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Click the image for a larger view of the proposed route Or click HERE for the route presented in Google Earth - this will allow you to zoom in and see details for the course Kellan Hatch has been good enough to put together a series of screen captures of the Google Earth presentation of the route with alternates shown. Click HERE to look - you will have to scroll down a bit. The destination is at the top and the start is at the bottom.

Route

The route is starting to distill. Here are the main points:

Start: Port Mansfield:
We will meet on Sunday morning at the County park in Port Mansfield. At 10:00AM all interested parties will leave with cars and trailers to make the shuttle to Magnolia Beach and the parking area. A bus or van will bring us all back to PM. The following morning we set sail for the land cut.

Campint is allowed at the county park, though it is pretty primitive, and there is a Motel in town.

Monday - Camp 1
The land cut has several channels heading east toward Padre Island. We will stop for the first night in the northermost of these.

Tuesday - Camp 2
The folks at Padre Island Yacht Club have offered us the use of their facility and an anchorage for the night. We will try to have some volunteers with cars there to take folks to get supplies. This will be the last good opportunity for that. There are resturants nearby also.

Wednesday - Camp 3
Deadman Island is located at the end of Long Reef in Aransas Bay just off the ICW. There are several ways to get there so we may split the group in case some of the faster boats want to take the longer, more scenic path.

Thursday - Camp 4
Army Hole is the old name for this decommissioned Army Air Corps Base which dated to WWII. It was Matagorda State Park but now is a state operated wildlife area owned by the federal government. It has an excellent harbor and a nice picnik area, but no facilities. There is a "back way" from Deadman to Army Hole and some of the more adventurous boats may want to take that. It involves finding several poorly marked passes and is not for the novice sailor.

Friday - Finish
Magnolia Beach is only about 30 miles from Army Hole so we should all be there early. Again, there is a "Back way" for anyone with a shallow boat and a yen for adventure. Once at the finish line we will have a quick meeting to elect officers for the following year. Everyone is invited to stay for the messabout on Saturday.

John Wright who will be on the first Texas200 and is very familiar with the course had some things to say about the route:

Port Mansfield to Corpus Christi.

Directly across the Laguna Madre (Mother Lagoon) is the Mansfield Channel (called East Cut) into the Gulf of Mexico. It was dug in the mid 50's. Before it was dug my father and I drove the entire 110 miles from Port Aransas to South Padre Island in a big four wheel "beach buggy". There was nothing there but sand and a kid with a half track delivering fishermen up the beach. We found a dug out canoe along the way. But that is another story.

About a mile from the start is the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) that runs from Mexico to Florida. As we go North on the left, or mainland, will be the Norias Division of the King Ranch but known as the "Wild Horse Desert", for many miles. You in fact might see some wild life among the Santa Gertrudis cattle. Get as close as you want but remember the shallow water. You will see low sand dunes and likely deer, coyote but will not likely see the panther, fox, alligators, bobcat, rattle snakes...... This is private property and you might look a lot like a cattle rustler. In Texas the beaches to high tide is public access. My father would not under any circumstance allow me to violate that rule on the mainland all the way to Corpus Christi. He was very wary of the fence riders... But, that is another story.

After about 17 miles you will then get to the Land Cut. It is a 26 mile canal completed in 1949 dug through the mud flats and sand dunes called Saltllo Flats that connected Padre Island to the Kennedy Ranch. The Kennedy and King family were related and the ranches were operated much as a single ranch or even as an Empire until the last few decades because these two ranches politically controlled a couple counties. This channel has been a big help for the often hyper-saline North and Southern Laguna Madre. Prior to its construction it could reach 100 ppm (normally sea water is 35 ppm) in extended dry periods since no rivers flow into it. Local wisdom says that fishing is better on the mainland side of the channel. As you approach the North end you will notice a number of fishing cabins built on spoil islands. These islands are State property but the space for the buildings and piers are leased from the State. But, there are some nice yards.....

As you leave the Land Cut you will enter the Upper Laguna Madre. Please note on your charts the numerous and notorious rocks of Baffin Bay. As you leave the Cut on your left along the shore these rocks, some as large as small autos, are called the "rock gardens". " These reefs were formed from the calcareous tubes of serpulid worms. Formation of the reefs began about 3,000 years ago and ended about 300 years ago." For more information see:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/didyouknow/lagunamadre.phtml

These rocks are sometimes credited with providing the environment for the record size and numbers of large spotted seatrout (speckled trout) along with the sea grass ("about 80% of the remaining seagrass habitat in Texas is located in the Laguna Madre system". This rock garden has provided the best fishing of my life....so far...by far.

The rocks disappear as you proceed North. On the right about five miles before you reach Bird Island there is a sand dune about 40' high called Green Hill. I do not see it on the charts and I have no knowledge of its origin but that is what my father called it many years ago. I do not know what provides the water that has provided the grass, brush and trees that has held the sand that has formed it. You will also see on the mainland on your left the Power Plant at Flour Bluff. It pulls its cooling water from Corpus Bay and releases into the Laguna there. There is a large fish hatchery for game fish on the property. Then you will see the Kennedy Causeway with its high span over the ICW crossing from the mainland to Padre Island. The first prefabricated prestressed box beam bridge in the US.

