Lakes around the Metroplex
- Thread starter JohnnyMac
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Hi Jhonny
I am at lake Ray Hubbard. Not a big lake but we do have 40 footers in all of the marinas. I moved here from Boston and I was amazed at the large ocean going sailboat sitting in the marinas. I am in the center of Dallas and I am 20 minutes from my boat. We go out a lot during the middle of the week and we sail at night in the summer time to avoid the heat. I have a 38' slip at Bayview marina and my rent is $235 a month. Texhoma is a much larger lake but it is more than an 1 1/2 hours away and that makes it a weekend trip.
I am at lake Ray Hubbard. Not a big lake but we do have 40 footers in all of the marinas. I moved here from Boston and I was amazed at the large ocean going sailboat sitting in the marinas. I am in the center of Dallas and I am 20 minutes from my boat. We go out a lot during the middle of the week and we sail at night in the summer time to avoid the heat. I have a 38' slip at Bayview marina and my rent is $235 a month. Texhoma is a much larger lake but it is more than an 1 1/2 hours away and that makes it a weekend trip.
Welcome. I too am at Bayview marina at Lake Ray Hubbard. I come from Ct by way of Oklahoma. I was on a lake in Ok and it is a hidden jewel of a sailing lake. I'm into leisure sailing. I liked the size of Texoma, but the time/traffic (cars and motorboat/chop) it was the worst option. Then I looked at lake Lewisville. This is where "Mistico" came from and I wasn't to impressed. Relatively small with lots of power/speed boats with lots of chop. That was ruled out. So we found Lake Ray Hubbard and once I saw it was cut in half by a bridge ( sometimes a car traffic problem) with smaller power boats and skiers to one side and the other seemed more for sailing and larger power boats. It peaked my curiosity. What sold me was there is little variation +-1ft in the depth although last year a drought and the lake dropped 4 feet, still sailable though. Lake Ray Hubbard is a City owned reservoir. Other lakes were almost dry with little to no activity during the drought. There are four marinas on Hubbard, I rated them beer, cocktails, and champagne. Bayview I rate the cocktail marina. While the fourth was more for racing and is home to a world class racer on the south end of the lake near the Dam. The lake is what I consider not very active, as I come from the CT shore on Long Island Sound. There are always sailboats on the lake and at times it gets pretty busy, and there's more than enough room so you don't get swamped by powerboaters in peak times.
Once we narrowed our choice as to where to put the boat, we looked for a house, So we moved to Rockwall (23 miles E of Dallas on I-30). I liked Ray Hubbard enough to buy a home here and I can see the marina/boat from the house. I first found the lake, then the marina, and then found the house near the lake, if thats of any consequence.
My home is for sale so if you are interested I'll make you a deal. I want to move into Dallas proper.
Keep it up,
Ctskip
Once we narrowed our choice as to where to put the boat, we looked for a house, So we moved to Rockwall (23 miles E of Dallas on I-30). I liked Ray Hubbard enough to buy a home here and I can see the marina/boat from the house. I first found the lake, then the marina, and then found the house near the lake, if thats of any consequence.
My home is for sale so if you are interested I'll make you a deal. I want to move into Dallas proper.
Keep it up,
Ctskip
The lake is small (all things considered) and there's not much to do but sail and drink, swim and party. I, myself, like to sail. Every Wednesday night, 6 pm races, just show up, race, then party on the dock afterwards. For me, one of the most important things I find while sailing is the lack of powerboats buzzing around, leaving their chop and oil slick behind.
While there are few places to go visit like The Harbor for shopping and eating, and the Bass And Pro Shop on the west side with more eating and drinking with docks available. The harbor has concerts every Thursday night from June to Sept. Again, docks available, but you must arrive early, anywhere from 50 to 150 boats for the concerts, 7 PM to 10PM. One of my favorites things to do. I love watching them anchor. It's one of the funniest things I've seen. There are several small coves for anchoring and partying. Bayview Marina has a piano bar with good food and pool tables.
Keep it up,
Ctskip
While Texoma is an hour north of the metroplex, it is considerably larger than Hubbard or any of the other lakes around the Dallas-Ft Worth area. Equally, it is relatively undeveloped, with numerous great anchorages unspoiled by the urban traffic on Hubbard, Lewisville, Lavon, etc. One can sail for days without crossing previous paths. If you want isolation and quiet, it is there. If you want to party hardy, there is more wild life on the islands on summer weekends than most folks can tolerate. There are three major marinas on the Texas side of the lake-all with excellent fuel and manintnance facilities. It make take a few minutes longer to get there, but it is in a world of its own compared to the other metroplex lakes. I can get to Hubbard in half the time, but would not trade it for the quality of sailing.
Texoma is so large that the powerboat traffic has almost no impact (unlike Lewisville). The only time we encounter any powerboat traffic is while exiting and entering our marina on holiday weekends. Most of the powerboat traffic is limited by the short trip many of those folks take between the marinas and the islands. On a nice summer weekend, North Island looks like a Walmart parking lot for powerboaters. That leaves the majority of one of the largest inland lakes in the nation to the sailboats. We occasionally have to share some of the nicer coves with a group of large powerboats that raft up for the weekend, but we all get along just fine. The one exception to our quiet time on Texoma is the occasional (no more that twice a year) poker run that brings 50+ huge cigarette boats to blast up and down the length of the lake. Fortunately, that lasts a few minutes, theye spend their $1,000 for the day's fuel (am serious about that), then they head back to the marina to drink the rest of the day.
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