Water skiing, jet skiing and wakeboarding in the East Valley?

It sounds crazy but some residents don’t need to leave their backyard let alone town to enjoy a weekend on the lake.

Communities in the cities of Gilbert and Queen Creek promote luxury housing and backyard water sports as a few of the amenities to lure potential buyers in a down market.

The Playa del Rey Estates, the San Tan Lakeside Estates and Crystal Point Estates are communities in Gilbert with Buchli lake being the community that calls Queen Creek home.

Residents in the Playa del Rey Estates enjoy a lake that measures 4 feet to 7 feet deep with homes that have their own direct access to the lake including boat houses and slips. The entire housing development contains 109 homes with 34 of them having yards that back up to the lake. The community is located on McQueen Rd. just south of Guadalupe. The lake is not a tournament waterski lake.

The San Tan Lakeside Estates , the newest water skiing community in the East Valley, is located in South Gilbert and is home to 19 houses that have backyards with direct access to the water sports oasis. The lake includes a luxury boat house and is used for competitive water skiing, wakeboarding and jet skiing events. The next event slated for the lake is the INT League Slalom and Kneeboard competition on July 19th at 9 AM. The lake can be found on Riggs road just east of Higley.

Crystal Point Estates is a professionally crafted championship ski lake. It is located on Elliot road just west of Cooper in a gated community. The area includes 18 customs homes and the lake itself includes a critically acclaimed slalom course and a ski jump that is host to the American Water Skiing Associations’ western region tournament.

Buchli lake, located in Queen Creek, is the creation of engineer David J. Buchli. The lake is home to recreational and competitive water sports including the AWSA Arizona September open on the 28th of September. The lake and development are located at 8550 E. Lake Road in Queen Creek.

These lakes truly are a unique way to beat the heat and the high gas prices this summer.