Watch out for the other guy

My opinion after being there and doing it many times is that our greatest threat is our fellow man. Just driving to and from the event and the boats along the way are more of a threat than the water and weather. Which leads up to the large boats and barges or tows or tugs or whatever you want to call them. I have noticed a reduction of barge traffic in recent years but it still exists and it is important to understand the dangers, and limitations of these craft.

1) The channels are wide enough for two of them to pass with some allowable clearance. They will not and often can not give you the same consideration.

2) They are very heavy and do not start or stop or steer quickly. They must plan ahead a long... long way.

3) When they are not loaded but riding high they have a great deal of windage. When the wind is from the E or SE (perpendicular to the channel) they will/can take all of the width of the channel and then some. An empty barge can float in one foot of water. ALWAYS PASS ON THE WINDWARD SIDE OF THE TOW IN THIS WIND CONDITION. If the tow is being pushed or pulled the problem is the same. If you are stationary and they are good and they have enough time they will try to swing or whip the tow around you, but don't count on it.

4) If you are out at night they will put a big powerful macho spot light on you to see what you are doing to anticipate what this fool is going to do. They will do anything to not run your........over. It ruins the whole night.

5) The wake can be significant and the water speed will pick up as you pass in opposite directions. It will be difficult or impossible to pass in the same direction although they do move rather fast compared to sail boats. Small boats should not be anchored or within 20' of the edge of the channel in the really shallow water that is less than about 2 or 3' deep. The wash before during and after the boat passes will pull the boat into and then push the boat away from the channel.

6) If you can give them a wide birth.....do.

7) They are professionals and all are very good at what they do and will do what they can to protect you and yours.

8) 96.5% of the big pleasure boats will slow down for you but watch out for the *&%#@^&$@r rest.

Tides

Tide (lunar) in the Laguna Madre is almost nothing but normal 18 mph wind can make a big difference...sometimes 4-5 inches in a couple of hours. With he right wind the cut can be a real river. I have never even tried to guess the velocity but could be 3-4 in just a strong wind. Hopefully we will not have that problem. It would be a bone breaker. The current under the Causeway and can be strong where the water out of the channel is shallow.

Port Aransas

There are a lot of hazards at the Y at Port A. that all happens quickly. Lots of small boat traffic, ferries blasting across, pilot boats, strong currents, deep water. Some folks might not have the experience to keep them out of trouble. The only reason to consider the Lidya Ann Channel for the smaller boats would be to avoid rough water in Aransas Bay by going through Mud Island or around it.

Possible Route across Corpus Christi Bay

Crossing Corpus Bay presents options. In a small boat, in a strong wind, I would not take the ICW but hug the back side of Mustang Island even going into Shamrock Island and dragging it over the shallows if necessary, if the wind were really strong. I have not explored that area since 1970. The last time I was there one would have to drag it over a narrow spit of land. Now that does not exist but I do not know the depth of the water except that it is shallow. I do know that there has been a lot of erosion mitigation to preserve the Island which before Celia was a peninsula. Then cross the Ship Channel into Red Fish Bay at Sting Ray Hole between Point of Mustang and Pelican Island. Go into Red Fish Bay and take the channel to the ICW. In fact, even if the wind was rather low, I would likely still do it that way. I love to wade fish the shallows E of Point of Mustang. One of my favorites.

Some Information from Noel Nichols

Here is a set of waypoints of interest for the Texas 200. The whole thing is made in ExpertGPS and transfers directly to Google.

The positions are generated off of NOAA maps, not topo. I have found them to be mostly good, but you can be off by 100-feet in some places. Has to do with all kinds of issues. But it does follow the ICW channel well.

note:
Google may show a position to .01 of a second (1 foot more or less) but it is up to 50-feet off in my surveying. I can spot a point in the GPSExpert and agree with my centimeter accuracy work GPS, but Google is in the middle of the street. I think the photos they use may be off, rather than their math. Who knows. Not something a handheld can solve.

Below is an outline of the Texas 200

TEXAS 200 Cruise

TX200-1 Monday Texas 200 from Port Mansfield to Camp 1 at Land Cut
33.8 nm
Camp 1

TX200-2 Tuesday Texas 200 from Land Cut to Padre Island Yacht Club
32.2 nm
Padre Island Yacht Club

TX200-3 Wednesday Texas 200 from Padre Yacht Club to Deadmans Reef
33.6 nm
     2 Alternate routes,
         one cuts out to Port A and meets back up south of Rockport,
         one cuts across the Bay at Rockport to start the chain of islands.

TX200-4 Thursday Texas 200 from Deadmans Reef to Army Hole along ICW and
out along the channel
38.6 nm
   Alternate through the islands and the outer Bays 34 nm - shorter yet if you straighten out my
   route. Set up for 24" draft.

TX200-5 Friday Texas 200 from Army Hole to Messabout 23 nm Back to the ICW, out to Port A and up the Coast Alternate through the bays and out at Fisherman's cut at Port A

I added a gpx file for those that upload. That is the whole thing, so you need to edit into a separate file what you want before dumping it into a GPS unit.

All the best

Noel