Powell
Trip 2007 - canyons near Bullfrog
Powell
Trip 2010 Bullfrog to Good Hope Bay and Hite
For the past few years, we have towed a trailerable 26 foot sailboat
from Denver to Lake Powell and spent about five days each trip exploring
different sections of the lake. The sailboat is a 1990 Macgregor "26S" (sailboat
version with 8 hp outboard) and has both a retracting centerboard and rudder
which are
necessary at this lake because you never know what sort of camp site your
going to get. In general, the lake has very steep shores so traditional (anchor
and rode) anchoring is
almost never an option.
Each trip, we did over 100 miles of exploring on the lake. The sailboat
speed motoring is a "blistering" 6 mph and this seems to be a nice pleasant
speed to take in the mile after mile of just spectacular canyon views.
In general, we spent each night at a different spot on our journey and
towed kayaks which were used to explore side canyons. We also spent a LOT
of time in the low 80's F water.
Sailing at Lake Powell? Because of the steep canyons, Lake Powell is
not a great place to sail. However, its certainly a pleasant place to motor
sail. In 2008, the bimini (i.e., shade over the cockpit area) on the old
Macgregor was modified so that both the main and the jib could be flown
with the bimini up. We were generally on some sort of journey on any given
day and in some cases, the canyon would be oriented for reasonable sailing.
However, at the next bend, the canyon may be oriented for direct headwind
- but no problem - the motor is running. . Every once in a while, you can
also hook up with a very cool situation where the upper air flow is cross
wise to the canyon and as the upper flow reaches the lee side the canyon,
some of the wind goes straight down and then opposite to the upper flow
when the wind reaches the water. So you can sail right next to the canyon
wall with a nice breeze appearing to come pretty much straight out of the
canyon wall.
Other Lake Powell Links
Sumner and Ruths Lake Powell Trips
Venture Club (San Diego Ca) Lake
Powell picture albums
Powell
Trip 2008 Bullfrog to the Escalante River
Powell
Trip 2009 Bullfrog to Rainbow Bridge then up the San Juan river
SOAZ paddlers club - North end trip report