Forums > Windsurfing General

How far out to sea the seabreeze in Perth start?

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Created by wodgina6722 > 9 months ago, 14 Apr 2008
wodgina6722
WA, 229 posts
14 Apr 2008 7:25PM
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Hi

I heard that the seabreeze does not happen on the abhrolos islands, is this true?

I'm interested to know how far out to sea does the seabreeze event occur in Perth?


Andrew

nissa1
WA, 59 posts
14 Apr 2008 7:48PM
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I'm not sure about the abrol's , but having sailed/ ocean raced off perth and clocked up numerous miles. the breaze kicks arse where ever the wind pattern fits. thus if you have close isobars over the abrol's then yo will get kick arse winds. like most of the coast, the mornings seem to be still with the pm blowing your 3.7m / 4.0m to shreds.

Ian K
WA, 4049 posts
14 Apr 2008 8:02PM
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Frank Bethwaite used to fly seaplanes into Sydney airport. His book has an answer to pretty well everything. When he flew in from NZ he'd come in at low altitude and found the synoptic norwester would fade 30 km offshore and progressively become a noreaster as he approached Sydney. When flew wheeled aircraft later, approaching Sydney from the west, he'd be descending on a steeper glide path and found the norwester to noreaster transition to occur at and altitude of 250 metres.

Here's the book, taken by the little camera in my new mac. Doesn't do a good job of text? Why does it mix left to right but not top to bottom?

pweedas
WA, 4642 posts
14 Apr 2008 9:06PM
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wodgina6722 said...

Hi

I heard that the seabreeze does not happen on the abhrolos islands, is this true?

I'm interested to know how far out to sea does the seabreeze event occur in Perth?


Andrew


It's not a fixed distance. It depends on the pressure gradient between the land and the sea.
If the pressure gradient is high, as in a very hot day over the land and cool water over the sea, then the sea breeze can start about 50km or more out to sea.
By the time it gets to Rottnest ( about 18km off shore) it is blowing full tilt.

If the pressure gradient is small, such as in April, where the land temp is not so hot and the water temp is a little warmer out to sea, then it can start as close in as 10 km. i.e. somewhere between Rottnest and the coast, but that is unusual and the breeze will be very light.

Most commonly, it begins well beyond Rottnest at about 50km out as is demonstrated by the strength of the sea breeze there.

If you go North you might notice that at the Dunes north of Exmouth, the sea breeze is very much weaker than say Gnaraloo as the Dunes are on a peninsula and the land mass there is not sufficient to generate much of a sea breeze of its own.
It relies on the land mass of mainland Orstralia 50 km to the east to generate the pressure gradient and therefore is a bit like being 50km out to sea.

As you go down the coast towards Yardie creek the land mass of the penninsula gets greater and thus generates its own pressure gradient & hence a stronger sea breeze.

wodgina6722
WA, 229 posts
14 Apr 2008 9:26PM
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great answer, I CAN SLEEP NOW!

now I can also understand why the Abhrolos (60 km out) won't get the seabreeze as often as Gero (miss out entirely later in the season) and the colder water at the start of the season causes the stronger seabreezes in Perth.

Cheers

nebbian
WA, 6277 posts
14 Apr 2008 9:36PM
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Ian K said...
Here's the book, taken by the little camera in my new mac. Doesn't do a good job of text? Why does it mix left to right but not top to bottom?



Probably because when looking at images of ourself, we expect them to look the same as when we look at ourselves in a mirror (ie. mirror image). So Apple put in a function to reverse the image -- this makes it behave the way you'd "expect".

If you go to the menu just to the right of the apple menu, then click on "Preferences" you'll probably be able to turn the mirroring off.

Ian K
WA, 4049 posts
14 Apr 2008 9:58PM
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Thanks Nebbian, you're right, I'm outsmarted by a computer again. You can flip the photo once it as been taken using the edit facility in 'photobooth'.

WINDY MILLER
WA, 3183 posts
14 Apr 2008 11:31PM
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no seabreeze at the abrols....



if the bars are close it nukes all morning, day n night....

ahhhh wind..... a distant memory



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"How far out to sea the seabreeze in Perth start?" started by wodgina6722