prob 18 -19 degrees

I sailed on Narrabeen Lake yesterday and the water was quite cold. I made it a point of not falling in. In my limited experience I have found the water in the lake to be very warm in summer, probably a few degrees in temperature above seawater. Perhaps the inverse is true in winter. The water felt cooler than the air temperature.

Get that full length sealed wetsuit!

nobody said...

Hi Jethrow,

I was on the harbour today with just a spring suit and was OK. The wet grass was actually colder on the feet than the water. I think the water temps trail the season by a month so August should be the coldest month for water temps on average.

Nobody, where did you sail?

The lake will be at least 3-4 degrees coder than the ocean. Its numb feet and ice cream headaches if you go under.
Dave is right, once it warms up around September and keeps heating it can get quite uncomfortable. The western end is the worst, doesnt get flushed at all in summer and gets sea lice or Pelican Itch sometimes.
The reverse is true in winter, once it cools down it will stay that way until spring.
Gusty westerlies and cold water, bugger that.
We sailed Canton Beach on Sunday and it wasnt too bad. water was surprisingly Ok and wind was pretty fun.

Making me itch just thinking about it...

DavMen said...

nobody said...

Hi Jethrow,

I was on the harbour today with just a spring suit and was OK. The wet grass was actually colder on the feet than the water. I think the water temps trail the season by a month so August should be the coldest month for water temps on average.

As Moby said.
If there has been a lot of rain, the water temp can quickly go down quite a few degrees. Excesses flush out to sea but not really replaced by warm sea temp water so once it gets cold in winter it usually stays that way until the summer rays overheat the shallow lagoon.

OK, I concede it is now cold in the harbour. I went out yesterday in a short leg spring suit and thought a steamer and booties would have been more comfortable.