Ok, today I hobbled on down (well I drove actually but hobbled once I got there) to a new potential speedspot at Maianbar in the Royal National park South of Sydney. It is basically the western end of Port Hacking and there is quite a nice long sand spit there. I had sailed this spot back in the 80's in a Nor Easter but I was there today to scope out its possibility of a flat water spot in a westerly. From what I can see it certainly has the right ingredients. The run would start at the Northern tip of the spit and with a bit of luck the wind would then accelerate as it passed over the spit as it is curved quite nicely. Rough estimate of run length would be 400m odd but I think the end of the run would end up gusty as you disappear beind some land masses which may block out the wind. Definately only a 2 sec peak proposition rather than a 500m or NM spot. There is a shallow channel running the length of the spit on its western side but it was too shallow to sail in at low tide (only 30cm deep at deepest spot) and to be honest it wouldn't be much chop anyway from what I can tell as it would most likely suffer from wind chop. I guess it would be a lottery sailing this spot in a westerley as we all know westerlies in Sydney are gusty buggers at the best of times so it would need to be a dedicated and patient sailor who goes there to try and get what it has to offer. As far as a nor easter goes it is a doozie also. Not flat at all, bump and jump. But when I drove past Kyeemagh/Botany bay on my way there, it was 8-10 knots at best. Half an hour later once at Port Hacking it was easily 15 knots. Essentially the wind had had more opportunity to gather momentum as to get to where I was it had come across a good few km's of water.
By the way, best place to launch is a spot called Bonnievale which is actually accessed through Bundeena rather than Maianbar. There is great grass to rig up on, plenty of parking and even a campground if you so wish to make a weekend of it. And lets face it, when it takes a good hour and half to get to (from my place anyway) you may as well go for a weekend.
There is a skatepark about 500m away for anyone with kids so it is certainly somewhere you could go with the family and still score brownie points for there being other things to do while Dad is off windsurfing.
Considering the only other westerly spot in Sydney was Foreshore drive which is now a no go zone it may be a decnt spot to try. I know Narrabeen Lake can also be sailed in a westerly but this spot could possibly be our closest relative to Sandy Point considering it's physical appearance.
The pics above show a view firstly looking North up the spit and then the second pic is looking South. As you can see the water would be nice and flat on the lee side so it certainly has all the right ingredients to be a winner.
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