Beach launching in Texas

[odinsvitskjaldr]

I have been trying to locate as many options for beach launching in Texas. So far I can recommend the sandy/grassy shore of Lake Somerville (great for smooth water lake sailing when there's enough wind), the Texas City Dike, and Galveston Island's east beach. It seems that we have plenty of concrete boat ramps, but I am tryin g to find as many choices for non-concrete based launch sites (gotta protect the hull/finish!). I will be checking out Padre Island National Seashore, where I have camped before, and am considering an overnighter with my camping gear to Matagorda Island; sail from Port Oconnor to the island with the gear lashed down.
Can anyone recommend other good places in Texas, especially those within a few hours radius of Houston? How about launch sites in the Auston area?

 

[GeoffS]

I've had good luck launching off of both beaches and concrete boat ramps with my Trailex-knockoff trailer. I think it would be similar if you were using a dolly.

The key is to find a ramp with some shallow water off to the side of the main ramp area to temporally anchor your boat while you're pulling the trailer/dolly out of the water. I have a small grapnel anchor with discrete-colored (gray) floating line attached to it. This keeps the boat from sailing off while I'm futzing around with the trailer. I leave the anchor next to the ramp while I'm sailing and reverse the process when I get back.

An added benefit of this technique is my hull never touches anything but water.

Cheers,

Geoff S.