The Ultimate Guide to Sailing in Texas

By theadmin

With 367 miles of coastline; nearly 300 days of reliable wind; and lots of bays, lagoons, and manageable distances to exotic destinations, Texas offers fantastic sailing for beginners and salty skippers alike. And while Texas may not have the crystal-clear waters of Florida or the deep sailing tradition of the northeast, its long coast features barrier islands, protected harbors, lively ports, and its own sailing culture and camaraderie. Whether you’re interested in learning how to sail for the first time, chartering a boat, or simply spending an evening on shore watching a regatta, here’s all you need to know about sailing in Texas.

sailing in Texas

How To Set Sail

Sailing tends to be handed down from generation to generation, and if you haven’t grown up in a sailing family, it can be daunting to figure out how to start. Boats are expensive, sailing is a skill that takes a lifetime to perfect, and sailors speak in jargon that can sound like its own language. But the barrier to entry is not as high as you might think. If you’ve always found something romantic and alluring about a boat pulled across open sea simply by the power of a sail swollen with wind, then take the following simple steps to go from guppy to skipper.

Catch A Race

Many yacht clubs host weekly regattas — a fancy word for a sailing race. Sometimes, regatta participants race their boats along a marked course close enough to shore that you can cheer them on and watch experienced sailors at work. Watching racing lets you see sailing in action. Sailors will snap their sails across their bows as they turn upwind (or tack) or downwind (gybe), each jockeying for position and vying to catch the biggest puffs of wind on their course to victory. Catch these popular races:

  • Texas Race Week, Galveston Island: The Galveston Bay Cruising Association hosts an annual summer offshore race.
  • Sunfish Series, Aransas Bay: The Rockport Yacht Club sponsors a summer series of 2-hour races on Tuesdays.
  • Wednesday Night Races, Galveston Bay: Clear Lake Racing Association hosts regular Wednesday night races in association with the Galveston Bay Cruising Association from April to September.
sailing in Texas
Photo courtesy of Let’s Go Sailing

Take A Course

Dozens of certified sailing schools throughout the state — along the Gulf or on lakes — offer training for every sailor, from beginners to experts and adults to youth. The American Sailing Association (ASA)’s simple and respected program prepares and certifies novices for skippering a boat. As you advance, advanced courses cover ocean passages, celestial navigation, and more. The following Texas schools offer a range of ASA-certified courses:

Photo courtesy of Windward SeaVenture

Charter a Boat

The easiest way to get on a boat without investing in buying your own is to charter. Texas Gulf charterers offer a wide range of sailing experiences. Most provide their own captain, who will take you on day sails, wildlife excursions, fishing adventures, or even sunset dining cruises. Once you complete the ASA’s bareboat chartering course, you may be able to skipper your own boat and sail it to any destination your heart desires.

  • Windward SeaVenture, Kemah: Go on a four-hour cruise with a captain, take a boat out on your own for a day, or rent a boat for a weekend or week. Or enjoy a three-hour private sunset cruise complete with dinner aboard.
  • Sea Star Base, Galveston: This nonprofit’s offerings range from a first-sail program that will get you out on the water to see if you enjoy sailing to keelboat classes and fishing charters.
  • Southern Wave, South Padre Island: Sail to some of Texas’ most pristine shoreline, enjoying a sunset dinner cruise, snorkel trip, or even a special sail to catch holiday fireworks.
  • Handsome Sailor, Aransas Pass: Get a uniquely Texan sailing experience while you spot for birds, dolphins, and coastal wildlife cruising through east Corpus Christi Bay. Take a jaunt out to an offshore rig, or enjoy a sunset cruise past the feeding grounds of pelicans, roseate spoonbills, egrets, and whooping cranes.
Photo by Kenny Braun

Texas Cruising Grounds

Texas’ sailing community is located around a handful of coastal towns whose sailing culture has been nurtured by topography and tradition. Each area offers its own unique appeal for sailors.

Kemah-Clear Lake: The heart of sailing in Texas, thanks to its proximity to populous Houston, is tucked into the northwest corner of Galveston Bay, which offers protection from rough weather and access to Clear Lake. This is considered an ideal learning ground for new sailors. With plenty of marinas, ample boating supply shops, and a rich sailing culture, sailing out of Kemah offers easy access to Galveston Island and the Gulf, as well as plenty to explore around Trinity and East bays.

Galveston: Texas’ original port, while not as protected as inland Kemah, is the perfect place to access further-flung destinations — Cuba, Mexico, or the Caribbean — or to set a course for the offshore Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

Corpus Christi: Famous for its strong and persistent winds — usually 15-20 knots blowing 300 days a year — Corpus Christi offers ideal conditions and year-round sailing. During the scorching-hot summer, a stiff breeze on the water is the perfect way to cool off. The Corpus Christi and Bay yacht clubs hold regular races, and plenty of charter companies provide access to nearby inland bays and lagoons, as well as island hopping down to South Padre.

Port Aransas-Rockport: The sleepy cousin to nearby Corpus Christi hosts well-maintained marinas, a handful of yacht clubs, and marine supply shops. It’s well situated to Texas’ coastal wildlife refuges and sanctuaries and to the Intercoastal Waterway — a long, protected canal that connects the Gulf Coast to Houston.

