Now, before everyone just says "WA" without thinking, I do want to stress the "year-round" part of the question.

If you wanted to live somewhere:

-you can sail all year round with, say, 7.5 or smaller
-you can sail within a reasonable distance of the city where you live & work (weekday after-work sessions are a must)

...where in Australia would you go?

guess again
you need to be specific
i sail year round in Canada, butt built my winter sleds for ice n snow myself
in the winter i rarely need to go over 7.5 :-)
due to my weight - 8.5 is my sail of preference in the summer

so, come on over :-)

joewindsurfer.blogspot.com

how about here ?

I'd imagine in Australia Tasmania would be the go as long as you can put up with winter's cold weather and short days.

Why not consider New Zealand and Wellington? The main issue would be you are earning NZ dollars which are being worth less and less compared to the Aussie dollar as time goes on. Plus people talk funny over there.

Adelaide is pretty good. You can get consistent seabreezes in summer, and storm fronts through the rest of the year. Before I became an office jerk I could sail a few times a week in summer on a 4.5 and plenty of sessions through the winter. Never owned a sail over 5.2 until I moved to QLD. I think Adelaide metro would rival Perth metro for conditions, plus it's less crowded on the water.

I think Tassie. 9 months of frontal activity. Even the weak ones must be 6.5 weather?
I'd be interested to hear from the Tassie guys how much they get out as it looks like cold fronts all of spring and autumn when the rest of us have nothing


But the cold (when sailing) would get to you if you'd lived elsewhere in Oz all your life. So I pick WA. Last winter was crap but considering the 7.5 max size in the original question: in a normal year you'd get out every day in summer if you wanted (each week say 4 morning easterlies on river and 3 seabreezes on ocean) and you'd do at least weekly in winter.

Oregon, USA

Tassie is the go i could sail here most of the time if school and work wasn't in the way. You guys just need to harden up and you will have some epic sails threw winter as well.Not to mention some of the epic wave spots too, just a few places below:

http://www.nomadic.net.au/Nomadic_Wavesailing/Locations.html

then you have the flat stuff:
Henty River
Stanley
Port Sorell
Montagu
and thats just a few of them

Have a browse thru the GTC,
www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/index.php?country=1
you can compare each state's teams posts.
www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/rankings/year?country=1&year=2010
Might give you some idea.
But when you compare the pit crew to the mandurah mob, remember they're sailing at the pit, which is a much better speed venue than we have. (and it's likely they have better sailors).

I like this ranking...
www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/rankings/year?country=1&year=2011

I know, now ive probably jinxed it

Bowen North Qld, just north of Whitsundays.
We sail all year, very rarely does it go for more than 2 weeks without wind, 7.3 was my max. Now I don't bother unless its 6.3. This time of year we can have weeks on end of 20-30knts, november dec are the sadest with some gutless northerlies, although with 7.5 theres still a sail.
Three beaches in 5 mins of each other that cover north to south east wind. All within 3 mins of town.

I go for the south coast of WA. Where I am (Albany) anywhere between ENE through to W is a sea breeze, plus you get the SW frontal stuff through Winter. Esperance is probably even a little better. All the plebs in those places know that family beach activities must be planned for the morning coz you'll be blown off the beach in the arvo. As for water, both places offer everything from flat, protected water, to open ocean, to good surf beaches. You get the bluest water and whitest sand in the world and if you live more than 5km from the beach you're a farmer - and even some of them live by the beach! Not a lot of days each year with <20kts.

My 2c worth
Disndale

dinsdale said...

I go for the south coast of WA. Where I am (Albany) anywhere between ENE through to W is a sea breeze, plus you get the SW frontal stuff through Winter. Esperance is probably even a little better. All the plebs in those places know that family beach activities must be planned for the morning coz you'll be blown off the beach in the arvo. As for water, both places offer everything from flat, protected water, to open ocean, to good surf beaches. You get the bluest water and whitest sand in the world and if you live more than 5km from the beach you're a farmer - and even some of them live by the beach! Not a lot of days each year with <20kts.

My 2c worth
Disndale

I'm biased coz I live in Albany too:
PROS
- Population of around 34000 (in 2009), 6th largest city in WA
- Largest natural harbour in Western Australia and also on the entire south coast of the Australian mainland, outside of Melbourne (source: wikipedia)
- Can sail in ANY wind direction on flat water or open ocean with max 1/2 hr drive from town (most popular windsurfing spots are no more than 15 mins from town)
- Totally uncrowded ocean beaches and harbour waterways (average rough estimate of around 10-12 regular windsurfers with around the same number of kitesurfers split between ocean and harbour spots on a normal 15-25 knot seabreeze day)
- Possibly some of the best coastal scenery and beaches anywhere
- The past four months have been very windy, definitely the windiest summer & autumn I have experienced in 11 years

CONS
- No easily accessible or sailable surf beaches (nearest is around 60km away in Denmark), just freeride, freestyle or bump n' jump sailing
- Nearest windsurf shops in Perth 400 km away
- Water is cool all year round (refreshing in summer but chilly in winter!)
- Winds can be very gusty and near unsailable in winter months (have have good sails in winter on occasions though)
- When the weather is lousy, there's not that much to do!

Bit different to Esperance town which is pretty much unsailable in any wind from the North or West where wind becomes very gusty (offshore), also quite isolated and small compared to Albany/Denmark area. Esperance does have stunning beaches though and is a great holiday destination for families.

Other considerations would be the type of work you do as well as keeping the wife & kids happy if you're not alone!