Went out today at Belmont on lake Macquarie
I had intended to whimp but when I asked the only kiter how strong it was out there he said 35-40kts & said " Ive been sailing a long time , I wouldnt advise you to go out ."
That was it! I had to have at least one run after that comment.( I'm not bagging kiters ..he was Ok.If a sailboarder had said that I would have done the same)
Visibility was about 100m due to the dust storm so it wasn't very enthusing but I had a ball! Only out half an hour or so. Varied between underpowered , perfect & diabolical + a harness line broke but Id forgotten how perfect it is to blast along with a lovely light compact rig & board & have 3 - 4 foot ramps everywhere..( not that I did it justice..I only got 1 average jump ..). Much easier to gybe too than the bigger board & heavy rig. Anyone else get out?

( A telephoto shot that doesn't show the wind & waves well but does show the poor visibility due to the dust )

Thats what worried me about going out.Ive hardly planed since Autumn & hadnt used my waveboard for that long either..
My 3.3m has a 80's custom made boom that has one of those rope ties..it took me about half an hour to rig the stupid thing as I didnt bother to lock off the end & everytime Id get it lovely & tight it would loosen..
I cant sail at the weekend.Im supposed to have a promotional stall for my art..yeah right..I had an easel blow over in 8kts last weekend so it will love 30kts! Its at a horsey event too so the horses will love it when my gear starts to cartwheel! Rather be sailboarding..
That photo has a nice photoshop effect ;-)
no untouched..

P.C_simpson said...

Hey Moby, the channel has to much current to have fun, for a westerly head into the lake, somewhere like just near swansea caravan park, or the slipways just west of the belmont 16ft sailing club..

Thanks for that. The forecast is pretty mental for this weekend, westerlies up to 40 knots. Are westerlies reasonably consistant on the eastern side of Lake Macquarie?


We will try and stay at the Swansea caravan park so will probably give it a go there.

If the wind is as strong as forecast I'll probably stay in the shallows and use a small fin, something like a 20cm freestyle fin. I've got a couple of smaller sails, Revos. They are pretty old, over 10 year old but still in good condition as they have not been used all that much.

Yeah it would be a bit hairy getting washed out the channel on an outgoing tide. Its happened to me before on the Nambucca River and it was a bit of an adventure.

I'm always looking for someone to sail with but I often sail midweek & I have a pocket hankerchief ( 3.3m) that I take out on days like today..Hope to get out tomorrow at Squids.

The lakeside of Swansea going across the sandbars look like a great place for speed sailing. The wind must have been over 30 knots and the water had no chop, just rippling.
The day I tried it the sandbars were so shallow I didnt trust to sail over them. I don't know if I just struck it at low tide but it turned me off sailing there as it was difficult to see where the channels were when you were out..Id like to give it a go but Im worried about hitting the bottom at speed...? ( especially in these kinds of winds).
Anyone got local knowledge?