Photo by Kenny Braun

Top 5 Sailing Destinations

  • Matagorda Bay: Rich with history — Spanish explorers are believed to have first entered this bay in the 1500s — the bay offers fishing, wildlife watching, and plenty of nooks and coves to explore.
  • South Padre Island: South Padre features the Texas Gulf Coast’s most pristine shoreline. Sailing there allows you to explore parts of the island difficult to access by any other means of travel.
  • Aransas National Wildlife Refuge: Sailing around the refuge affords unique waterfront views of one of Texas’ greatest coastal treasures.
  • Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary: Though difficult to access, these unique underwater coral reefs are a scuba diver’s paradise.
  • Double Bayou: About a four-hour sail from Clear Lake, this historical coastal community is a popular destination for sailors exploring the eastern shore of Trinity Bay.
Photo by Kenny Braun

Texas Sailing Weather

Becoming an avid sailor also means becoming something of an amateur meteorologist. Sailors live and die by the weather — sometimes literally. The wind is not only your primary source of power; it also poses the most danger to your vessel. Knowing the weather, preparing for storms, and having the confidence to stay home when conditions aren’t fair are all part of learning good seamanship.

Texas’ sailing weather — like other Texas weather — is a story of extremes. The Gulf offers plenty of wind. It typically blows consistently around 300 days of year. Still early mornings give way to late morning blows, with fair weather winds averaging between 15 and 20 miles per hour along the south Gulf Coast.

The prevailing winds come from the southeast, which makes sailing in Texas more challenging than most places. With southeast winds, leaving harbors usually means heading upwind — or into the wind — the most difficult and uncomfortable point of sail. It also means that once you are offshore, the coast will be to your lee — that is, away from the wind — which will push you toward land. Many sailors adjust by cruising well offshore to avoid any unexpected encounters with rocks, shallow water, or the occasional unmarked oil rig.

Texas’ sailing season wraps up in late summer. That’s because, as every Texan knows, hurricane season can be violent, dangerous, and unpredictable. Even outside of hurricanes, however, smart sailors should watch the forecast for a few days before a planned sail of any length, in case there is risk of inclement weather turning a relaxing day on the water into a dangerous battle against the elements.

Sailboat Safety Tips

  • Know Your Conditions. Check the weather. Avoid storms. Don’t go out in wind conditions that outmatch your skills and comfort level.
  • File a Float Plan. A float plan contains key information about your sail to share with a trusted person on shore. It should include: your destination; boat type, size, and name; number of passengers and names; how long you plan to be out; and at what point authorities should be contacted if you don’t return.
  • Gear Up for Any Scenario. Before a sail, prepare for the worst that could happen. Do you have enough harnesses and life jackets? Are there extra flashlights on board in case your lighting goes out? Do you have flares and a life raft? How will you contact the shore or call for help in the event of an emergency?
  • Stay Aware and Keep Watch. Sailing is fantastic fun, but sailboats can be dangerous. Stay aware at all times, especially of surrounding boat traffic, the rigging and position of the boom, any changes of course or sail trim, the height of the mast and depth of the keel relative to your surroundings, and other people on board. Make sure someone on the boat is keeping watch at all times.

A Sailor’s Glossary

One of the first barriers to new sailors is the terminology used aboard a vessel. Although an astounding amount of English idioms come from sailing (think of “learning the ropes,” “it’ll be a breeze,” or “down the hatch”), learning sailing terms can feel like learning a new language. Once you become familiar with them, you’ll realize that they play an important role in making sure everyone on board a boat is staying safe by speaking the same language. Here are a few basic, key words everyone should know:

Parts Of The Boat

  • A. Port: The left side of the boat when you are facing forward. A quick way to remember: both “port” and “left” have four letters. It’s necessary to say “port” instead of “left” because port is always the left side of the boat, whether it is on your left or not.
  • B. Starboard: The right side of the boat when you are facing forward. Another memory trick: when saluting the stars and stripes, you use your right hand.
  • C. Bow: The front of the boat. Toward the bow is “forward.”
  • D. Stern: The back of the boat. Toward the stern is “aft.”
  • E. Helm: How you steer the boat — commonly, a big wheel that controls the rudder, though some boats are fitted with a tiller, or a long stick directly attached to the rudder at the stern. (Another common expression: “at the helm” means leading a charge.)
  • F. Keel: A long, heavy fin that juts out from the bottom of the boat. It prevents the wind pressure on the sails from tipping the boat over and provides balance and resistance that helps sailboats achieve their lift and power. (Hence, “even-keeled” means balanced.)

Sailing Terms

  • Points of sail: The direction of the boat in relation to the wind. There are 11 points of sail, ranging from “upwind,” or towards the wind,” to “downwind,” with the wind behind your stern. Sailing downwind is easier, hence the prayer to “have the wind at your back.”
  • Tack: (n.) Your course relative to the wind. If the wind is blowing over the starboard side of the boat, you are on a starboard tack. (v.) To change direction by crossing your bow through the wind so it fills your sails on the other side; this would put you on a port tack.
  • Gybe (or jibe): Opposite to a tack, to change direction by crossing your stern through the wind. This is among the most dangerous of sailing maneuvers, as the wind can quickly overpower your sails and cause an uncontrolled crash that can damage the boat.
  • Windward: The side of the boat closest to the wind. On a starboard tack, this would be the starboard side of the boat.
  • Leeward: The side of the boat away from the wind. This is the safer side to be on, as it’s more protected from the wind.

Learn more about boating safety with this guide.

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