Dan, There are a number of sites where you can launch here in Havasu. The most commonly used by out-of-towners is either Windsor State beach which has two large ramps or the Marina which has about a 6 lane ramp. The Marina is a pretty nice facitltiy. It is on the Island and you have to drive over the London Bridge to get to it. They have about 1000 slips currently. You can rent a slip year round but their is a lengthy wait to get one or you can leaseback a fair weather powerboaters slip that is not being used for the winter months. That's what we do. Their ramp is at a pretty shallow angle but I have lauched an M17 there numerous times with no problem. It's about a two minute drive from downtown to your slip. "Windsor" is on the "mainland" north of the island and a very nice facility but most of the power-boaters go there and the ramps are more exposed to wave and wind. Both of the ramps I just mentioned are "pay" ramps. Locals like me often frequent a smaller public ramp (the only free ramp left!) located on the west side of the island called Site Six. It is only 3 lanes wide but much steeper. It's kind of a double edge sword ,though. The steepness of the ramp allows the boat to float off much sooner without having to put the tow vehicle so far in the water. The downside is that the extreme angle of the trailer can make for some issues with getting the boat on and off with respect to how the bow and the trailer interact at that angle. If you have a fin keel boat, Site Six is the only place where you are going to get it in or out here in Havasu. Even then you want to check the current water levels and the forecast levels for the duration of your visit. We had a fin keeled Beneteau 26 from Phoenix visit for a race years back. We got him in but during his stay the water dropped making every ramp on the lake too shallow to get him out without backing the trailer off the concrete ramp. He had to leave his boat here for about 4 months till the water levels came back up! As long as you don't draft over 4 feet you shouldn't have problem. One nice thing about Site Six is it is situated in the very back of a small cove and very protected from wind and waves. There are also some other ramps at communities further south down the lake.
Havasu is a fun lake to sail in late fall through early spring. Its not uncommom to have winds in excess of 15-20knts when fronts move through. Summer time, though, is to be avoided with a sailboat, at least in my opinion. The lake has become a mecca for the loud, brash, party crowd from California, Vegas, and Phoenix that bring ridiculuosly large (30-40ft) over-powered and loud offshore powerboats here and run the lake at speeds commonly exceeding 100mph. It is crowded, loud, choppy, extremely hot (110 is the norm 120 sometimes) and no wind to speak of. It's a shame but it can literally be worth your life to be on the water due to the alchohol and speed factor and unfortunately a few people every year prove that point. We still use the lake in the summer with our powerboat. We stick to the weekdays to avoid the crowds and hit early morning when the water is smooth and temps cooler. We pull the sailboat out and if we want ot sail we can trailer sail or San Diego and a glorious 65 degrees and wind is only 6 hours away! Back to the late fall, winter, and early spring.....it is a joy to sail here then. The water is not more that 7 minutes from anywhere in town. The town rises on a grade from the lake so you can see the water from just about anywhere in town. Just checking the color of the water lets you know the wind situation. The loud crowd vanishes, especially if its windy. You often have the lake to yourself or maybe another couple of sailboats and some fisherman. Surprisingly, there are only a handful, maybe 20-25 sailboats slipped in the 1000 slip marina. What a waste! Temps are moderate and sailing all winter no problem. If the high for the day is 55, it's a cold one. Normally mid-sixties or above. The coldest, clear, nights can get nippy, down to just above the freezing mark.The lake is about 20 miles long (the part you can sail on). It ranges in width from about 2.5 miles at it's widest to pretty darn narrow in a couple of sections. Tacking is the order of the day especially if you're moving at hull speed! There are 4 or 5 other small communities or campgrounds that you can sail to that have docks, stores, restuarants or at least some semblance of such and lots of coves with pre-placed picnic tables and port-a-pot waiting for your arrival. I can't guarantee wind, mother nature does that, but it's a good bet late October through March. If any of the cold country crowd's looking for a week or two break from "the real winter" (the white stuff we have read about) you might enjoy hitching up and draggin' on down here and thawing out. We'd love to see ya! You can stay at the Nautical Inn right on the water with your boat either tied up to their docks or beached in a sandy cove right in front of your room. And no,,,,,,,I really don't work for the Lake Havasu Tourism Board (they'd have never busted on the powerboat party crowd!) :-) Sean _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
