Montanasailor asked about Lake Powell in a seperate thread - here is a new thread on the subject.
We have taken a family vacation there for the past two years and I think the whole family really enjoyed the trip. I wish I was there right now. I put up this web page with pictures of our last two trips and it gives some details and pictures of the trip so no need to post again here
http://analogengineering.com/sail/powell/
Also, here is a guide recomended by Blake who also posts to this board. Im going to get this guide.
http://www.lakepowellmaps.com/
Both years we went near the end of June so this is the only time of year I know about. The really great thing about this time of year is the swimming - water temps were in the 81 to 84 degree range. Im fairly sure the spring is windier and by the end of June, its calming down but still some wind. But if your trip is only about sailing, Lake Powell is not the best lake except maybe in the big open areas at the West end. The bad thing about the end of June is all the power boats but this last summer, it wasnt such a problem because of gas prices.
I understand from others who have gone there that it can be windy at night but we never saw this - most likely because of the time of year we were there.
Except for one night, we camped at a different location each night and you will have a new "engineering" challange at each different place you tie up the boat. You pretty much can not anchor because it can be 200 foot deep 10 foot away from the shore. The retractable centerboard and rudder are necessary as one night, you may be almost sitting on a sand bar tied off to shore rocks, the next night floating next to some bushes tied off to the bushes, the next night floating in a cove tied off to rocks and logs. A few long ropes are necessary.
If you like to fish, I think the Bass fishing there would be good as we often would see what looked like water boiling at it would be a big group of Bass (doing what, I dont know).
In the summer, you must have a bimini. This summer, we were able to run both main and jib with the bimini up and this worked nicely.
Im planning on exploring different parts of the lake for the next few summers. At least one of the trips will be to an extremely remote area (way up the San Juan river). Here a couple of additional things on my list of things I need for the boat.
1. We have motored to very remote places through twisty canyons that would be almost impossible to sail out of. If the motor for some reason died, Im thinking it would be both difficult and expensive to get a tow (ie, a two vehicle may have to make maybe over a 100 mile round trip - if they could even find you!!!!). So I want to have a backup outboard. Im thinking something like a 2-3 hp long shaft which could be stored in the Laz.
2. I dont know how much the lake level can fluctuate overnight but in the past, we have been almost sitting on top of a sand bar during the night. The water ballast boat has a nice feature that if you have electric air pump, you can blow the ballast out. I think if you had this along, you could get off any sandbar.
At least a few other people on this board have taken trips to Lake Powell - maybe will also add info.
Note, this last trip, I took about 17 gallons of gas with me. My boat with an 8 hp four stroke gets about 11 miles per gallon. So I had a range of 187 miles. I went about 125 miles the last trip. There are some marina to get gas - just make sure you know where they are and how far you have to go to get to them.
We have taken a family vacation there for the past two years and I think the whole family really enjoyed the trip. I wish I was there right now. I put up this web page with pictures of our last two trips and it gives some details and pictures of the trip so no need to post again here
http://analogengineering.com/sail/powell/
Also, here is a guide recomended by Blake who also posts to this board. Im going to get this guide.
http://www.lakepowellmaps.com/
Both years we went near the end of June so this is the only time of year I know about. The really great thing about this time of year is the swimming - water temps were in the 81 to 84 degree range. Im fairly sure the spring is windier and by the end of June, its calming down but still some wind. But if your trip is only about sailing, Lake Powell is not the best lake except maybe in the big open areas at the West end. The bad thing about the end of June is all the power boats but this last summer, it wasnt such a problem because of gas prices.
I understand from others who have gone there that it can be windy at night but we never saw this - most likely because of the time of year we were there.
Except for one night, we camped at a different location each night and you will have a new "engineering" challange at each different place you tie up the boat. You pretty much can not anchor because it can be 200 foot deep 10 foot away from the shore. The retractable centerboard and rudder are necessary as one night, you may be almost sitting on a sand bar tied off to shore rocks, the next night floating next to some bushes tied off to the bushes, the next night floating in a cove tied off to rocks and logs. A few long ropes are necessary.
If you like to fish, I think the Bass fishing there would be good as we often would see what looked like water boiling at it would be a big group of Bass (doing what, I dont know).
In the summer, you must have a bimini. This summer, we were able to run both main and jib with the bimini up and this worked nicely.
Im planning on exploring different parts of the lake for the next few summers. At least one of the trips will be to an extremely remote area (way up the San Juan river). Here a couple of additional things on my list of things I need for the boat.
1. We have motored to very remote places through twisty canyons that would be almost impossible to sail out of. If the motor for some reason died, Im thinking it would be both difficult and expensive to get a tow (ie, a two vehicle may have to make maybe over a 100 mile round trip - if they could even find you!!!!). So I want to have a backup outboard. Im thinking something like a 2-3 hp long shaft which could be stored in the Laz.
2. I dont know how much the lake level can fluctuate overnight but in the past, we have been almost sitting on top of a sand bar during the night. The water ballast boat has a nice feature that if you have electric air pump, you can blow the ballast out. I think if you had this along, you could get off any sandbar.
At least a few other people on this board have taken trips to Lake Powell - maybe will also add info.
Note, this last trip, I took about 17 gallons of gas with me. My boat with an 8 hp four stroke gets about 11 miles per gallon. So I had a range of 187 miles. I went about 125 miles the last trip. There are some marina to get gas - just make sure you know where they are and how far you have to go to get to them.