SailorGuides.com:
A Trailer Boat Cruising Guide to Sandusky Bay
Launching
The municipal launch ramp operated by the city of Sandusky is one of my favorite ramps anywhere. The ramp is located west of downtown at the end of West Water Street and is available for use, free of charge, 24-hours a day. The facility features a small convenience store with snacks and basic fishing items for sale. As of my last trip in September 2009, the permanent public rest rooms on-site had been closed and replaced with a pair of port-a-potties. Budget cuts being what they are nowadays, I wouldn't expect the rest rooms to reopen anytime soon.
There is a large, level parking lot with plenty of room to rig a sailboat. The launch boasts 4 really wide ramps with wonderfully long piers. Traction on the ramps is really good and the slope into the water is just about perfect (at least for my little keelboat). In addition to the two launch piers, there are three L-shaped courtesy docks along the park-like shoreline that you can tie up to for a visit ashore.
The ramp is sheltered inside the coal dock's turning basin behind a long breakwater created by an island and a man-made stone breakwall. Once you launch, your options are to turn east toward Cedar Point and the shipping channel out of the harbor or west around the coal dock and into the calm, open waters of the bay. If you're heading out the harbor from the ramp, navigation is as simple as turning east into the shipping channel and following the red buoys on your left all the way out into the lake.
In addition to the municipal ramp in Sandusky, there is a small private ramp available at the Kamp Kozy marina and campground located in the northwest corner of the eastern bay near the rail bridge. If you plan to tour the area by car, Kamp Kozy is well worth a look because they offer transient slips at their marina for the same price you would pay for a spot at a campground, allowing you the extra convenience to launch, dock, unhitch, and drive.
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