[Rhodes22-list] Ed, Bob, Luis - Locales

[Bud]

Dave,
  you may also want to consider the Melbourne Florida area.  You can 
easily sail 15 or 20 miles north or south
of Melbourne on the ICW.   Melbourne is a residential area that is not a 
tourist stop, if tourists do come to
the area it is usually to go to Cocoa Beach or the space center.  Two 
big pluses: the ICW is nice and wide
here and there is not a lot of traffic to dodge in the channel.  You 
will always have lots of room to yourself,
and you can sail year-round.  Though you will want to keep your trailer 
handy during hurricane season.
There are several marinas and a few Yacht clubs, slip fees are typically 
in the $10/ft range.  Florida is
definitely a "Northern" state, so yankees will fit in just fine.  Oh, I 
have been to Amelia Island and have seen
the boats in the mud (I have also seen that near Hilton Head Island).  I 
would not want my boat to sit in the
mud each day.  I have never noticed the tide here on the ICW.  If the 
tide does rise and fall around here,
it can't be more than an inch or two.

-Bud Connor


DCLewis1 at aol.com wrote:

>Ed,  Thanks for the Lake Thurmond lead, I’ll probably pass on that  though.  
>Living on a lake named after old Strom could give me pause.   Which raises an 
>issue I’d overlooked: will eclectic Yankees fit in different  parts of South 
>Carolina?  Could be interesting. 
> 
>Re sailing north of Amelia, the guy we spoke with about that (we were  
>actually in Brunswick Ga at the time) showed us the area you might be referring  to. 
> The area he highlighted was approximately elliptical; with channels in  and 
>out.  It looked more than wide enough to sail in, not just a  channel.  He 
>said small boats did sail that area, as I recall.  I  measured off the long axis 
>of the ellipse,  it was about 6 mi.  I  think that area may be the Cumberland 
>Sound, I’m looking at a different map now,  the original is still with the guy 
>in Brunswick.  There may be another area  you’re thinking of.  
> 
>Regarding the Amelia Island link in your post: I have to tell you we saw  the 
>public marina shown in your link, all the recreational boats in the water  
>were literally sitting on mud - I’m not exaggerating. Not a lot of water, at  
>least when the tides out.  Larger commercial/tourist boats  were  docked at the 
>end of piers that extended well off the shore, probably in a  dredged area.  
>There is also a private marina as you come on the  island,  the marina operator 
>told me it was a dredged area (I have nothing  against dredged areas, it just 
>suggests the area is intrinsically  shallow).  Also, with the private marina, 
>and probably the public marina,  you’ve got to navigate what appeared to me 
>to be a maze of channels to get to  open water.  
> 
>Bob, I followed up on your suggestion and touched base with Tom Scott,  thank 
>you for that lead.  His response was that PG/PC was indeed hit hard  with the 
>hurricane, that they are rebuilding (not yet rebuilt).  The  marina is 
>closed, ramps aren’t great, and the best shot at sailing is to have  
>waterfront/canal-back property.  Tom said there is a lot of good  sailing there.  
> 
>Luis, You likely hit the source of bias in our assessment of  
>Sarasota/Bradenton, we tried to stay close to the coast.  That’s pretty  much what we saw.
> 
>Dave
> 
> 
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