Joys of Trailer-Sailing! New lake adventure: Lake Ouachita

Yes, the real joys of trailer-sailing is getting the opportunity to experience other lakes & areas, maybe, someday, even oceans!

    

This trip we took S/V Firefly and crew to Lake Ouachita, outside of Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. Hot Springs is actually my hometown. I was born there and lived a few years there as a boy, but even when we moved to Benton, I spent most of my childhood there at the many lakes around the area.

Lake Ouachita is the largest, it's connected by damn to Lake Hamilton (no offense to those who love it, but it's a crummy over crowded lake with too many homes and rude boaters for my taste), which is in turn connected to a small little lake called Catherine. South of that is one of my favorite lakes DeGray Lake. I had my first sailboat, a 1982 Catalina 25 named S/V Lucky Star, there for 7 years at Iron Mountain Marina and enjoyed the company of the Iron Mountain Yacht Club.




We launched from Brady Mountain Resort's Corp owned boat ramp. Low day rates, plenty of parking and space to set up our rig. Restrooms and a launching dock make the job a little easier. Although we did encounter a few unruly power boaters, most there were friendly and very interested in seeing a little sailboat!

Once out on the water we motored out to discover very little wind, but my iPhone app "Sailflow" said it was coming later in the afternoon and this was a good time to teach the crew a bit more about the boat, sailing and tell them stories of growing up coming to the lake.

Sunscreen is a must, as is a beer while we ghost along (hey! I'm not drivin' the boat, I'm just giving orders!).

The Girls took to the helm and sail while we were ghosting.

Stacey at the helm.

"Is there ANY wind?"

After dropping sail, Corey got this shot of
"a boy and his boat" while we motored to a cove.

We decided to find a cove to swim and after discovering all my favorite ones were taken, we finally settled in to enjoy some swimming for a little while.

When I spotted some wind coming up, we headed out and caught a growing breeze in the 6kts range topping out about 15kts at one point! Stacey really hit her stride helming during some gusts! Rachel decided to try out "the Chair" to stay out of the sun for a little bit.

Now that's a smile only some spirited sailing can produce!!

Sailing around a bit more, Corey took the helm in between her job as bow/rail meat (helps to balance the rig while sailing... really, it does!!). Rachel was enjoying "the Chair" so much... well, you see!

Then, time for a little more swimming before having to head back to load up and go home.

I think it was a pretty good trip, although the wind brought with it some storms heading our way cutting short our trip. He decided to head into Hot Springs and meet up with Stacey's mom for some excellent Mexican food at Don Juan's.