Could we see repeat of last week ?
When 20-30 windsurfers come to fight and punish Sharewater chop.
Get ready your small sails this weekend as usual on SB when 25 knt is forecast the gusts on the day reach 30 to 35 knots ( altought this 25 is just this sweet spot
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I wonder who was sailing on Grand or Train last week and how it was.
i was at the train, incredibly gusty and when the tide went out it was hopeless, sand banks everywhere, perhaps shearwater is the go this weekend
yeah the train is gusty in a southerly.
if you want not gusty in a southerly the best place is victoria point.
to be honest it wasnt the gustyness that was the problem, im quite light so i got some good speed from the 30 knot gusts. its the sand bank problem, the tide went right down which limited run to be around 40 metres.
i sailed VP on monday and it was 22-25 knots, not a gust in sight and no sandbars either.
no sand bars at shearwater. awesome spot to sail don't get me wrong, but it is gusty. mind you southerlies are sometimes gusty by nature.
nothings perfect though. VP has it's tide issues.
yeh i want to give shearwater a go but im not at the gybing stage yet so im quite comfortable with sailing from bank to bank for the time being. also im not overly confident with water starts in deep water, and uphauling in chop is never a good look
at shearwater once you get to the bank in the middle it's really flat which is great for learning gybing or tricks,
the middle channel on a busy day is not really the place to be trying to waterstart as boat traffic can be heavy, at least uphauling you would be seen to the boaties. there is also a current. which is a good thing if you want some air as it kicks up the chop.
from what you've said, i would highly recommend victoria point. it's shallow. has sand out quite a way but there are a few muddy spots around.
for learning to gybe/waterstart it's one of the better spots around. has no boat traffic, no currents and lots of clean strong winds in a wind from the S/SE
at least check it out next high tide. between there and the train you'll be gybing and watersarting in no time then add shearwater to your list.
yeah, the boats really do suck ass at Shearwater.
been a couple of close calls on my behalf ![]()
i think learning to gybe in deep water "forces" you to commit to the gybe better than knowing you have a nice sandbar to beach start from. ![]()
last tuesday looked like the pick of days. Typical, i had the sail quiver in the car and the board and mast at the other end of the coast [}:)]
G
I thought Shearwater was very ho-hum last week. 20 knots and almost no tide/chop. That said I slipped on first gybe and have at least bruised a rib, if not worse.
Looking better this week. Fingers crossed. Stop talking about it!! ![]()
good point pitto perhaps deep water is the way to go. i heard someone say to leave the uphaul in the car and you will learn to water start in no time.
yeah, deep water and the thought of sharks will have you waterstarting in no time and sticking the exit of your gybes no mater how unballanced you are.
i learnt at bribie island and that was actually what was said to me. start sailing open water and you'll learn real quick. ![]()
then there was the golden pond crew, not a gybe in sight.
evlpanda
i know the run your talking about, i usually go on that but there were three kiters there so i opted to stay clear, i went down wind a bit and got caught when the tide went down and had trouble sailing back up wind due to the sandbanks.
apologies to all, Pirate saturday! Looking good for some fun.
Mals hair fashion tip, get rid of it, Ive had girls come up randomly wanting to rub my prickly ugly head!
Once you experience the wind whistling around a nude nut you will never want hair again! Ask Haircut!
Then just make sure you have 30+ in the car.
Just though Nac, the Naish sails from 2011 have the skull and crossbones, so in theory I too was running the pirate theme for a few months!
i had this same conversation with one of the guys at VP on monday. both tend to stay closer to shore these days.
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