I always enjoy sailing Ray Hubbard, but it's very 'urban'

Posted By: Carl, Horizon Cat/Picnic Cat, Central Texas
Date: 9/7/09 11:03a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Lake Ray Hubbard (pic) (Craig D, Suncat, "Cattitude", Finger Lakes)

The dealer I've bought boats from is there, Inland Sailing. They are more friends than boat dealers at this point, and I get a charge out of visiting. They usually get a charge off my debit card, too... Seriously, Inland Sailing are good folks. There's a Bass Pro with a nice restaurant and docks, and there's at least one marina with a restaurant. The Rush Creek Yacht Club has active racing. They are in a little cove just up from the dam. That's a nice cove to loop through for sightseeing. I've always launched at Captain's Cove marina. The ramps there are workable, and the one to the left as you enter has a seawall with ring cleats. Easy to drift the boat off the trailer and tie up, or to drift the boat on to the trailer. That ramp is buried behind covered docks to one side and land to the other - I've never seen much wind or waves at that ramp. Somebody, drat this juvenile onset CRS I've got, has a Sun Cat at Captain's Cove. The boat is named Riff Raff as I recall, grey hulled with starboard hand rails. I wouldn't sail there today (Labor Day) because that lake gets crowded. If the lake is low there is one really bad obstruction, an old filling station sign that's done some serious damage. Legend has it, just like every other man made lake it seems, that Ray Hubbard filled before they were ready. Bulldozers and stuff like that are said to litter the bottom, and that sign is a hazard. Mind your draft around the jetty there, too. Around the point of the jetty, according to Google Earth at 32 51 07.57 N, 96 32 11.62 W, there are lots of shallows. Once I went from 20 feet to about six real quick and as I turned it just kept getting shallower. I made it out, but it's like there are little box canyons on the bottom there. No big deal, just be aware of shallows there. Your Sun Cat can go right over most of it, but there are places you could drag your rudder, particularly if the lake is low. The ramp I use at Captain's Cove is at 32 51 27.01 N, 96 32 51.29 W. Google Earth will show the docks at the Bass Pro, too, 32 51 53.90 N, 96 32 12.98 W. The other restaurant I've eaten at on the lake is at 32 52 28.43 N, 96 30 45.23 W.