Author Topic: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area  (Read 26878 times)

Night Wing

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #15 on: June 13, 2016, 07:47:37 PM »
@ford

I've been looking at some YouTube videos and I found a short 2:12 video for Clear Lake Park taken from a drone's point of view. On one side of Nasa Parkway I can paddle on Mud Lake and on the other side of Nasa Parkway is Clear Lake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgyCOG4pd8I
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

ford

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #16 on: June 13, 2016, 08:03:52 PM »
Nice!

Everything on that video is the bay side/Clear Lake. It will be choppier and can get busy with boats on the weekends.


I actually just got home around 8:45 from paddling in Mud Lake. I like putting in on that side, then you can paddle under the bridge to get to Clear Lake if you like. It is usually more calm in Mud Lake, but today there was a pretty good wind going. I paddled to the bridge slowly.. and then it was a downwind run back to the docks.

There are floating docks you can put in on the Mud Lake side. Very easy to get in and out of... its a bit of a walk from the parking lot to the docks but nothing major. Well, it felt a bit more major when I got out and the wind was trying to blow me over while carrying my board.

Thanks for sharing the video.


ford

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #17 on: June 13, 2016, 08:06:44 PM »
Just a heads up....I was a police officer in League City before I retired and bounced to NC. Car burglars LOVE those parks to do their shopping so don't leave anything in your ride that you want to keep. They are generally safe in other respects but protect your valuables there.  Be safe

Jake


Thanks! I had heard that before from a friend who is a current League City police officer. (His name is Adam Heausler) Yeah, my phone and wallet come with me in a water proof pouch. 

Night Wing

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #18 on: June 14, 2016, 04:05:48 AM »
@ford

I know about boat traffic on the weekends because of Lake Conroe if you get my drift. Because of boat traffic, I'll be paddling on Mud Lake (and maybe Clear Lake) on the week days.

As for the long walk from the parking lot to the floating docks on Mud Lake, that shouldn't be a problem for me since my new custom all carbon 8'11" Hammer should be around 17 pounds in weight.

But just in case, I'll take along my sup Schlepper shoulder strap carrier (and case which goes around my waist when not in use). Which amounts to the old adage of, "Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it".  ;)
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

ford

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #19 on: June 14, 2016, 02:28:40 PM »
I say long walk... it probably isn't more than 50-100 yards depending on where you park.

That board should be pretty manageable!

surfcowboy

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #20 on: June 14, 2016, 10:35:24 PM »
Strange question, but I spend some time back there visiting family and know the area a bit. Why don't any of y'all paddle in the bay or on open water? When I was last in Galveston the onshores were so strong it seemed you could do a pretty solid downwinder across the bay.

Am I missing something about the Gulf that makes it undesirable?

Night Wing

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #21 on: June 15, 2016, 06:01:28 AM »
@surfcowboy

I prefer to paddle where there isn't much boat traffic. When I get my new Hammer, I prefer to paddle in the salt marshes because it is too shallow for boats to bother me. Below is a link to some web cams where you can see some of the places I go to on the Bolivar Peninsula. By clicking on the various web cams, you can see the salt flat marshes behind the cleaning table on the west side of Stingaree Marina. On the northern side of the marina, you can see East Bay. The beach cam is down right now, but is isn't a place with many good waves. Some days, the waves never break until they are three feet from the beach sand.

http://www.cbwebcam.com/

If I'm going to take my Hammer down to the Gulf, I'd rather not paddle out in the open Gulf. Instead I'd rather surf the Hammer since it is designed for both surfing and flat water. The best place to surf my Hammer and the closest place with good surf for me is usually at Surfside, Texas. It usually takes me, when I leave my home for Surfside, about 2 1/2 hours for the drive. So I leave my home at 4am and get to Surfside Jetty County Park at around 6:30am.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #22 on: June 15, 2016, 08:42:25 AM »
Since the beach web cam at Crystal Beach is down at the moment, I found another Crystal Beach web cam and you can actually see the Gulf waves on the Bolivar Peninsula are not the best for surfing since this web cam is a streaming one. Once on the page, scroll on down till you see the streaming web cam.

https://www.bolivarpeninsulatexas.com/Webcams/Bluewater-Beach
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

JakeSupNC

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #23 on: June 15, 2016, 07:25:29 PM »


Thanks! I had heard that before from a friend who is a current League City police officer. (His name is Adam Heausler) Yeah, my phone and wallet come with me in a water proof pouch.
[/quote]

I know Adam, he is a great guy. His wife was my oldest daughter's math teacher a few years back. Good people. Be safe out there.


