Sailing Lake Medina in mid December 2006

Jack invited us to go sailing in his 1965 Flying Scot, so we met at Joe's Place. Medina Lake was down about 30 feet when we went sailing in December of 2006. The dam was built in 1911-12, part of a plan to irrigate farmland downstream in the Catroville and Lacoste area. When full Lake Medina covers about 5,575 acres, has a length of 18 miles, a maximum width of three miles, and 110 miles of shoreline. It is often not "full" to the spillway, much of the water recharges the Edwards Aquifer and feeds the canal system to the farmers, and it is also a source of drinking water for the nearby San Antonio area. This video was taken with the Panasonic PV-GS35 Sailing Video Index Medina Lake video, small version, 17 MB Medina Lake video, broadband, 100 MB Most of the land around the lake is privately owned, and there has been some controvesy about the ownership of the land from 1072', the height of the spillway, and 1084', the top of the dam. Many people have built homes in this elevation over the years. Medina Lake Map Medina Lake Map Satellite View

Access to Medina Lake is limited. We launched at Joe's Place and Marina just north of the dam. Because of the low lake level, their ramp almost almost but not quite reached the water and was very steep, we had to use 4 wheel drive to pull the boat out. We were just able to keep Jack's truck on the concrete. Next door at Red Cove the ramp went into the water, so more people were launching there. Pebble Beach seemed to also have a good ramp, but that's a private subdivision. The county park at the end of Park Road 37 has a good ramp, but it was about a foot out of the water and has a drop off. It is possible to launch from the gravel next to the ramp, but I'd want 4 wheel drive and apparantly only open on the weekends. We didn't make it to Pop's Place, between Pipe Creek and Lakehills, off FM 1283 on Alamo Beach Road, but we heard it was nice with two lane boat ramp, sandy beach instead of rock, and camping.