Good Launch Sites

[reltubp]

I am heading down to Westport MA soon and wanted to see if anyone can suggest a good launch site ( beach, car parking, etc).If any of you have any knowledge of the area and can help a newbie I would appreciate it.

It got me thinking about whether there is ( or should be) a site where laser and other dinghy sailors can post and find information about possible launch sites and their characteristics sorted by region.

Does such a site exist and would it be useful to others ? Could this be hosted on the laser forum ?

 

[Dave Kirkpatrick]

Westport is one of the prettiest places anywhere. There is a town ramp "downtown," such as downtown is.
The issue with sailing at Westport is that your better launches are inside the river, which is a crazy sail out, with TONS of current.
You may find you are best off going to Sakonnet Point, just a few miles away. In my horribly biased opinion, it is the best place for sailing anywhere, bar none. HUGE ocean type waves, lots of breeze, about a two second sail from the protected launch to the big water. There is a town beach at the head of Sakonnet Harbor. Easy launch and you can leave your boat there for a few days without issue.
It's about a ten minute drive (at most) from Westport to Sakonnet Point. Sakonnet Point is at the end of Route 77 in RI. To get there from Westport, drive along the Coastal Villages Trail, which will be well marked on any tourist map.
If you ride a road bike, bring that too. Great riding throughout the area.

 

[laser92719]

Yes Westport & Little Compton is lovely. I took a sunfish down the East Branch of the Westport River, which was very shallow, and road the swells off Horseneck Beach. The tide runs very strong out of the Westport River. The Horseneck Beach area is as rough as any of the SE coast. It would be a good idea to map the launch areas and especially the coastal rights of way, since when they don't get used the landowners around here seem to claim them for their own. Have fun, and don't eat too many clam cakes.