Anyone know if there is any decent gear on hamilton island.Planing on a family holiday.I could ring but don't trust them. Did that once in Fiji and did not have a harness and the board resembled something out of the early 80s and weighed as much as my car.
Yup. I almost took kit in June, and glad I didn't bother. Big tides, gusty. They've got Hobie cats which are good for messing around on, and you can find turtles snorkelling straight out the front of the big hotel.
I sailed there as part of the Mackay to Airlie windsurfing marathon in 1987. The predominant SE wind in July is offshore from the main beach. However the SE is cross shore on the marina side of the island, but you have to access from the harbour. So if you want to sail there you need a board with decent volume and centreboard.
They had pretty basic windsurfing gear when I was there in 87. I have no idea what they have got there now.
They have very basic/beginner gear at the resort hotel. It is designed for people who are new to windsurfing, that is big boards, small sails. From memory the biggest sail was about 5m. You coundn't hire it anyway as they only use it for windsurfing sessions for resort people. Snags advice, BYO is spot on.
I did some sailing when I was at hayman is. They had one half decent board there and some trashy sails, nevertheless I got a couple of good day in.
The beach at Hayman unlike Hamilton is more open so you can get a reasonable wind all the way to the beach. I gotta say the water was stunning out there.
The only other problem at the resorts is that if you get a really decent wind they won't give you the gear, they say it's too dangerous. Most probably too dangerous for their insurance policy.
I was up there a couple of years ago when I charted a yacht with Bro and friends and took some sailing gear. Hamilton Island is not really suitable for sailing as there are a lot of Hills around and the tide is too strong. If you have a holiday booked there I would take my gear and book day trips on some of the fast cats that leave Hamilton Island on a daily basis for Whitehaven beach when the wind is good. Whitehaven is excellent for windsurfing especially when it is not low tide and only a few feet of water over the sand in the inlet at the North End. Family has a holiday booked for Daydream Island later this year and the beach is cross shore with a beach that looks like can be sailed from in any state of tide.
