The question of whether Lake Travis will ever fill back up has been
answered in a resounding manner. The fact that Texas is a state that
exists in a permanent state of drought, interrupted by periods of intense
flooding, has been proven once more.
The years of improving the area of the club for our docks, with
amazingly good results, are over. We are back to what our long time
members remember as “normal”. Also gone are the days of being able to
drive up to your dock and not deal with steps. The result of having a full
lake to play on is worth the effort.
During this flooding time, I would like to personally thank two of our
members who assisted Tom Cunningham during the worst of the flood.
Ryan Harden and Tom Lappin spent the night of the Turnback Canyon
party helping Tom with the huge task of letting out the cables on our
docks . These are the types of volunteers that make the Austin Yacht
Club such a great place. All of our membership benefits from their
actions.
The work on restoring the harbor with better access will be continuing
for a time. We have plans to add two access points with metal stairways,
one of which may be able to be installed before the end of the year.
These changes will provide our docks with the access improvements
that the LCRA has been asking us to make for a number of years.
Lakeside Marine has done a great job in keeping our club usable during
the past few weeks and helping us to develop a much more accessible
dock complex.
The Roadrunner Regatta and USODA Mid American Championship and
Texas Junior Laser Championship was held on the June 20-21 weekend.
Once again the Roadrunner team, led by Jeff Brock and Stefan Froelich,
did an outstanding job of planning and executing our largest event in
several years with participants from all over the country. It was great to
see how the Austin Yacht Club can host a major event and do it so well.
Having Lake Travis back to its full size has increased the interest in folks
who are not members coming out to see what it looks like. This has
caused us to make a more visible No Public Access sign on our gate. If
you see someone who may not be a club member, please go and
introduce yourself, and be sure they have a reason to be at the club.
We want to be a friendly and welcoming place, but we do not need to
have uninvited guests who might not treat our club as well as our
members do.
So, if you have had the excuse that the lake is so low you can’t launch
your boat, or any of a number of other excuses, come on back to the club
and enjoy yourself. Things may be a bit busier than they have been, but
joining in the fun is the best way to make being a member even more
enjoyable.
