There is a good sailing community on the lake. I found my Catalina 22 one of the smallest sailboats on the lake. Of course there were the typical derelict boats found at any marina, but most were well kept and had been used recently. The fleet included two large Tartans, a 45’ Hanse, and many others. They were BEAUTIFUL.
On my first dock mooring fellow sailors were there to help, and we were immediately one of the family. The hospitality was incredible.
Facilities
Mountain Harbor is a beautiful place. It’s a full service marina with plenty of room for trailer sailors to tie up. There are tons of Highschool helpers that will run, fetch, and tote for a small tip. It’s extremely well managed.
Todd is the marina manager and made me good deal at $15/night.
The ramp is often used for launching huge houseboats that are common here. It was very easy to launch and recover “Boat-Hemian Rhapsody”. I used my trailer extension, but I don’t think I really needed it. The parking lot was large and I was able to position the boat in a shady area for raising and lowering the mast early in the day.
Lodging
The lodging at Mountain Harbor is nice. They have a lodge and cabins for rent. They are expensive, especially during the season, and we didn’t stay there.
We hauled our camper and stayed in a Corp of Engineer campground (Joplin Campground) only 5 minutes away. It was only $16 per night. The campsites only have electric, but have water and a dump onsite.
Sailing
The lake is beautiful. It’s very deep. Depths of 100’ and more are common. There are a couple of islands and one sandbar, but they are easily avoided. It’s best to stay away from the area west of the marina as there are stumps. Nothing to worry about. The lake is huge and there is too much to explore north and east of the marina.
Unfortunately we only had 1 really good day of sailing. The wind didn’t cooperate. It was either dead or on a couple of days it thunder-stormed and we stayed in. We also had some family obligations.
We went out 4 times but had to motor 3 of them. We had access to a ski boat so did that also.
We had a good 800 mile round trip. I appreciated the advice I got on hauling the boat. Now back to Lake Worth..
I highly recommend this as an outing.
On my first dock mooring fellow sailors were there to help, and we were immediately one of the family. The hospitality was incredible.
Facilities
Mountain Harbor is a beautiful place. It’s a full service marina with plenty of room for trailer sailors to tie up. There are tons of Highschool helpers that will run, fetch, and tote for a small tip. It’s extremely well managed.
Todd is the marina manager and made me good deal at $15/night.
The ramp is often used for launching huge houseboats that are common here. It was very easy to launch and recover “Boat-Hemian Rhapsody”. I used my trailer extension, but I don’t think I really needed it. The parking lot was large and I was able to position the boat in a shady area for raising and lowering the mast early in the day.
Lodging
The lodging at Mountain Harbor is nice. They have a lodge and cabins for rent. They are expensive, especially during the season, and we didn’t stay there.
We hauled our camper and stayed in a Corp of Engineer campground (Joplin Campground) only 5 minutes away. It was only $16 per night. The campsites only have electric, but have water and a dump onsite.
Sailing
The lake is beautiful. It’s very deep. Depths of 100’ and more are common. There are a couple of islands and one sandbar, but they are easily avoided. It’s best to stay away from the area west of the marina as there are stumps. Nothing to worry about. The lake is huge and there is too much to explore north and east of the marina.
Unfortunately we only had 1 really good day of sailing. The wind didn’t cooperate. It was either dead or on a couple of days it thunder-stormed and we stayed in. We also had some family obligations.
We went out 4 times but had to motor 3 of them. We had access to a ski boat so did that also.
We had a good 800 mile round trip. I appreciated the advice I got on hauling the boat. Now back to Lake Worth..
I highly recommend this as an outing.