Anyone sailed Yamba recently? just wondering where you can sail in a SE or maybe even a W is one turns up??
I sailed in the SE'ers there during easter. Here is my gps track.
Park along the peninsula, there is a little blue sign saying walkway between some houses. Carry your gear out and set up on the little beach.
Usually where you launch it may be 5-10kts, but it can be 15-20kts in the river. So make sure you are on a board big enough to slog on, cause you need to slog out, once you are 3/4 of the way to the gap in the wall usually thats where the wind starts and you can blast back and forth across the river.
Also keep an eye on the current, it can be fairly quick and if you break gear you can end up getting swept out the bar.
Also another option in a SE'er is to sail off the beach, but its pretty onshore at pippi so not great. Apparently angourie was a good place in a SE'er but you need to jump off rocks to get into the water, so probably not the best place if you are by yourself.
Dunno if there is anywhere that is worth sailing in a westerly, same place would probably work, but short runs.
In a strong southeaster the conditions at Green Point are epic - you will see the locals out there.
Head to Angourie from Yamba and turn off at the Green Point reserve before you get to Spookies or the main point break. It is purely for wave gear so you will need lots of wind.
Hope you score!
can you not get a sail from Iluka?
I have sailed only in NE and loved it,later someone said it was a bit sharky????
Ive started planning my trip and to victoria,
I'm thinking of putting yamba as my first stop.
Does it have any reliable weather observations?
Links please.
Bud i did the trip in reverse, well most of it anyway. Have a read of the post i did. I hope it gives you some ideas
Bondi to Brisbane, via an excursion to Gerroa.
Sad to leave Sydney but I was keen to move to bris with my missus before I left I decided to take two weeks travelling, camping and sailing different spots up the coast. First spot was a trip south to Gerroa; blowing 40+knots, owning nothing smaller than a 5.4 I still gave it go. After our session my arms must have been two inches longer. Every time I have been to Gerroa it’s either been blowing 4 or 40knots but I have still managed to have a great time there, and it was my first go in waves.
Back to Sydney and a session at Bundeena ( awesome spot ) followed by kurnell, Dolls point, brighton le sands, la perouse, rozelle( not so nice ), rose bay ( very good in nw 15+ knots) then north to Narrabeen. Over the last year I have had some great sessions at Narrabeen, ive also had some bad ear infections from there to but it’s a small price to pay.
There are some really good guys sailing around Sydney (some grumpy buggers too) hope they carry on with the twilight racing from keema, lots of fun and very sociable.
After Narrabeen it was a nice drive north to Smith & Wallis Lake. This is a great spot for families with kids and partners; you can have flat water sailing in the lakes or pop across the road for some wave sailing. Loved sailing across the lake, I went so far out my back leg cramped up, nice clean shallow water.
From Wallis I carried on up to Port Macquarie for an hour on the river, managed to find a little windsurf shop popped in to say hi and have a look. The guy there recommended a few places to visit up the coast, he also talked about the heyday when he used to sell 150 boards a month.
Nest destination was Crescent head, Point plomer, what a beautiful place but a complete bastard to get to, nearly an hour on bone crunching roads. My poor van very nearly rattled itself to bits. I had been to point plomer once before with surf safari camp. It’s a really special spot and definitely worth the trip, its excellent for surfing right on the point so I thought I’d give it a go on my windsurf, it wasn’t the best of choices as I was a little out of my comfort zone but that’s how we learn. Well worth the effort and definitely worth the trip, great campsite too (cold showers )
A few people had told me about south west rocks so that became my next destination and what a perfect choice it was. It has an awesome campsite right under the old prison. For beginners it has a great little shallow section before it drops of. Had some really good runs out into the bay on my 7.2. On the way back in, just moving nicely along minding my own business contemplating what a awesome spot this was and the meaning of life I looked down into the crystal clear water ( 2 meters deep ) only to see a shark swim under me. I sailed back to the shore thinking f**k me. Contemplating what to do next I came to the conclusion , it’s not the ones you see you have to worry so much about. With that I went back out although only in the shallow knee deep section but it gave me good opportunity to try sail 180’s etc. Good spot and a must for a windsurf road trip or any other road trip fpr that matter.
