I'll ask this question of you Fla sailors.. Best town to buy real estate in that has killer beach access? (Mast up storage?) We are already ruling out Naples (Home for the holidays for us now) as we don't have several million to pony up for beachfront. We heard from a couple on our beach that Sarasota is an option. I'd be interested in your thoughts.

The wife is agitating to start looking but we want a cat friendly area.

Dunedin/Clearwater is cat Mecca! protected intra coastal waters, gulf of Mexico, loads of sun, etc... etc. Coast guard station in Clearwater bay, tons of islands to explore / picnic / camp on... very nice people (myself excluded, everyone knows i am an jerk)... etc

Closeset mast up storage is only available at the Clearwater sailing center and its gonna hurt... $1200 (ish) for a family account and storage. It is about 7 miles south (via the water) of where we put in (dunedin causeway) and about 15 miles via the road. you go past clearwater beach and it is on Sand Key...

That being said, they are allowing us (with a permit) to keep our cats on the causeway 2 nights a week.. makes for good weekends..

There is mast up storage on the east coast at Delray. But the surf is much rougher over there... i wouldn't want to sail there.. but there are those that love it....

As far as Sarasota.. i think the only place with mast up on the west coast south of here (excluding private property) is at Gulfport Yacht Club (St Pete/Boca ciaga bay) but i still say Dunedin!!! If you are a serious racer GYC is probably good for you.. if you are a cruiser.. it is a bit land locked in a bay (i hear) and i still prefer Dunedin...



edited by: andrewscott, Oct 13, 2009 - 05:30 PM

I've seen boats on the beach in Sarasota out on Siesta Key, but I think they know the owner/renters of the beach house. It is protected by sandbars so the waves are manageable. Lauderdale by the Sea has a city owned beachcat storage area and ramp near Las Olas and A1A. I've tried to inquire on the price through the local hobie fleet there; they directed me to the city (Fort Liquordale), but they never called me back.

--
Flightlead Bimare F18 HT SpaceCoast
--

Delray Beach, Florida, is on the Atlantic side in South Florida just South of Palm Beach and North of Boca Raton. Just perfect sailing, beautiful clear, clean water, 98% of the time onshore breezes. Very quite beach town. Voted one of the best towns in the country. MAST UP STORAGE $200 PER YEAR, and that includes use of beach wheels. Send me an email and I will send you photos.

My family has had an condo in Boynton (town north of Delray) for over 30 years now and i have been going there most of my life. I personally think the landscaping in that part of the state is much greener/nicer than the tampa / clearwater area but... there is nothing better (IMHO) than a sunset on the gulf...

Delray has a beautiful beach, and Ocean Blvd/A1A (along the beach is amazing) but like most of florida .. 2 blocks away is pretty rough...

I thought we were speaking of Beach Cat Towns, if you wish to speak of sunsets, I lived on Maui for 7 years, watch a sunset there with humpback whales in the view as well.

Quote

I lived on Maui for 7 years, watch a sunset there with humpback whales in the view as well.

sounds wonderful... but this is my heaven (taken from my boat 2 weeks ago as i was about to pull onto an island for 3 days of camping)

and there is this one:
clearwater beach, people gathering to watch a pod of dolphins feast for 1/2 hour. you can see them past all the people

I have to agree with Andrew, but I may be a bit bias on this one, cause I have lived here my whole life (except for college). The Suncoast of Florida ranks as some of the top beaches in the world with its powered sugar white sand. There are plenty of out of doors activities to do.

I have traveled all over the world for work, and there are no sunsets as beautiful as the ones here.

But thats not what we are talking about. This is about beach cat towns...

The couple of times I have sailed the east coast of FL, the biggest problem is the Atlantic can be pretty rough for launching right off the beach. There is an inter coastal on the east coast, but when i sailed it there is a lot of traffic, bridges, and it tends to be more narrow than on the West coast.

In this area (Clearwater/Dunedin) our inter coastal area to sail is about a 1 mile wide. Its pretty free from bridges. The next one south is about 5.25 miles. Then next one is 3 miles further south. From the same launching spot you can see and sail out into the Gulf for when you get more experience and more daring (that comment was for the noobs). The Gulf offers new challenges, but there are also islands out there to sail too. The Gulf isnt as rough as the Atlantic either. Most day it 1-2 foot sees, really rough its 2-3 foot. It its worse than that, then we just stick to the inter coastal.

We have a good cat sailing community here, as well as other sailing. Most people watch out for each other. The three times I capsized this summer, I never had to right by myself, or was down for more than 5 min. Each time (shame) passing motor boater stopped and helped, by pulling the tip of the mast out just enough to get it up. Even when I de-masted at 5P on a week night, a boater noticed, and was towing us in within 5 min.

