Winter at Lake Havasu

2

2taylorscotts

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Jun 14, 2012
23
oday 272LE Lake Petenwell
After a record breaking spell of below zero winter we've contemplated trailering our O'Day 272LE someplace warmer next year for a month or so. Lake Havasu looked like a possibility. We'd look at mid-Jan to mid-Feb, maybe later but no earlier.
Any comments on the idea and possibly affordable accommodations for the boat and on shore for the First Mate would be appreciated.

Thanks
Think Spring, it's been below Zero continuously for about a month!

Scotty
S/V Spirit
Barnum Bay Yacht Club
Nekoosa, WI
 
azguy

azguy

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Aug 23, 2012
337
Catalina 22 Lake Pleasant
Look at Lake Pleasant in Phoenix, perfect weather, a large cruising fleet and you are only 30 minutes from the entire Phoenix metro area. Plus, being on a trailer you could head up to Lake Roosevelt for a week too.
 
walt

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
Lake Havasu would be a great place to spend some time in the winter. The sailing event down there has attracted a number of retired pocket cruisers who either come down in an RV or rent a house and put the boat in a slip at the Lake Havasu marina. The one month part of what you want to do may be a little difficult because if the demand is up, I know at least the house rentals will try and rent for three months before they comit on a month - and almost all the available houses get three month contracts. However, seasonal rental is fairly inexpensive, you can find good places for as low as 1100 - 1500/month. A slip rents for under 200/month. Ive heard it called "sumer camp for seniors" during the winter, seems to fit fairly well.

There are a number of rental property managers that you can find by google. Here is one that I know http://www.lakehavasucityrentals.com/inventory/

Some pictures Ive taken there are below. The sailboat shots were taken during the HPPC event which is taking a break this year but should be back next Feb.

Im a little biased - I plan to spend the winters there as soon as I can..

http://analogengineering.com/havasu/sail.html
http://analogengineering.com/havasu/kayak.html
http://analogengineering.com/havasu/sonoran.html
http://analogengineering.com/havasu/havasu.html
 
2

2taylorscotts

.
Jun 14, 2012
23
oday 272LE Lake Petenwell
Questions:
Any recommendations on marinas?
How would you describe the weather there in Jan/Feb?
How "busy" is it on the water that time of year?
 
walt

walt

.
Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
I don’t live there so this could be off..

Lake Havasu is a long lake with a wide spot in the middle. The wide spot is maybe 2 miles by 4 miles and the town of Lake Havasu is built around that wide spot. The island along with the London Bridge is at the S. end of the wide spot and the Lake Havasu marina is just a little south of the bridge on the island. http://www.lakehavasumarina.com/ The marina opens up to Thomson bay which is where a lot of the sailing takes place - if you like to sail with other boats. Winter is the off season so there are usually lot of slips available and this is the marina I’ve always used, its a nice marina (single boat per slip berth), nice folks run it. There are a few other marinas around the lake which I don’t know anything at all about.

Temps.. I think in the middle of winter, you will see a lot of mid 70's F, mid 50's at night sunny low humidity days. Pleasant weather.. Surprisingly a lot of plants in bloom then.

Crowded.. the water in the Colorado river comes from "deeper" in the upstream lakes so is fairly cold - I guess in the 50'sF during the winter months. So it’s off season for boating and during the winter and from my perspective mostly sailing in CO, it’s not at all crowded. You might go out for a day and see 10 boats total. Somedays even less. I would think Nov - Feb would be the best for almost having the lake to yourself. As you get into the warmer months, the power boat activity picks up especially on the weekends but I still never think its that bad compared to the pond I sail in Denver (concentrates all the boats in one spot). I avoid Havasu for any of the big summer weekends although even then I know of a couple places to launch a kayak where it would still be very quiet - its a big lake.
 
C

CaptDon01

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Nov 19, 2008
2,129
Catalina C-22 MK-II Parrish, FL
Great set of photos. Looking forward to HPCC 2015!

Thanks for sharing,

Don
 
S

StinkBug

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Dec 26, 2012
359
MacGregor 25 San Diego
If you're coming all the way from Wisconsin why not go all the way to the coast? San Diego Bay is beautiful and has plenty to see and do and places to stay. You could also take a sail over to Catalina and enjoy the island life for a while. If I were gonna tow my boat that far, I'd want to do some serious sailing to make it worth the effort. There's no lake as big as the pacific :)
 
monkeybars

monkeybars

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Dec 8, 2007
303
-mac 26M -26M tucson-san carlos mx
easy answer, because theres noway san diego can even compare to the 85 degree weather at havasu this coming weekend and you have clean clear water versus that icecold e coli infested soup called the pacific.
 
walt

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
San Diego is on the list and looks like a great thing to do. I sort of look at the difference as San Diego is a good place to go for 3 to 10 days. Lake Havasu is a great place to go for 90 days (with maybe a trip to San Diego during that 90 days).

Ive been going to Havasu since the height of the recesion and have noticed that as the economy has improved, it also has attraced more morons with extremely loud power boats. But the morons seem to only come out on very warm windless days. I was there last week, the Saturday during Presidents day weekend was somewhat obnoxious. But very pleasant all the other days.

Some pictures from this trip
 

Attachments

2

2taylorscotts

.
Jun 14, 2012
23
oday 272LE Lake Petenwell
Thank you one and all for the personal insights, pictures and websites. Her majesty The Admiral has reviewed each and every one, returning favorable opinions. I like what I see, so it will remain in the open file.
To StinkBug, SanDiego, Been there-done that! But not on a trailer. Arrived almost exactly this day, several years ago, after a seven day run down the coast from SanFrancisco o/b my son's 36ft ketch. It was a hoot! He now has a 65ft wooden schooner in the San Juans so maybe I'll get to do it again.
 
S

StinkBug

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Dec 26, 2012
359
MacGregor 25 San Diego
monkeybars said:
easy answer, because theres noway san diego can even compare to the 85 degree weather at havasu this coming weekend and you have clean clear water versus that icecold e coli infested soup called the pacific.
Click to expand
It's been in the 80s at my house for a couple weeks now, and I dont swim in any water if I can avoid it. Fish have sex in there you know.
 
Kermit

Kermit

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Jul 31, 2010
5,657
AquaCat 12.5 17342 Wateree Lake, SC
The wife fish said to the husband fish, "All you ever think about is spawn, spawn, spawn."
 
walt

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,511
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
The video in the link below was made in 2013 and was recently put up on youtube. Its of the Havasu sailing event in Feb 2013 so has a bunch of content personal to that event (which was a great thing to do) but it also has some great sailiing video showing a lot of different types of small trailer sailing pocket cruiser boats - which was great to check out. One section near the end has all those boats sailing under the London Bridge - the larger sailboats barely fit!! I have had the DVD of this (same as what is on youtube) for a while now and have almost wore it out..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJRRu1unI18
 
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