Oops - was looking at the Windguru forecast for Sandy - have just checked out the one for Inverloch -> 15 knot average @ 11am.

Mmmm... maybe not such a good day for kato's "surprise" after all -> may swing by it around 11am anyway to check it out on the way to Sandy.

Pray for wind (again, touch wood)!!

Hope the fires are under control Kato.

Looks like the easterlies moght be here - about bloody time too.

Waterboy I reckon it'll be windy anywhere between Inverloch and Wilson's Prom going by marine services at the BOM. Just check out the best spot early afternoon. I won't make it this time so have a blast. I look forward to the report on Kato's Bank if you go.

My hunch was correct. gusting well over 30 knots here now ENE. (3.45pm Sunday).
Mid morning the wind was 25+ but quite gust and shifty with a bit of ESE in it (turbulence from the Prom.)
Right around low tide at about 12.30pm the wind swung E and then slightly ENE and increased. By the time the tide had ruined the speed course with chop at 2.30pm the wind was gusting over 33 knots on the beach which probably means over 35 out on the course! It actually seems stronger now back at the house. The chop down there must be horrendous by now.
I went for a blast on my Acid 74 but since I had left my wave sails at home I used the Koncept 4.4m Speed sail. It worked pretty well but the wave sail would have been nicer in the gybes (and the odd water start )
Before that I was trying for Alphas and managed a couple around 27 knots. With the shifty, gusty wind it was just not quite prefect so I am very happy with that.

Craig - good onya for doing your bit to keep the bushfires under control.

It's a shame you couldn't make it, but you can take some consolation in the fact that (to be honest) I don't think you missed too much as (when I was there), the conditions weren't exactly ideal.

Hey Adrian Bonomi(nator) - what time were you there? Did you get to see the sandbank-to-channel border on the western edge of the sandbank/reef?

Got tied up with work in Melbourne on Sunday morning, so didn't get out to Kato's "Surprise" till about 4pm -> sailed till ~5:30pm.

Wind was up & down (started off ~12 knots, went up to probably 20 to 25 knots at times with stronger gusts, then settled down to probably ~14 knots at the end).

When I started out most of the sandbank/reef was submerged, so had to run over the submerged sections in seriously shallow water (the sandbank/reef seemed to ever-so-gently slope down; say, ~5cm every 20m towards the westwards edge) in order to get to the flattest water possible.

Didn't have the cojones to really push hard as it was a bit of a game of russian roulette trying to go as shallow as possible without running aground - the sandbank/reef is fairly featureless and it's not all that easy to pick exactly how shallow the water 20m in front of you is going to be, and it does undulate in spots!

Incidentally, from grounding out a few times and stacking it once, I found out the reef, while sandy is fairly firm (much like the ones out in the middle of Sandy Point) - not something you want to faceplant at speed.

By the time I finished, the top of the reef had just been submerged and if the water kept rising at the same rate for another hour or two, it would probably be possible to run across the entirety of the sandbank/reef without running aground (assuming you had a very short fin).

So I'm guessing this is a spot to tackle at either right on low tide when the sandbank-to-channel border is exposed with a sharp drop-off from reef into deep water (similar to SP at low tide), or right on high tide when you can sail right across it without grounding, but with the eastern edge still shallow enough to significantly reduce the chop.

Anything in between is fairly risky business (although with a lot of local knowledge of the reef and plenty of cojones, you just might be able to fang it between tides).

Like the Bonominator, when the planets align, I think I'll be back too (although next time I might try to sample SP the same day to get an idea on how much the wind is attenuated between these two locations -> I reckon Sandy copped more wind from what Daffy was saying).

'Bit of a frustrating session & really wished I had got there in time for low tide, but c'est la vie n'est-ce que pas?

It also made me realise just how addictive this speed-sailing gig is because the most fun I had during this session was actually when I was playing around surfing the small waves in the channel on the last tack back into the beach - I've been sorely neglecting my wave-sailing and had forgotten how much fun it is.

There's probably been a whole heap of good wave-sailing sessions I've missed out on because I've headed to a speedstrip instead based on even a fairly iffy prediction of strongish wind.

On the other hand - do I really want to be "cured"?

Bonominator said...

.... found out that at about 2:30 there was a massive squall at 40knots plus.

Yup it was a frustrating drive on the way down to Inverloch - coming down the highway around 2:30pm watching the tree branches on the side of the road getting tossed about like crazy, and hoping the wind would hold at that strength long enough for me to get down there and out on the water for a decent number of runs.

Ah well, 'check you there next time eh?

By the way - Craig, what would you like to name the spot -> as you were the first to call it, I guess you get the naming rights?

Perhaps something like "Risky Business" might be appropriate?

Personally though, the other one that popped into my mind, and which I reckon would make a fairly classic name is the quite simple and very eloquent "Kato's Mile".

I'll probably post my session there in the next few days - what would you like me to list the spot as?

Cheers!

" I would say wait until a few of us have sailed it (including Craig) and it can be shown to work, but if you must Hardie has his own run "Hardie's Run" so why not just "Kato's Run"? "

I,m back for how long??? we see what Saturday brings

I don,t think i can claim the naming rights as one of the Pit crew lives very close to this spot and should have put a few runs on this piece of water, but i don,t believe he has ever run it with a gps. We,ll come up with a name that fits once we,ve worn a few tracks into it

Hardies first run

also known as

Hardies first day evading work

Hey Craig, how about Lord Vader's Run???????
Cheers
Larko.