The inter coastal has small islands to explore, and as Andrew mentioned, camp on over night. I have never done it, but I always envy the guys who camp out all weekend on the inter coastal islands. I see them out there with their campfires and all the boats. Looks like fun.

Wow. Lots of info here. Thanks guys.

We have my in laws at John Knox Village "Fort Knox" in Pompano so we'll take a look at Delray/Boynton this December. Clearwater looks great too. Not a huge fan of the West Palm / Lauderdale area though.

Larry

In the 70s Biscayne Bay had a beach right next to the SEAQUARIUM, I am up in JAX now, lookin but not findin much but Hugenot park

--
1976 Prindle 16, Sailing since 1969, Retired Chief USCG, Disabled Vet, Father of 3 great daughters!
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Delray Beach is a far cry from West Palm Beach or Ft Lauderdale. One of the few small Florida beach towns left, very clean and neat good restaurants and UNCROWDED BEACHS.

lawrencer2003

Wow. Lots of info here. Thanks guys.

We have my in laws at John Knox Village "Fort Knox" in Pompano so we'll take a look at Delray/Boynton this December. Clearwater looks great too. Not a huge fan of the West Palm / Lauderdale area though.

Larry

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Delray Beach is a far cry from West Palm Beach or Ft Lauderdale.

You must not be able to cry loud.. its only 2 towns away :)

(but yes, also worlds away)

I use to windsurf off delray beach, they have that nice area for unloading gear. That's about the easiest place to launch from that I can remember. And yes, great places to eat, people watch, and car watch. When we moved to Boca a couple years ago, we went to delray for dinner the first night. Saw 3 lambos within 30 minutes. Also some real nice vintage stuff...like and orange and blue gt40 (probably not a real one...but nice)

Oh, and everyone speaks English there...not like Miami-Ft. Laud



edited by: Nick1224, Oct 22, 2009 - 08:40 AM

BUT... also keep in mind Delray is like most city/towns in FL and they have VERY bad parts. 25 years ago we used to kid that the "Stop and Go" (congress and lake ida rd) should be called "Stop and Stab"

Andrew, you need to ammend your comment, it should be that ALL CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE UNITED STATES have very bad parts, including the one that you live in, not just Florida or the East coast of Florida. I promise you that you also have A STOP AND STAB section in your town.

andrewscott

BUT... also keep in mind Delray is like most city/towns in FL and they have VERY bad parts. 25 years ago we used to kid that the "Stop and Go" (congress and lake ida rd) should be called "Stop and Stab"

Quote

Andrew, you need to ammend your comment, it should be that ALL CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE UNITED STATES have very bad parts

Yes, most cities and towns have bad parts.. but i think it is much more obvious / prevalent here (Florida) than other places in the states i have lived/visited. And i have found it usually is not mansions on 1 street and projects 2 blocks away.. like i see here in FL

I could give many examples but see no need... just my opinion here

This is a pretty exciting post for somebody like me to find!!!

I am currently going to school in Houghton Mi (300+ in snow /yr) and will be moving to Fort Pierce FL in Dec. I have never traveled in FL (ever), but none the less I am pretty excited about the move (I think windsurfers about 5 years younger than I typically use the word "stoked"). Either way my wife, just just out of college with an MS this summer got a job in the area and has already moved to FL. I will be finished with school in December and will be joining her then. She is living right off A1A on S. Hutchenson Is in FT Pierce, there are two public beaches within a block from our house, with one on the Atlantic side, and the other in the innercoastal (thats moving up from college student living standards)!

I guess that is a pretty good lead in to why I just purchased a beach cat... although I guess technically it was an "even trade" for my 21' swing keel monohull.

I digress. I would be interested to know more info about both the immediate area, as well as about some of the other areas of FL. I guess from the point of view if you didn't know anything about the state and wanted to take some weekend trips (sailing, windsurfing, camping, outdoor adventure type people). Being from Michigan I dream of the Keys as a vacation destination, and probably an excellent cat sailing area (True / False). I've heard good things about the Clearwater area before, and I have extended family near Sarasota. Any other recommendations / opinions?

Thanks,
Brandon

P.S. I'm not going to lie, I don't really see any sunset in the pictures you posted Andrew!!!

I think I remember you saying you knew where Houghton Mi was, hopefully that means you've visited in the summer when the sun sets at 10:30pm? Now those are sunsets! Although you would never find a picture with the sunset and people in the water! Also no dolphins in Lake Superior.





edited by: btrouse, Oct 25, 2009 - 04:50 PM