New Orleans Sailing, the Lake or the Mississippi River?
March 3rd, 2008 categories: Lakefront, New Orleans Origionals
Lake Pontchatrain, in my mind, is the best metropolitan sailing venue in the country. Sure the Chesapeake is beautiful, but unless you live in mega-buck Annapolis, there is a two hour drive between you and your boat. If you live anywhere but Uptown, the Lake is a bike ride from your home, bike as in Schwinn, not Harley.
Because the Lake is immediately north of the city, it is a sailor’s paradise. The prevailing winds here are out of the south, so we Lake sailors have great wind and minimal waves. Today was an awesome example, winds south, southeast at 20 knots and there was not a ripple on the water as we zipped along about a half mile off the beach.
For cruisers, there are trips across the lake to overnight in one of the bayou anchorages. For racers, there are races one night each week and on the weekend. For the more adventerous in the group, the Lake feeds right into the Mississippi Sound and the Gulf.
This is one thing I want to learn to do one day, and I never really thought about Lake Pontchartrain as a place to sail – not sure why. It’s a shame I don’t live in New Orleans!
Amber, thanks for the response to our New Orleans Condo Trend site. If you are interesting in learning to sail, there is a company called “The Annapolis Sailing School.” They have locations all around the country. We met one of their boats in Tampa. The people said the instructor sailed with them all day teaching sailing and each night docked them in a different marina, secured the boat and left them in privacy for the evening. Sounds like a neat way for some friends to learn to sail.
Jack