Any lakes around?

okgirl

Hi there, I have just purchased a new speed boat and while the plan is to take it out in the sea I would also like to go to a few lakes. Does anyone know of any good lakes where speed boat(water skiing) are allowed. I am living on the east coast, Wicklow direction. All suggestions welcome.

JamesM

You are certainly not allowed on Blessington Lakes, but I believe that there is a waterski club at Golden Falls.
Jim.

mathew

watch out for random rocks in a lake. Make sure you know it well before you go speeding around it. The last thing you want is to destroy your hull or engine.

okgirl

JamesM wrote:

You are certainly not allowed on Blessington Lakes, but I believe that there is a waterski club at Golden Falls.
Jim.

thanks for that Jim, we actually went out on Sun to check out Golden Falls but couldn't find them. Big hangovers didn't really help our lake finding skills and we called it a day. Where abouts are they?

JamesM

They are in Ballymore Eustace. See their website: http://iwsf.ie/clubs/golden/aboutus.php

I am not sure if you can just drive around and ski when you want. I think that it is all organised.
You could go somewhere like Dromineer on Lough Derg - lots of open water to practise on.
Jim.

okgirl

JamesM wrote:

They are in Ballymore Eustace. See their website: http://iwsf.ie/clubs/golden/aboutus.php

I am not sure if you can just drive around and ski when you want. I think that it is all organised.
You could go somewhere like Dromineer on Lough Derg - lots of open water to practise on.
Jim.

JamesM, thanks for that. Will look into it. But I do think this little boat is gonna spend most of its future life in the salty water. It's so much handier for us although the lakes/river is defo better. Maybe a trip to Lough Derg in the near future. Tent inc.

Ta again.:)

Diemos

Don't just turn up at golden falls with your boat, the people who are water skiing are going to be thrown off by the wake from your boat if you drive too close to them, its really rude.

Go down and chat to the guys there and ask them what areas you can drive your boat on the lake without annoying them. I don't know anyone at the club but I'm sure they'd appricaite the gesture and help in anyway they could.

[*edit*] Just read the website and it says that the lake is private, so looks like you ar outta luck on that one.

Eascha

does anyone know if its possible to take a small sailing dinghy out on blessington lake? Or does anyone know of another lake near Dublin where this is possible?

thanks

JamesM

Eascha wrote: »

does anyone know if its possible to take a small sailing dinghy out on blessington lake? Or does anyone know of another lake near Dublin where this is possible?

thanks

You can join Blessington Sailing Club www.blsc.ie or get a permit from the ESB.
Do not just go down and launch :eek: There is an ESB warden who will hunt you down in his RIB
If you are serious about doing much sailing on the lake, the Club is in a beautiful location and has full facilities - but does not re-open until late March.
As far as I know there are no public lakes close to Dublin. You could try Broadmeadows - inland but salty, near Swords / Malahide.
Jim.

Eascha

Thanks for the tip, as im scouting around for a possible sailing club to join. The website doesn't say anything about training which is a factor for me, but im sure a quick email will sort that out

cheers!

JamesM

There was a school based at Blessington SC, but it didn't work out. There is training for juniors, and I believe that the Club may be organising training for adult members this year. Members are friendly and will always advise and help if they can.
Jim.

Screaming Monkey

As JamesM said there is the Broadmeadows/Estuary in Malahide,
It has public access at the malahide end (no motor craft allowed), lots of windsurfers when the wind is good, its also nice and shallow in places, ideal for sailing.

At the Swords end of the Estuary, were doing un-offical sunday sailing.
Its cold, weather dependant, non-racing, but we had around 7 boats out last Sunday, fun times had by all.

http://www.swordssailing.com/html/about_us.htm