but I do know there are several. Orlando isn't much of a drive to Daytona, if you wanted to sail in the ocean.

In the St Pete area, you could launch in Gulf Port (basically South St Pete), they have active catsailing in the bay down there. I'm sure that when the sailors from that area see your post, information will follow.

North of St Pete, we sail out od Dunedin Causeway. Nice launching beach, and you can either sail in the bay or hit the pass and go out in the Gulf. Numerous Tornado teams are training here at this time. Let me know if I can be of any help.
Dave

There are over 7000 named lakes in Florida, many of which are within an hour's drive of Orlando. A lot of them are quite shallow (e.g. Lake Apopka, the largest lake just NW of Orlando), and others are down because of our 3-year drought. But, some of the best sailing lakes in the state are also nearby. My two favorites are Lake Harris and Lake Eustis, both just to the NW of Lake Apopka. Lake Eustis has the Lake Eustis Sailing Club (http://hometown.aol.com/tomkidd/LESCindex.html), which hosts one of the nicest multihull regattas in the fall. Lake Harris has a park S of Tavares on Rt 19 with excellent launching and parking facilities. As CatsailorP19MX said, Tampa Bay including Gulfport at the southern tip of St. Petersburg and the Dunedin Causeway to the north is a bit longer drive but are both excellent sites. The Davis Island Yacht Club is a little closer (30-45 minutes) to Orlando, and is sited at the southern end of Davis Island in S. Tampa on Hillsborough Bay. There is very good beach and boat ramp just before the yacht club, and the yacht club ("The Sailingist Yacht Club in the South") has been the host of many good multihull regattas. It is definitely not a snooty YC. On the east coast, Cocoa Beach is close. Hobie Fleet 45 (http://www.members.tripod.com/~fleet45a/fleet45.htm) says that "Fleet 45 sails from Kelley Park on the Banana River just south of SR 520 and the Indian River (Intercoastal Waterway) from Pineda Causeway. Fleet sailing events are held on a regular basis from a beautifully protected wide body of water just a mile inland from the ocean." You might also check out the NAHCA Division 8 web site for other contacts (http://flsail.home.att.net/fleetinfo.htm).

Good luck and enjoy your vacation. Hope you have time to sail with the the family at Disney.

Well, he right.
Gulfport, or actually, Boca Ciega Bay is a great place to sail. At the Gulfport Yacht Club we have club races every other Saturday.
We extend a welcome to you and anyone else passing thru to come join us.
We have a small ramp for trailer launching and a small beach for launching with cattrax.
There is always someone around on the weekends, and most other days as well. If you'd like directions or otherwise have questions, let me know.
John
GYC Commodore

Head East to the Melbourne area and check out Performance Sail and Sport on the Intracoastal Waterway near the Pineda Causeway. They rent Waves, Getaways, and Hobie-16s, and might provide a hook-up to a ride on somebody else's boat. I rented a Wave from them for a couple of hours the last time I was down there.

http://www.perfsail.com

About 1/2 hour south of there you'll find the Sebastian Inlet Park, which has a cat/non-powered launch area sponsored by IRCA. There's camping available there as well, so maybe a diversion from Disney for a day or two to camp and sail would make it worth bringing the boat.

The IRCA website seems to be offline these days, hopefully that doesn't mean bad things for the club, but try to get in touch with them as well.

The Disney World Hobie Regattas were 2 day events with lots of fun, and there were 10 years of them. They were all on Bay Lake in front of the Contemporary Hotel. I have a mess of DW trophies, and if you like Mickey in gold, you would love these trophies! After the Hobie Hockey (sometimes known as Bumper Cats) was over, Goofy would ski in and land to hand out trophies. Bad part? Well, sometimes there were 20+ boats trying to round a single mark together in a great wheel, and the smart sailor would duck under or go way around. Then Michael M. became CEO of DW, and decided he did not need our presence on his lake any more. A sad day- I really liked it there.

Hey Keith!

When were you down here? Funny how small the world is! You'll give us a call next time you're in the area, right (at least in the winter)? Heck, we'll even lend you a harness ;-)

To everyone else -- I visited Keith's local sailing Association on the Chesapeake for a couple of race nights this summer when I had just bought my Hobie 16. We now have an 18 like Keith's but that boat is in Florida, just up the river from Performance Sail and Sport.

Just a couple of things, The lakes have Gators.....Real ones with teeth. Keep that in mind. Its my understanding Gulfport is much like a lake, because of low bridges. Dunedin Causeway good stuff.

Mike

Shambie!
I was down for 10 days the beginning of December. Things got hectic before we left, so I didn't get a chance to look for folks down there to hook up with. But, I also had no idea you guys were down there as well as up here! I'll definitely try to look you all up next time I'm down there.

My wife's folks live in Melbourne, so we visit there from time to time.

Hopefully your 18 is not completely like mine, as mine got hit during Frostbite making the starboard hull a write-off! Haven't finalized repair options yet...

Ouchie! What did you DO?

Well, our 18 is just fine, and next time you're down in the winter, get hold of me and we'll sail. You have my email address...

See ya,
Shambie

Got whacked by a 5.8 while parked before a start!

Next time we're down there I'll look you guys up!

Hi,

I live in Orlando. The place where you choose to sail when you come down should also determine if you want to make it an easy daytrip to/from Orlando. From Disney, Lakes Harris, Apoka, and Eustis would make it long day. All are pretty far north of Disney. The ramp at Eustis is very steep and you might have trouble re-loading the boat there. Harris has lotsa gators. Apopka is one of the most polluted lakes in the state.

I think the absolute best place with facilities and easy access is to and from D-World is "...Kelley Park on the Banana River just south of SR 520 and the Indian River (Intercoastal Waterway) from Pineda Causeway.

I live on the south end of town and it's very easy to jump onto toll road State Road 528 (the "Bee Line" as it is known locally) and head east. It will take you about an hour and a half to get there. It's a *great* little park and the river is wide and deep with little current. Actually, the "river" is one huge long lagoon.

My vote, hands down, would be Kelley Park. Let me know if you need a map or a chart and I'll fax one to you.

Dean in Orlando