Central Coast, Cape Otway to Wilsons Promontory:
A storm force wind warning is current.
Tuesday: Winds: West/northwesterly 30/40 knots shifting west/southwesterly during the morning at 35/45 knots, reaching 50 knots offshore. Wind easing to 25/35 knots late in the day before tending west/northwesterly 30/40 knots at night. Seas: Mostly 4 to 7 metres. Swell: West/southwesterly 3 to 4 metres increasing to 4 to 5 metres in the west. Isolated thunderstorms.

Tomorrow, (Tuesday) looks like a clone of last Thursday on the wind forecasts.
But, the tides are perhaps a little more favorable tomorrow with low tide at about 4pm in the afternoon when the wind may shift a bit WSW. There is a slight chance that it could be pretty good right on dawn but with the tide halfway in and the thought of a 6am rise and rigging in the dark I think I'll give that a miss and shoot for a sail in the afternoon.

And:

Wednesday: Winds: West/northwest 30/40 knots, reaching 45 knots offshore, shifting west/southwest winds at a similar strength during the morning before gradually easing to 20/30 knots by the evening. Seas: 4 to 6 metres, abating 2 to 4 metres. Swell: Southwesterly 3 to 4 metres, locally 5 metres in the west, gradually decreasing to 2 to 4 metres.

Wednesday is looking even more promising with forecasts saying a definite shift to the WSW in the afternoon but with low tide right before sunset it could be another case of de-rigging in the dark if the wind stays in that long.

Ahh well, if the wind direction does not cooperate there are going to be epic surfing waves in the sheltered corners................

I actually woke up at 6.30am and despite the appearance that the wind was maybe WSW I headed back to a warm bed. Brrrrrrr!
11.30am and the wind is not as violent as I expected and pretty much dead west but tomorrows forecast is looking even better. I think it is definitely worth the dawn patrol tomorrow with the 'Guru showing WSW all day now and saying 36 knots at 7am!!!! Windfinder predicts 49 knots!!!!. The tide is a problen as it will be halfway in and flooding fast at dawn for a midday peak. Should be OK by mid afternoon though.
Could be one of those days when I really do need a 4m Koncept!

I think I will go and check the surf for now. The buoy is showing 6m+!

Report: 9.30am. Wednesday.

I drove into the inlet at right on 7am needing the headlights but with a glow in the Eastern sky. Craig looked like he had just pulled up and was starting to rig. The tide was already up to the 'No Vehicles Past Here' sign and I commented that I recon we had about an hour. Craig replied with the question, "Have you made a visit to your shrink lately?". I said "maybe we could get a group booking?"
A quick run down to the speed course and it looked to be slightly south of West and 30 knots. I came back to find Foxy arriving and suggested he join our group booking.
I quickly rigged the 4.4m Koncept and went for a run. After a false start to remove my fin cover (D'oh!) it didn't seem too bad for a warm up with a 41 peak and feeling a bit underpowered. As I slowed the fin spun out and rail tripped and I went over the front (again). Hit my wrist on the boom as I went and felt a sharp pain and numb sensation. Initially I thought I had fractured my wrist but I found I had full movement and it is only a sprain. Craig flew past and stopped a lot further down. I trudged back in knee deep water and ankle deep soft sand realising I would have time for only a couple of runs at best. As it turns out the wind lulled and I could not get started for another run but saw Craig sail back (5m) and get a few. By the time I got back to the car the water was lapping the tyres so I threw the gear behind the bushes and drove home. The hot shower was nice..........

Foxy rigged but was sitting in his car out in the high tide car park when I left (probably the smart move) but Craig looked like he was in for the duration, having driven his Ute halfway up the big dune. I'll go back and check on him in a while.

It is frustrating that we can have such a great wind forecast and just not be able to sail......

Love the pic of the ute parked up the hill, talk about cutting it fine.

Just got home. We sailed until it was well dark, about 5.45pm. Official sunset was 5.05 I think. We only managed to get on the water at about 4pm and the tide didn't go out far enough to get a bank even at it's lowest just before sunset so we had to run 20-30m out and with no idea how deep it was a lot of the time. There were huge clumps of Kelp all down the course which gave everyone a few heart starters but I was laughing with the raked KA Speed fin, it just went over them without feeling it.
By 4pm the wind had eased considerably and we were all having trouble getting started. Craig, Ed and I were on 5's and Martin and Shelby were on 5.8's. There was one rain squall that Ed and Shelby got that looked alright just before I got on the water that looked about 25-30kts but just before it I was reading 16-18kts on my gauge and I recon most of the time I was sailing it was about 16-20 knots with the odd puff to 25. At the end we had to walk back in thigh to waist deep water in soft sand. Phew, that was a workout!
It was very disappointing given the 35-45 knots, probably gusting 50 that was blowing across the spit all morning and well into the afternoon. Twice the Prom gauge recorded gusts of 76 knots!!! If it has been a low tide at midday, I recon there could have been some PB's. As it was, I don't think anyone cracked 40 in the evening session.

oi fellas!

Really enjoyed the report. Especially the ute! Would make a great ad to boot. I would have been there had I not taken so much time off lately. We definitely need to see a shrink.....

Maybe next time.

Thanks for the pics andrew!

That is an amazing amount of water in the inlet, the outgoing tide must of been pretty awesome. It would of been great if huey could of kicked up some more swell and taken out those pesky dunes

latedropeddy said...

Thanks for the pics andrew!

That is an amazing amount of water in the inlet, the outgoing tide must of been pretty awesome. It would of been great if huey could of kicked up some more swell and taken out those pesky dunes

My pleasure mate.

Actually the outgoing tide in the afternoon was a total non event! The tide only dropped about 70cm, very slowly, and then started coming IN again!

The morning tide would have been a different matter though. It was coming in at a ripping pace by 8.30am!

There was definitely some 'grooming' of the sand spit going on. There is now a 10m wide washway between the last 2 dunes at the start of the speed course. Should help let a bit more wind through I recon. And all the little hummocks are looking a lot slimmer.

We usually get a couple of there events a year and they certainly keep the main part of the spit groomed but the big dunes tend to be unaffected by it.
However, sometimes it can help a bit as these pics show when the water rushed in between the 2 larger dunes.



Looking back towards the ocean:



Looking towards the inlet:




This is what we mean when we say the tide was up the entry road, but yesterday it was half a meter higher than this and up the road 40 meters further:

They are Dave, but only on westerly to WSW winds. Once the wind is WSW to SW they don't affect speed sailing other than to somewhat slightly restrict the area we can comfortably use. It is more of a hindrance to general recreational sailing as it makes it more difficult to sail back to the launching point sometimes. Back in the '90's we used to run slalom events here in a West to WSW with the start/finish at the launching point with the outer buoy about where the dunes now end with perfectly clean wind and flat water. Ahhh... those were the good old days.

sailquik said...

They are Dave, but only on westerly to WSW winds. Once the wind is WSW to SW they don't affect speed sailing other than to somewhat slightly restrict the area we can comfortably use. It is more of a hindrance to general recreational sailing as it makes it more difficult to sail back to the launching point sometimes. Back in the '90's we used to run slalom events here in a West to WSW with the start/finish at the launching point with the outer buoy about where the dunes now end with perfectly clean wind and flat water. Ahhh... those were the good old days.

Yes, but 40knot westerlies has been what Huey has presented the last week. Slowie got 45 with the dunes there. How fast could he have gone without them?

Guys, thanks for posting the photo's with your updates, been a worthwhile exercise following the groups progress over there when you have added the photo's to comments.