Hello, my wife and I are relocating the the Cleveland area, and are wondering about marinas. If anyone knows of a nice one please let me know. Also wondering how the sailing is out there, Lake conditions, things like that. Is a 28 foot boat with shoal draft keel good for Lake Erie. Any info will be helpful. Thanks John
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Cleveland marinas
John, I'm not real familiar with the area, but we have sailed out of Edgewater Marina in Cleveland. Check out the attached link. Good luck on your relocation! Jim
John, I'm not real familiar with the area, but we have sailed out of Edgewater Marina in Cleveland. Check out the attached link. Good luck on your relocation! Jim
Love sailboatowners.com, but try the Sailnet list
I love sailboatowners.com for all the helpful people, but I also find that some of the mail lists from sailnet.com can help you target questions to regional people. Their mail list sign up page is http://list.sailnet.net/read/all_forums/. If you scroll through, you'll find a list for Lake Erie. I've belonged to that list for a number of years, and you'll find lots of people familiar with the Cleveland area who will offer helpful opinions. Good luck! Mike
I love sailboatowners.com for all the helpful people, but I also find that some of the mail lists from sailnet.com can help you target questions to regional people. Their mail list sign up page is http://list.sailnet.net/read/all_forums/. If you scroll through, you'll find a list for Lake Erie. I've belonged to that list for a number of years, and you'll find lots of people familiar with the Cleveland area who will offer helpful opinions. Good luck! Mike
Bingo! You win!!!
First, a 28 footer is fine, shoal draft or not. Lake Erie can get ugly in minutes, but it is rare. The worst is called a durecho (sp). Nasty bit there. It's a sideways tornado. Mostly we get nor'easters that pump the waves up to 8 footers, or more. Still sailable, but most people stay in. How much money do you have? I keep my 37' at Edgewater Marina at $1500 for the season. It is the least expensive place in Cleveland. All prices will be in my cost. Yours would be less. At Edgewater, you would be at the $1100 range. Next, in order of cost: Sycamore Slip (NO facilities, NO parking, a DUMP) $2200, (yours, $1800) Whiskey Island ($2600)Yours (about $2000) Then the Yacht Clubs. Adjacent and in the same basin is Edgewater Yacht Club. ABout $4000 to join, then $2000 per year fees. The other Yacht Clubs are similar. Ther eis an inner harbor where most sail when the waves are bad on the lake. It is 7 miles long, and less than a half wide, but...it's sailing. We sail to the Crib, hence a Crib-bean tour. It looks like a Freighter bow, but is a round water intake 3 1/2 miles from Edgewater. It is 5 miles from the Crib to the purification facility, so is called the 5 mile crib. Since it is West to north west of the exit to the lake and the winds are normally from the North East, you sail on a nice beam reach. There are no shoals in this area. The shoals are on the Canadian side, up at Buffalo and at the Islands. Put-In-Bay is an 8 hour sail away and is a good place to go. Canada is about the same at 52 miles away. Oh yeah, we have a boat club at the Marina. Parties every month. Cheap ($20 to join). If you are interested, let me know. Anything else, email me at tho52mas@aim.com. I have 5 sailboat jackstands cheap if you need them.
First, a 28 footer is fine, shoal draft or not. Lake Erie can get ugly in minutes, but it is rare. The worst is called a durecho (sp). Nasty bit there. It's a sideways tornado. Mostly we get nor'easters that pump the waves up to 8 footers, or more. Still sailable, but most people stay in. How much money do you have? I keep my 37' at Edgewater Marina at $1500 for the season. It is the least expensive place in Cleveland. All prices will be in my cost. Yours would be less. At Edgewater, you would be at the $1100 range. Next, in order of cost: Sycamore Slip (NO facilities, NO parking, a DUMP) $2200, (yours, $1800) Whiskey Island ($2600)Yours (about $2000) Then the Yacht Clubs. Adjacent and in the same basin is Edgewater Yacht Club. ABout $4000 to join, then $2000 per year fees. The other Yacht Clubs are similar. Ther eis an inner harbor where most sail when the waves are bad on the lake. It is 7 miles long, and less than a half wide, but...it's sailing. We sail to the Crib, hence a Crib-bean tour. It looks like a Freighter bow, but is a round water intake 3 1/2 miles from Edgewater. It is 5 miles from the Crib to the purification facility, so is called the 5 mile crib. Since it is West to north west of the exit to the lake and the winds are normally from the North East, you sail on a nice beam reach. There are no shoals in this area. The shoals are on the Canadian side, up at Buffalo and at the Islands. Put-In-Bay is an 8 hour sail away and is a good place to go. Canada is about the same at 52 miles away. Oh yeah, we have a boat club at the Marina. Parties every month. Cheap ($20 to join). If you are interested, let me know. Anything else, email me at tho52mas@aim.com. I have 5 sailboat jackstands cheap if you need them.
Greater Cleveland
John Tom has most of the metro sites covered. Racing out of Edgewater too. Most of the population around Cleveland is spread out. There are communities/marinas/clubs/racing west (eg Lorain,Rocky R., Vermillion R.) and east (eg Mentor,Chagrin R., Grand R.) of the city. I would add to Tom's comments that active cruising communities exist going to varies destinations towards the western basin, around Erie and beyond, Canadian side too. Winds aren't too consistent if you're coming from a place with reliable onshore/offshore effects.
John Tom has most of the metro sites covered. Racing out of Edgewater too. Most of the population around Cleveland is spread out. There are communities/marinas/clubs/racing west (eg Lorain,Rocky R., Vermillion R.) and east (eg Mentor,Chagrin R., Grand R.) of the city. I would add to Tom's comments that active cruising communities exist going to varies destinations towards the western basin, around Erie and beyond, Canadian side too. Winds aren't too consistent if you're coming from a place with reliable onshore/offshore effects.
