John340 said..

sboardcrazy said...
I used to do them on Lake Macquarie. Sail upwind on our boat then get dropped off and sail the length of the lake.Don't have a boat now + gear more fragile and complicated to carry these days.
I think we did one with a car shuffle from Nobby's to Dixon Park once back in the 90's- not a lot of distance but the wind was generally stronger at Nobby's than Dixon Park which would make things more difficult.

I've done the downwinder from nobbies to dicko many times, mainly in the late 80s. A 3/4 reach is really good fun, especially in the open ocean. Also in the 87 I did a down wonder over 7 days from Mackay to Airlie Beach, via Brampton, Goldsmith, Lindeman, Hamilton and Daydream Island. These days I often work upwind on my longboard and enjoy a great downwinder coming home.

Scotty , did you miss the Nobbys Redhead run.

Re the Whitsunday marathon, I think the motto was hook in and hold on. And yes there where at least 4 days of downwind sailing. From what I remember the bigger the gut the bigger the sail and the faster you went. There may have been some epic days but it was always hard work with a hangover. Also coral cuts were an ongoing problem, but luckily we had a sadistic doctor with us who took great delight in pouring iodine over our feet every morning.

Are they ever going to resurrect the event and have a geriatric division, will put away the kiteboard for the week.

John340 said..
I've done the downwinder from nobbies to dicko .

seriously?

Mark _australia said...

John340 said..
I've done the downwinder from nobbies to dicko .

seriously?

Come on Mark, mind out of the gutter please, but I see your point.

It was an organised event held every May for a number of years during the 80s. In 87 when I sailed it, 40 odd sailers participated. We sailed during the day from island to island, sleeping on yachts, which followed us, during the night. As KB35 said, it was basically a pub crawl from resort island to resort island. I think I averaged 3 hrs sleep a night for the week. We sailed on race boards. The best leg was sailed from Brampton to Goldsmith in 20+kts and 3m swells. I have this memory of surfing down the face of the swells in the back foot straps with 12ft of sail board bouncing round in front of me, ploughing up and over the back of the swell in front to surf down the next one. The wind eased over the week and we drifted into Airley Beach on the last leg. We had good winds for the event. Other groups were not as fortunate. The event was modelled on the Jonny Walker Hook In and Hold On which was held in the British Virgin Islands at that time and I believe still being held now

Hooksey said..
I think they were on 7somthing and I was on a 9.4 KA race ............ I was waay overpowered - I could not hold on heading down wind and could only sail up wind.

Its probably not the size of the sail that stoping you heading downwind when you are overpowered, its the size of the fin.

did a down winder with a good mate last xmas from drummonds to Corro, certainly opened up his eyes to the possibilities, shame he was on a 4.0, his arms were ruined, should have been on a 3.5!

I have to admit, that all sounds pretty good! One advantage kiters have in the scenario you described is that you don't have long fins to snap off on reefs.

Fin snappage is an ever present danger doing downwinders on the WA coast windsurfing, especially on slalom boards with longer straighter fins. Once you snap your fin, you're cactus.

Obviously the same applies to the mast and boom, neither of which kiters have.

Less stuff to break = safer downwinders.

Another safety advantage for kiters is that it easier for them to spot each other.