I discovered a nice place to fly this weekend. It is much closer to Houston than driving to Galveston if you need to get a quick fix!

Sylvan Beach Park is located in La Porte, Texas on the Bay of Houston. The location frequently receives on-shore winds off the bay; it also is close to a weather station tracked by www.ikitesurf.com, so you can take a look at wind conditions before making the trek.

Google Map

From the west side of Houston, it took me 45 minutes Saturday and 40 minutes Sunday to reach the park. In contrast, it takes twice as long to reach San Luis Pass in Galveston where there are no amenities.

This park is free and is great for bringing family or friends along. There is a skate park, playground, fishing pier, snack shop, bait shop, public restrooms, ample parking, and wide open grass fields along the water's edge for boarding, buggying, or flying static.

It doesn't appear to be very crowded. This weekend had perfect weather conditions for being outside in Houston, and there were only 4 people fishing near the water's edge of my large field.

I'm attaching a picture (all of the amenities are behind me). By the way, the field is at least three times deeper than the view here. I imagine there's plenty of room to buggy / fly away from people gathered near the shore.

The Kite Sharks (the local kite club) hold a lot of their fun flys there on the third saturday of the month at Sylvan Beach. Another grassy park area on the Bay is the Spillway park. Burke Park is not on the bay, but has plenty of area to fly/ride on as well (I like the big grassy hill).

I have hit good speeds at George Bush park on the west side of Houston. Now that labor day is over East Beach will be alright. Put about 70 miles in this weekend at SLP.........aj

Steve i p/u the line set you left...........aj

AJ, where do you bug at George Bush? The soccer fields?

Its been a few yrs but i think it was across the road from soccer feilds,and the run take you towards the Bark park.............aj

Thanks for picking up the lines AJ... Don't tell me, it was the brand new set from the wife's kite?

East Beach will be nice to be able to use again... last time I was there it was still cold outside!

There's a nice park area in Meadows Place (near 59/west airport) as well. I only like it when the wind is blowing AWAY from the power lines though. Or in the same subdivision, there is a big overflow parking lot at the front of it (where Sams used to be) and no ones ever bothered me when I've ridden a mountainboard on it.

Inland flying around Houston has proven allusive to me. I see the trees moving, change my clothes, grab my gear, drive to a local field, get out of my car, and start setting up. Then I say to myself, "Boy, is it hot! I wish I had a breeze blowing on me."

Then it dawns on me...

Okay, bad news. I found out through Taper123's personal experience that the city has placed an ordinance against wind-powered vehicles in Sylvan Beach Park for the safety of the public.

It looks like static flying is all that's allowed.

Quote:

Originally posted by GulfSandEater Okay, bad news. I found out through Taper123's personal experience that the city has placed an ordinance against wind-powered vehicles in Sylvan Beach Park for the safety of the public. It looks like static flying is all that's allowed.

I tried to locate the city ordinance that prohibits wind powered vehicles but was unable to locate it. This is the only thing I could find and it just sounds like they are just concerned for the safety of others.

(11) Flying of kites, radio controlled airplanes restricted. No person shall fly any kite, radio controlled airplane or similar device within 100 feet of any park building or playing field in use by other patrons, nor operate such device so as to endanger any park patron or thereby encroach upon the use and enjoyment of the parks by others.

Or it could be this...

(13) Vehicles in parks generally. No person shall drive or propel any passenger car, pickup truck, sport utility vehicle, motorcycle, all-terrain vehicle, go-cart, trail bike, or any other vehicle over or through the parks, park areas, sports fields, or other park facilities except along or upon designated park drives, or parkways.

Next time someone goes down there ask an officer what the actual city ordinance is. But ask nice.

http://www.municode.com/RESOURCES/gateway.asp?pid=11102&...

Hmmm... he did'nt say there was an ordinance, just that for liability reasons I couldn't do it there. Funny thing was.. he sat and watched me for twenty minutes and then told me as I was packing up the power kites to fly other types of kites.

It was still early and no people on the field. But as the day went on, it would have been unwise to try anyways as it would have been unsafe for others. So I vote for Option 13 above.... Particularly since there is a sign that says no vehicles allowed on grass.