Night Wing

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #24 on: June 16, 2016, 07:02:26 AM »
I'm still in the process of finding some good surfing waves when my Hammer arrives. Today I found a nice streaming web cam at Matagorda, Tx which is not too long of a drive from Surfside, Tx and the cam is showing some very good waves. The web cam refreshes every 8 seconds.

http://www.gomatagorda.com/matagorda-beach-webcam/

After looking at these waves, I'm really going to have to get the "rust off" since the last time I surfed was 50 years ago when I was 16 years old. For the waves at Matagorda, I'm going to have to learn how to surf some large waves pretty quick.

I did manage to find some great YouTube videos of people surfing at Matagorda and these two links are below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg8R8dDwVmk

In the second video below, start looking at the 17 second mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aMI9nvPqmM

 
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

surfcowboy

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #25 on: June 16, 2016, 08:28:28 PM »
Cool, and I hadn't thought about the boat traffic. We don't get much of that out here. And I've seen the Gulf waves. Makes me want to go to Austin ;) my hat is off to y'all who can surf those short period waves.

I would love to do a river cruise over some distance myself. Car shuttling across a big river bend could be cool.

ford

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #26 on: June 24, 2016, 08:34:36 AM »


Thanks! I had heard that before from a friend who is a current League City police officer. (His name is Adam Heausler) Yeah, my phone and wallet come with me in a water proof pouch.

I know Adam, he is a great guy. His wife was my oldest daughter's math teacher a few years back. Good people. Be safe out there.
[/quote]

Ha... small world. We are good friends with the family. My wife teaches in the district at Space Center Intermediate.

Cheers!

ford

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #27 on: June 24, 2016, 08:37:32 AM »
Strange question, but I spend some time back there visiting family and know the area a bit. Why don't any of y'all paddle in the bay or on open water? When I was last in Galveston the onshores were so strong it seemed you could do a pretty solid downwinder across the bay.

Am I missing something about the Gulf that makes it undesirable?

Honestly, I'm just pretty new to the sport and don't know the best places to put in around Galveston. I'm going to check out the Galveston State park paddle trail sometime soon.

I'd love to try a downwinder across Galveston Bay.. but the first couple of times I'd want to be with a group who have done it before. I honestly don't know if there is anyone here doing something like that.


Night Wing

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #28 on: June 24, 2016, 11:32:50 AM »
@ford

Once you get off the ferry on the Bolivar Peninsula, travel about 1 mile until you come to 16th Street. Turn right and go all the way down to the beach and you can park on the beach. There will be a small boat ramp there (next to the North Jetty on 17th Street) and you can sup in the Galveston Ship Channel. I never used the free boat ramp. I used to launch my kayak from the beach next to the free boat ramp. Just stay about 125 yards away from the North Jetty (which people will be fishing on) and you'll be fine.

If you feel adventurous enough, you can paddle on down to the Boat Cut on the North Jetty. There you will see how fast the current can move through the boat cut and you can decide if you want to go through the Boat Cut to the Gulf side of the North Jetty. Just remember, you have to paddle back through the Boat Cut to get back to launching point where you vehicle is parked.

One last place on Bolivar is just a little ways past 16th Street. When you come up Rettilon Rd, turn right, head on down to the beach, turn right on the beach and travel all the way to the edge of the Bird Sanctuary and park there. You'll have the entire Gulf of Mexico in front of you to paddle at your heart's desire.

You can see these places on Google Maps.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

ford

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Re: Houston/Galveston and Surrounding area
« Reply #29 on: June 25, 2016, 12:47:50 PM »
@ford

Once you get off the ferry on the Bolivar Peninsula, travel about 1 mile until you come to 16th Street. Turn right and go all the way down to the beach and you can park on the beach. There will be a small boat ramp there (next to the North Jetty on 17th Street) and you can sup in the Galveston Ship Channel. I never used the free boat ramp. I used to launch my kayak from the beach next to the free boat ramp. Just stay about 125 yards away from the North Jetty (which people will be fishing on) and you'll be fine.

If you feel adventurous enough, you can paddle on down to the Boat Cut on the North Jetty. There you will see how fast the current can move through the boat cut and you can decide if you want to go through the Boat Cut to the Gulf side of the North Jetty. Just remember, you have to paddle back through the Boat Cut to get back to launching point where you vehicle is parked.

One last place on Bolivar is just a little ways past 16th Street. When you come up Rettilon Rd, turn right, head on down to the beach, turn right on the beach and travel all the way to the edge of the Bird Sanctuary and park there. You'll have the entire Gulf of Mexico in front of you to paddle at your heart's desire.

You can see these places on Google Maps.

Gracias!

 


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