Headed for the bridge. See more photos at the end of the post. (All photos by Tammye Nash)

I love boats and boating and being out on the water. I always have. Whether it was fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn or the Angelina River with my parents and grandparents as a kid, learning how to ski (I never did) on that same lake with my friends as a teen, spending time on a roommate’s father’s yacht on Lake Ray Hubbard in my 20s, or just paddling around a pond somewhere in a tiny little aluminum boat — I love all of it.

But as much as I would love to own a boat myself, there’s just too much time, money and effort involved when it comes to buying, maintaining, storing and using a boat. And that’s time, money and effort I do not have to spend.

And I imagine there are plenty of people in the same boat. (See what I did there? I got the jokes.)

But this week, I discovered that there is actually an option for folks who love boating but don’t necessarily love owning a boat. It’s called Freedom Boat Club.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Vicki Norman, inviting me to attend an open house for Freedom Boat Club on Lake Lewisville. Normally, I don’t or can’t attend events like this, especially when they aren’t specifically connected to the LGBT community in some way. But hey, this one sounded fun. So I asked if I could bring our Dallas Voice advertising director, Chad Mantooth, along, and when Vicki said yes, it was set.

So yesterday (Monday, June 25) Chad and I headed north to Pier 121 on Lake Lewisville where we got to meet some really cool folks, lunch on some outstanding barbecue and “fixins” from Hard Eight Barbecue and learn all about Freedom Boat Club.

And then we got to climb aboard a tritoon “party barge” and cruise around the lake for awhile!

The franchise on Lake Lewisville, which opened in March, is co-owned by Sue Wallace, Capt. John Foster, Bill Marquardt and Scott Isaacs. Their staff includes Vicki, along with Debbie Zurita in marketing and deck hands/dock hands/boat drivers Scott and Dakota.

The way it works is, you buy a Freedom Boat Club membership — pay an initiation fee and monthly dues — go through their training course (led by. Capt. Foster) — and then start boating. Right now, FBC on Lake Lewisville has six boats — two deck boats, two bowriders and two tritons (like a pontoon boat only with three support tubes, rather than two) — but they will add more as their membership grows. Their ideal ratio is one boat for every 10 members.

As a member, you decide what you want the boat for — fishing, skiing, tubing or just floating around — then call and reserve the boat you want for the day and time you want. You show up and your boat is ready to go; when you’re done, there’s someone there waiting to take the boat back and get it ready for the next person.

Easy-peasy.

If you want to take some friends out on a tritoon and not worry about who’s driving, get an FBC driver to chaffeur you around the lake. Or sign up for one of the club’s sunset cruises, or one of the social events.

And here’s the really cool part: Once you are a member of FBC on Lake Lewisville, you have access to all the boats at all of the more than 165 FBC locations around the U.S. (and now even in France).

For instance, there are three Freedom Boat Clubs in the Austin area — two on Lake Travis and one on Lake Austin. There is also one on Lake Conroe and one on Clear Lake down near the Gulf. And there are more in the works. Most of the U.S. locations are east of Texas, with the largest concentration in Florida, where the company started back in 1989 (in Sarasota). But there are several on the West Coast already, with more to come, and even one in New Mexico on Navajo Lake.

Make no mistake: It’s not cheap. But it’s most likely less expensive and more efficient than owning your own boat. And if you love boating, it may well be worth the price. Check with Sue Wallace at SueW@FreedomBoatClub.com or Debbie Zurita at debbiez@FreedomBoatClub.com for more info.

I can tell you one thing for sure: Chad and I had a blast!

— Tammye Nash