HAZARDS of Sailing at LOW WATER LEVELS

Sailing any sailboat at low water levels presents a challenge but sailboats with kickup centerboards are far less suseptible to damage from underwater hazards than boats with fixed keels and boats with daggerboards e.g. Matilda 20's, Macgregor 26D's and Sandpipers.
 Imagine hitting the above stump at speed. You will not only come to an ABRUPT STOP but you also risk damaging your craft. A daggerboard trunk could suffer catastrophic damage and the boat would have to be removed from the water as soon as possible or sinking could occur.At least a keelboat could survive such an impact with less damage.
If you are lucky, you may only run aground in one of the many shallow areas of the lake. With a daggerboard, you can retract the daggerboard and hopefully carry on with no damage. But with a keelboat, you may have to suffer the embarassment of enlisting the help of a fellow boater to pull you off the low area.

Also be wary of crossing the launch ramp area as you may encounter the raised edge of the launch ramp.

 

The above photo is taken from the bridge at the lower end of the lake showing some of the many tree stumps that litter the lake bottom and present a real hazard at low water.

 

 

This photo was taken Oct 12/2012 of stump located approx 100' offshore from the northwest corner of the WSC bay.

 

This is the WSC bay taken Oct 12/2012