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New Member
Hiya:
Well, my sailing tribe just returned from a week at Fort DeSoto Park in Tampa Bay. The good news: the park is wonderful. The bad news: @#$@#, is the water ever shallow!
We had driven from Maine to Florida
between snowstorms and arrived March 1. We had brought four sailers, three sailboards, a Laser and a Zuma. Fort DeSoto Park is a "u"-shaped group of small keys, connected by bridges to the mainland. The Gulf of Mexico is to the west, Tampa Bay was to the east. In the center of the north-facing "u" is a bayou, maybe a mile across at the widest. We were camped near the top of the "U" right on the water.
The park is one of the nicest parks I have seen in North America ( and I've stayed in public parks from Alaska to New Mexico to PEI). The facilities are clean and very well taken-care-of. Birds are everywhere. Each morning, we were greeted at the picnic table by at least one egret, a blue heron and a one-footed laughing gull named Lefty (no, we didn't feed them, much to their dismay). It was like living in a wonderful and friendly seaside zoo. Dolphins appeared to chase our sailboards and boats.
Winds were generally light to moderate (5-25 kts) and from the north and east. Sailing north from the bayou, you can turn west into a pass and sail to a beach on the west side of the park, small keys in the Pass or out into the Gulf.
On day one, however, I discovered that the bayou was shallow. Really, really shallow (4" - ?). Even the sailboards were grinding into unmarked sand at times, although they generally had fewer problems than us boat types.
The Laser stayed on the trailer (much to its disappointment). Instead, I sailed the Zuma, which allow me to more easily bring a sailing partner whose job it was to spot the sandbars and yank up the daggerboard before we grounded. rolled and got very wet.
The park includes two beautiful beaches, which face larger sections of the Gulf or Tampa Bay. Time restrictions didn't allow us to sail from them, But I would bet they would be ideal for Laser sailing. Our part of the park, however, was built more for boats with swing-up centerboards or other shallow-water technology. That's what I'll be bringing for my next trip. Because despite the challenges, this is one great place for sailing or paddling small boats.
Fort DeSoto Park
Well, my sailing tribe just returned from a week at Fort DeSoto Park in Tampa Bay. The good news: the park is wonderful. The bad news: @#$@#, is the water ever shallow!
We had driven from Maine to Florida
between snowstorms and arrived March 1. We had brought four sailers, three sailboards, a Laser and a Zuma. Fort DeSoto Park is a "u"-shaped group of small keys, connected by bridges to the mainland. The Gulf of Mexico is to the west, Tampa Bay was to the east. In the center of the north-facing "u" is a bayou, maybe a mile across at the widest. We were camped near the top of the "U" right on the water.The park is one of the nicest parks I have seen in North America ( and I've stayed in public parks from Alaska to New Mexico to PEI). The facilities are clean and very well taken-care-of. Birds are everywhere. Each morning, we were greeted at the picnic table by at least one egret, a blue heron and a one-footed laughing gull named Lefty (no, we didn't feed them, much to their dismay). It was like living in a wonderful and friendly seaside zoo. Dolphins appeared to chase our sailboards and boats.
Winds were generally light to moderate (5-25 kts) and from the north and east. Sailing north from the bayou, you can turn west into a pass and sail to a beach on the west side of the park, small keys in the Pass or out into the Gulf.
On day one, however, I discovered that the bayou was shallow. Really, really shallow (4" - ?). Even the sailboards were grinding into unmarked sand at times, although they generally had fewer problems than us boat types.
The Laser stayed on the trailer (much to its disappointment). Instead, I sailed the Zuma, which allow me to more easily bring a sailing partner whose job it was to spot the sandbars and yank up the daggerboard before we grounded. rolled and got very wet.
The park includes two beautiful beaches, which face larger sections of the Gulf or Tampa Bay. Time restrictions didn't allow us to sail from them,
But I would bet they would be ideal for Laser sailing. Our part of the park, however, was built more for boats with swing-up centerboards or other shallow-water technology. That's what I'll be bringing for my next trip. Because despite the challenges, this is one great place for sailing or paddling small boats.Fort DeSoto Park