Tom, please e-mail me at...
Tom, please e-mail me at jackhartjr@aol.com with info about the jack stands. Thanks a ton! Jack
Tom, please e-mail me at jackhartjr@aol.com with info about the jack stands. Thanks a ton! Jack
Cruise the Islands
You have to ask your self what type of sailing do you intend on doing on Lake Erie. If you want to race or go out on a daily cruise and spend the nite at a dock, Marina, Yachtclub, then Edgewater and other Marinas around Cleveland will be fine, If you think you want to spent weekends anchoring around Kelleys and the Bass Islands, then find a spot near Sandusky, Catawba or Port Clinton. Sandusky is 75 minutes on a freeway from Cleveland and Port Clinton is 90 minutes. After 30 years of one-design racing, the Admiral now prefers cruising the Islands and Canada. I live 60 minutes south from Cleveland, but prefer to drive 2 1/2 hours to Port Clinton where we are a 1 1/2 hour sail to the Islands Jack F Stewart 1993 C36 #1233 "Windancer" Port Clinton, OH
You have to ask your self what type of sailing do you intend on doing on Lake Erie. If you want to race or go out on a daily cruise and spend the nite at a dock, Marina, Yachtclub, then Edgewater and other Marinas around Cleveland will be fine, If you think you want to spent weekends anchoring around Kelleys and the Bass Islands, then find a spot near Sandusky, Catawba or Port Clinton. Sandusky is 75 minutes on a freeway from Cleveland and Port Clinton is 90 minutes. After 30 years of one-design racing, the Admiral now prefers cruising the Islands and Canada. I live 60 minutes south from Cleveland, but prefer to drive 2 1/2 hours to Port Clinton where we are a 1 1/2 hour sail to the Islands Jack F Stewart 1993 C36 #1233 "Windancer" Port Clinton, OH
jfs sail has a point
He has a good point. Many of us in Cleveland thought hard about going up to the Islands for dockage, then sail the islands for the summer. The problem is time. How much do you have? Hey, going up for a three day weekend would be a blast. As for docking up there, the cost is a tad more than Cleveland. With a 28'er, you should have no problem in most places in terms of draft. I draft 4' and got into PIB (4.5 feet near shore). If you join our boat club, you get privaleges at some of the marinas at the Islands for a night or two. We found we sail more when the boat is close by, so we stay in Cleveland. Then, ther is the air show (got buzzed by all 6 Blue Angels last summer...Not sure who was louder, us or them!!! YAAAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO), the Fourth (Cedar Point has it all the time). Then there is the skyline at night. Awesome. And the Islands get more storms in the summer than we do. And we start out at 20 feet and get deeper. They have lots of shoals and islands just below water line (not THAT bad). And we have the inner harbor. We used to have the Flats (a dozen bars, live bands, etc.) then a few folks got dead from lead poinoning and the music stopped. GO figure! Now the flats is a wasteland. However, when I said I was going to sail to the Islands, I had at least 5 captains who volunteered to sail up there with me on my boat. After arriving, they drove back (got a car from a friend on PIB). When we came back, others drove the car back and sailed home with us. In other words, mention going up and you can scrape up a crew. Besides, we know a guy on PIB with a dock and it's free!! To us anyway. But he is right. yuou can go to Huron and get the same thing. Or Lorain. Or Vermillion. Good ports all. Oh yeah, if you are staying for a spell, you can put your name in for the lottery at E.55th Marina and stay there. A bit more than Edgewater, but better protected. And Edgewater yacht Club is THE sailing club in Cleveland. Races are on SUndays and Wednesdays. CYC in Rocky River, Edgewater, Lakeside, all have races. Edgewater spoonsors quite a few race weeks during the season.
He has a good point. Many of us in Cleveland thought hard about going up to the Islands for dockage, then sail the islands for the summer. The problem is time. How much do you have? Hey, going up for a three day weekend would be a blast. As for docking up there, the cost is a tad more than Cleveland. With a 28'er, you should have no problem in most places in terms of draft. I draft 4' and got into PIB (4.5 feet near shore). If you join our boat club, you get privaleges at some of the marinas at the Islands for a night or two. We found we sail more when the boat is close by, so we stay in Cleveland. Then, ther is the air show (got buzzed by all 6 Blue Angels last summer...Not sure who was louder, us or them!!! YAAAAAHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO), the Fourth (Cedar Point has it all the time). Then there is the skyline at night. Awesome. And the Islands get more storms in the summer than we do. And we start out at 20 feet and get deeper. They have lots of shoals and islands just below water line (not THAT bad). And we have the inner harbor. We used to have the Flats (a dozen bars, live bands, etc.) then a few folks got dead from lead poinoning and the music stopped. GO figure! Now the flats is a wasteland. However, when I said I was going to sail to the Islands, I had at least 5 captains who volunteered to sail up there with me on my boat. After arriving, they drove back (got a car from a friend on PIB). When we came back, others drove the car back and sailed home with us. In other words, mention going up and you can scrape up a crew. Besides, we know a guy on PIB with a dock and it's free!! To us anyway. But he is right. yuou can go to Huron and get the same thing. Or Lorain. Or Vermillion. Good ports all. Oh yeah, if you are staying for a spell, you can put your name in for the lottery at E.55th Marina and stay there. A bit more than Edgewater, but better protected. And Edgewater yacht Club is THE sailing club in Cleveland. Races are on SUndays and Wednesdays. CYC in Rocky River, Edgewater, Lakeside, all have races. Edgewater spoonsors quite a few race weeks during the season.
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