Personally, I've had the worst season in 10 years. I've hardly got on the plane.

One's perceptions of the quality of the season is very dependant on time/availability.

Krusty said...
At least she is making my garden grow very green.

So true. The wind may not be consistent but at least the dams are filling up and we will not run out of water too soon. Precipitation is one thing we have which our WA friends miss out on.

Personally I have been sailing at Narrabeen and its been okay. Last week I sailed a couple of days on a north easter. One day was great and the other was alright.

I drove with my inlaws down to Wollongong and Gerroa today and it seemed fairly windy on Botany bay around 11am. A south easter but no one was out. I am looking forward to some more nor easters as I am keen to sail at Botany. Is a NE er stronger and more consistent down there?

seano said...

you might not go back to the lake if you go to botany

Agree. You won't go back to the Lake after you've been to Botany for the N/E.

Other than that ...I don't care..as my board & gear are stuck up in Taree from New years day til next Fri .. blew a head gasket on car.

Went to first day of test cricket, though

and found a great windsurfing spot on North coast
3 km long x 250m wide, flat water, runs north-south

Mobydisc said...

Where was that run?

Haven't sailed it yet.

will tell later & post photo[}:)]

Used to have access to a beach house in Sydney, sailed at Botany Bay a fair bit so have that airport anemometer pretty well calibrated. Now, if I get out of Canberra it's to Broulee or Gerroa. I've got the nearest anemometers to those places calibrated also. But if you've driven for 4 - 5 hrs, and the wind wasn't quite there, and you check the seabreeze graph from Sydney airport when you get home, you come to the conclusion that Botany Bay has the most reliable good wind on this part of the coast.

Has anybody done a good comparo of the wind at Botany Bay vs up Newcastle way?

Must be all that bitumen around Botany Bay. I shouldn't have understated Gerroa though. In a noreaster it's definitely a metre or more stronger than Botany. You can see from the air on the low level Sydney/Canberra flight, it's backed by a wide flat plain with a steep escarpment to turn the seabreeze circulation. But such a strong circulation also encourages more thunderstorms to stop things. Also when the front comes up from the south it affects southerly locations earlier in the afternoon.

At the other end of the coast I've spent a hundred or so summer days at Port Macquarie over the past 20 yrs. Always take my gear but only sailed half a dozen times. But then you hear of epic days at SW Rocks.

You can see I'm thinking of shifting.

Kyeemagh is definately not the windiest place on the bay! Kurnell is always windier in NE'er. When sailing formula boards around they bay I would often launch at Kurnell in a NE'er and then sail to Kyeemagh. Every time Kyeemagh was at least 5knts lighter than kurnell.

Is this on Wallis or Myall Lake?

Wineman is that near Smiths Lake

Right it's a secret.

seano said...

you might not go back to the lake if you go to botany
although seems to arrive a little later in the day.

Gotta love those Botany Bay NE winds that don't come on until 5:30pm, but then blow to 7:30pm.

Let's me spend a day with the family, earning enough brownie points to also fit in a sail.

Speaking of Narrabeen Lakes I was windsurfing there with the family on New Years day and there was a guy out wide sailing with about 8m/8.5m sail for over 4hrs straight and this guy must of nailed every carve gybe.Wind was n/e and increased a little more in the afternoon.

I'm must be wearing my polarized glasses too often, because i think it has been a great season. Hot and windy most days. Clearly not 4.5m sailing, but a huge amount of 7-9m days.... The bigger board / Sail development has made windsurfing possible 90% of the time. I actually prefer light to medium wind days to the super windy conditions i used to dream about a few years ago....

Hey Moby I just spent a week at Nambucca camping and I'll be stuffed if I could find anywhere decent to sail. The river current runs waaaaay too fast to make it safe to sail in it plus it's way too narrow and busy with boats plus all the sandbanks making it shallow as anything in the wrong tide. Did I not look hard enough or is there a secret spot I should have known about? There was no way I could get out in the ocean because the surf was basically mast high and a total washing machine. Not the best conditions for slalom sails and boards.
Pete what do you think Stuarts Point would have been like in a southerly? That's all it was blowing while I was there. Blew strong enough to rip my tarp to shreds and force me to come home 3 days earlier than planned