I have a family vacation in September and would like to sail the gulf. Any idea where to launch? I see some launches in St. Andrews Bay. I am working on finding where our condo even is. I was hoping not to spend all my time trying to get to the gulf. I would prefer to launch so i can sail to the family on the beach shore. I dont have cat traxs
Rob
"If at first you do not suceed, well, so much for sky diving"
There isn't much, St. Andrews state park is your best bet close to the gulf. It's expensive though at $16ish by the time you pay to get in and ramp fees. It's also a very unforgiving set-up to cats, it's all sea wall with a rather tight entrance and exit. Plus heavy boat traffic.
My favorite place to launch is the ramp at the gulf coast state college. It's just on the Panama City side of the Hathaway bridge in the west bay. It's free, generally pretty quiet with several hundred yards of smooth beach. No sea wall or rip rap in sight. The ramp is a seamless transition to beach as well. Generally it's a nice broad reach to the pass from there. The downside is that it's 4-5 miles from the pass. Once your through the pass you have over a mile of St. Andrews park to sail by before you get to hotels.
What I recommend is launching from the suggested location and sailing to shell island with your family. You willl have a beautiful and pristine beach all to yourself. Much nicer than PCB and without other people causing problems.
i am staying at the sunrise beach resort. that is about 17.25 miles from the launch (which looks like a great launch). I might have to buy/build some trax. I could drag my boat all the way from the hotel to the shore.
Rob
"If at first you do not suceed, well, so much for sky diving"
How wise is it to leave a boat unattended on Front Beach Road? I would lock/remove any and everything i could. Is there overnight parking? The hotel i am at has a parking garage.
Rob
"If at first you do not suceed, well, so much for sky diving"
rch701 wrote: How wise is it to leave a boat unattended on Front Beach Road?
Not a good idea at all.
Tyler
Panama City, FL
There are many boat storage lots around town, I would think they would be happy to give a weekly rate
Looking at your location on the map, your other option would be to launch in powell lake, sometimes it open to the gulf, sometimes it's not. Either way the jetski guys often drag there stuff over a short stretch of sand there to get into the gulf.
I just got a plastic barrel to make some cat trax. I plan to drag it from the the hotel to the beach. As far as parking goes. I see plenty of hotels with parking lots. I am sure i can talk to management and park there. I will check for boat storage.
Rob
"If at first you do not suceed, well, so much for sky diving"