Boat Forum / Cruising / January 2005

Rico,

You got lucky.  Middle Tennessee is one of the better places to be
"marooned" as a sailor.  There are two very good yacht clubs in
Nashville, Harbor Island Yacht Club on Old Hickory Lake and Percy
Priest Yacht Club on Percy Priest Lake.  Both are very active and
loaded with friendly, accomplished sailors.  

One possible advantage of the Harbor Island Club for you if your boat
is not easily trailerable - Old Hickory Lake is actually the
Cumberland River.  You can lock through and go down river to Barkley
Lake in Kentucky (huge) and then into Kentucky Lake (very huge).
Then, if you really get the urge, you can sail south on Kentucky Lake,
which is also the Tennessee River, go through a series of beautiful
lakes, and the Tennessee-Tombigby Waterway all the way to Mobile
Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico.  Or, you can connect to the Ohio, then
Mississippi and end up in the Great Lakes at Chicago.  

If your boat is easily trailerable, there are many nice lakes around
the Nashville area, including the Port Oliver Yacht Club (my home
club) at Barren River Lake in southern Kentucky, about an hour north
of Nashville.

There are West Marine and Boaters World stores in Nashville.  They
probably would be able to tell you how to get into contact with
members of the two yacht clubs.  Check out both clubs to find the one
that suits your personality best.

Good luck.  See you on the water.

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove