Exploring Lake Conroe 2
By Eric Comstock #759 (11es 13eo 12ea 12ad 53ar)Hi Shorty,
Bill in #907 (in the foreground) and I went to try sailing at Scott's Ridge, in the Sam Houston National forest, on Lake Conroe a few weeks ago. I was there about a month before on a rainy day to scout it out and it looked like it had some potential.
It turned out to be a VERY windy day. They were predicting 15-25 but I later saw that one local weather station reported gusts of 27.
We agreed to meet out at Scott's Ridge just after Noon. When my son and I arrived, we saw that Bill had already unloaded his boat and was finishing his rigging. I stopped by to say hello, then set about rigging and launching #759. While I was launching, I looked over and saw that bill was "practicing" his Man-Over-board procedure. By the time I was in the water and sailing, Bill was safely ashore. After making sure that he was OK, I set off into the lake.
The wind was strong, gusty and confused. There was a 2' swell rolling into the finger of the lake where Scott's Ridge is located. As long as I stayed close to shore, I could stay out of the roughest of it, but it was still a little choppy. It really wasn't very good sailing weather, but I've been out in worse. We sailed around near shore for a while then headed back in.
Although the weather was not great, I really like the location. The water is wide enough that you can get out away from the tall tree's that line the shore into cleaner air. It is narrow enough that the swells don't have enough room to build to unmanageable sizes. The boat ramp is OK, and there is plenty of parking. There are bathrooms, covered pavilions and even a roped off swimming area. The main draw back is that it is a full hours drive North of downtown Houston.
I'll definitely be going back.
Eric C.
759@PDRHou.com
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