Sad to leave s-w-r but keen to see my next place Yamba, via Nambucca heads, Coffs and a big banana. Really wanted to sail Nambucca heads as it looked stunning but the wind wasn’t playing ball same with coffs. Yamba has a great YHA hostel, brand spanking new and cheap to. It’s not your usual brat packers either, the staff were great, food was tops and my room was spotless. You can hire surf boards for $10 all day! I spent my mornings surfing the main beach, nice clean waves and really easy to ride with a decent mal. After surfing I would pop back for some food and a snooze before returning to whiting beach for some flat water blasting and endless attempts at trying to carve gybe.
Yamba in short like swr is a awesome place to visit, really nice locals, great surf, and an awesome flat water beach what more could you want. Forgot to mention when you rig up on whiting beach take no notice of the no sail boarding sign.
Next stop, Ballina. I had a great sail on the river there, blasting across from the sailing club a couple of dolphins came by which is always nice to see, also sailed lake ainsworth which is a tea tree lake. Great for beginners or just easy going session if you want something a little more hair raising just pop across the road to lennox beach, I tried my hand at wave sailing again and managed to get my self stuck in the white wash and then rip so I cant say I enjoyed myself too much. Dragging my gear back along the beach out of breath passing all the kite surfers I wondered if I should take up an easier hobby??
Not to dwell on things too much I moved onto Byron where I had a little session in about 8 knots, wasn’t really worth setting up but I wanted to be able to say I had windsurfed there, same with Burleigh heads.
After all that I drove up to Wellington point, my first Queensland sail and the end of my trip. Two weeks of camping,surfing,windsurfing,drinking,eating burnt burgers and beans,getting bit by mozzies,dodging sharks, and just enjoying the moment. Its good to be here in Bris and so far I have had some great sessions at wellington and redcliff, I still cant carve gybe yet but that doesn’t matter to much really as there are heaps of other things to learn, I even tried a forward loop, it ended pretty bad for my sail but you have to give it a go.
Anyway that’s enough rambling for one night
Thanks for that mate,
I'll certainly consider the spots youve mentioned,
I'm more interested in the b&j spots + freestyle, as I dont have the right gear for wavesailing.
Sadly i dont have a surfboard anymore, so itll be strictly windsurfing and clubbing on my move down.
I did it on my freestyle board, it was a bit of a handfull at times but i managed and im no wave sailor. Good luck
Hey lee,
Would you say the Smith & Wallis Lakes are a must?
I noticed they havent been posted on TheWindMap, which means they are either a neglected spot, or rarely sailable?
I was thinking of skipping the lakes and driving straight to Narrabeen from Crescent heads.
Ive got most of those priceless spots pinned on my map,
Just wasnt sure whether i should bother spending an extra day to hit up the Smith & Wallis Lakes. What wind directions does it work with?
I'm not really making the trip to explore the east coast, just willing to spend an extra couple days on my trip to visit some of the highlights.
Hey bud, i had some good sessions on the lakes. There are pleanty of camping options too. Really really long runs of Wallis lake. Narabeen is worth a visit, although last time i sailed there i got a ear infection. You can sail there in any direction but w go from 4-40knots in as many seconds. Some really good sailors head down there whens its blowing plus a couple of real grumpy old sods. Long reef rocks when its working . You can also pop into windsurf and snow, they can give you a heads up and other places to sail.
I take it your going to party in Sydney, for sailing try Rose bay mind you from memory that only works in a NW, you have Botnay bay which is worth a visit. Its got everything from flat water blasting head to Bestic ave to brighton is the best. Bump jump head to La-parouse ( very much like Redcliff )and if theres some swell ( E ) you can get small waves at Dolls point. That would be the pic of the bunch for me going further south take the drive to the far side of Botnay bay to a place called Kurnell ( Occy's hometown ) its a great spot. Theres always people sailing or kiting on the bay.
Another really really nice spot is Bundeena , south of Sydney in the royal national park. Its a really really nice spot with a awesome campsite. Going further south there are endless spots but you have to visit Gerroa
Good luck
Cheers,
Yeah i was either thinking of spending one day and night at the lakes, then one day and night through out sydney/botany bay area.
Or forget the lakes and spend two days and nights in sydney/botany bay area.
Gerroa will proberbly end up being my last stop, before i cut accross to melbourne. Unless i hear about some awesome spots between Gerroa and the victorian border.
Ill post up my roadtrip plan sometime this week
