VA - Smith Mountain Lake

[rszobel]

Has anyone ever brought their Mac to Smith Mountain Lake ? I am purchasing a new trailer and looking forward to taking my out of the slip and on the road. have been interested in taking it to SML but know nothing about the sailing there - has anyone been there/taken mac there ??

[Seapup]

Beautiful Lake, Its where they filmed What About Bob



It was on our list but never made it. When gas was higher we figured it was about the same cost for a slip for a month on the chesapeake as gas in the truck trailering to the lake and back and a crapshoot if our rusty trailer would make it again.

We did trailer out to Lake Kerr about an hour east of Smith in 2011 and had one of the best weeks ever on the boat. I planned to make a longer trip to both Smith and Kerr but never did. Kerr is larger and surrounded almost entirely by public land, so no houses or private land. We had a campfire on shore in a different private cove/island each night and never heard another person or motor past dusk. We saw about 2-3 boats and 10x that many eagles each day. It has 850 miles of shoreline and you can land pretty much anywhere you want. There are about a dozen small parks and campgrounds along the lake to hike at and use the showers/facilities. All were basically deserted during the week. We started in the middle and left the trailer at Occoneechee state park for about $20 for the week. We sailed down through NC and back to Occoneechee to leave on friday, but were having a good time so paid for a few more days trailer parking, lowered the mast and went up the shallow end of the lake to Staunton River St Park where there is a nice swimming pool.

[fishstalker7]

We've sailed on both lakes (more on Kerr Lake/more recently)...last time I was on SML was about ten years ago, but it was very nice!

There are a lot of little coves to explore and you can get away from the crowds on both. Also, there are established sailing and racing clubs on both if you want to participate in group activities.

I do recommend you rig an anchor retrieval line as some of the coves on both lakes have granite/boulder bottoms and I have had to free dive 40ft to free an anchor lodged between rocks (which a trip line would have prevented).

We may head up to Kerr Lake this summer (?) for a few weeks...keep me in mind if you decide to go!

Fair Winds,

David

[henecle]

Sailed/motored there a few years ago when I still had my . Lots of fun pulling a tube, plenty of room to sail in front of the dam. Haven't been back with my .

[fishstalker7]

Hi all,

We're talking about doing a 1-3 week trip to Lake Kerr, VA/NC in the Month of July (probably starting around the July 4th weekend) if anyone is interested in getting together for an organized few days in the month of July. If you are interested, PM me and we'll start a trip thread after figuring out a tentative schedule.

I also may have rig/trailer storage/boat ramp and 2-3 night dockage already covered for a group.

Fair winds,

David

[rszobel]

we may be interested. we really wanted to check out smith mountain lake but might be able to be swayed to do Kerr first. PM me and we can discuss. rob

[fishstalker7]

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