Steve's first run, clearing the pelicans.
Dot took a few sequence shots of Steve and me gybing.
Here's Steve coming to the end of his run.
And gybing.
Me preparing to gybe.
And gybing.
And this is the run at 3pm Sunday, 18 to 22knots, nice flat water and nobody out.
Tide was lower than when I was there in March, but it just meant moving S.E. a few 100 metres, however it made the NM undo-able without a gybe. Not that it was too shallow, but the weed too heavy and too close to the surface, for my low aspect 45deg fin anyway, a short 50 deg fin might not be slowed down as much by the weed.
The weed here is also abrasive, unlike Lake George's weed. If you intend to spend any time here take some 400 wet and dry with you to keep the leading edge smooth. My fin is rough not just at the tip, but most of the way down, it's only the last 2cm or 3 cm that is still smooth.
There's also a mysterious little creature with a needle like sting, one got up my loose wetsuit leg, I didn't see it but I sure felt it when I tried to get it out. And the pain increased as I sailed away, pain only lasted a bit over an hour, but I could have done without it.
The Pics are little bit misleading, looks like a typical sand bank speed strip. but you can't get all that close to the bank because of the dense weed.
It's the weed that makes it smooth. In March the water was over the bank and it was just as flat.
In theory it should be great for hours and alphas, (well Elmo got his alpha PB here). But you need more discipline than I've got, if you're on a good run, it's very hard to go into a gybe, that flat water downwind is just sooo tempting!
I was only going for alphas when I wasn't all that powered up.
Same goes for hours I'm fairly sure the speed downwind is more than cancelled out by the upwind slog
great stuff mike looks like an epic day 125k's how do you do it, looks like your in training for LG
Select to expand quotedecrepit said..
The weed here is also abrasive, unlike Lake George's weed. If you intend to spend any time here take some 400 wet and dry with you to keep the leading edge smooth. My fin is rough not just at the tip, but most of the way down, it's only the last 2cm or 3 cm that is still smooth.
sounds like stainless leading edge is the go
Select to expand quotekeef said..
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sounds like stainless leading edge is the go
My thoughts exactly!
Thanks Mike looks well worth the drive i dont think it gets much flatter than this great pics to thanks Dot !
The creature you speak off Mike sound like Devil fish. They are abundant in the Leschenault Inlet. They hurt like hell for about 40mins then the pain vanishes. I'm not sure what they are or seen one but i've copped more than i can count. They dont really bother me nowadays
Select to expand quotestroppo said..
Thanks Mike looks well worth the drive i dont think it gets much flatter than this great pics to thanks Dot !
No worries Stroppo, think you'd have been getting 37s, would have loved to see how your delta went.
Thanks for the pics Mike and Dot. The zoom shortens the foreground making it look narrower than it is. The GE images are clearer for the size of the area.
It was good fun, wind a bit less than the previous weekend when I had over a dozen 35s.
This Friday is looking quite good ( 11am 20 kts and tide .6m) with Saturday a possibility (SeaBreeze is showing wind, Willy weather not so much)
I think I will invest in a Delta. As I previously mentioned weedys are essential and watch your speed on the Albany Highway or it can be an expensive trip!
Exactly what I mean Sue when I say any person trying to improve to above 30 would find it a huge help to have flat water. Also when trying to crack carve gybes flat water makes an enormous difference. Each time you are successful you can improve but gettig the first few sussceesul gybes on chopy water is hard! I can gybe now but I sailed every year between 1986 and 2010 before I started getting reasonable gybes. What changed was sailing more often and sailing flat water.
The whole sailing are is not that flat but it is never really nasty!
Select to expand quoteevets said..
Thanks for the pics Mike and Dot. The zoom shortens the foreground making it look narrower than it is. The GE images are clearer for the size of the area.
>>>>
OK here's the GE image of my tracks. The ruler is a NM, not do-able Sunday, because the weed was too close to the surface the full length of that line.
But with a high enough tide, ----- PB NMs
Here's my tracks from March as a comparison, the tide was a fair bit higher, you cab see how much further North we were sailing. Wish I'd gone for a NM then.
This is out from Lilac cottages, a great place to stay when the tide is this high as you can launch from your back lawn.
They weren't answering their phone Saturday morning so we booked into the "harbour side motel". That's only 1km from Harding road, so only a short drive. There's another place in between Lilacs and harbour side, called "Albany Bali Style accommodation". Haven't stayed there so don't know what it's like, but the other 2 are quite OK.
Thanks for the offer AKB. It is great that we share the water, there is plenty of it for us all. The two of us did 125 kms on Sunday, great conditions although the kites were able to make more use of the super flat weedy area.
Cliff had wondered about getting out too but must have run out of time.
I do lok at your wind graphs, is it from the yacht club instrument or somewhere else?
Steve
No Problems Fellas.
Ye evets, I run the Station from the yacht club start box. All other weather resources are taken from the Airport which is 15kms inland and usual 5-10kn below the harbour site.
Yes heaps of room on the water, off the water is a different story tho, luckily you guys(Windsurfers) can launch from Quicksand Ramp(The signs a joke), as its too dodgy for kites to launch from there( not because of quicksand but the road etc). There's not much room for parking & setup over at the Spit launch when its busy, so its good you guys can launch there. Cliff would have told you we have formed an association to try to get some better facilities for this great spot, you guys and any wind/water users are more than welcome to join us!
Pete
Tide very low tonight but Willyweather chart suggested .6m which is normally excellent. Beware making a long journey in case the is not much water!
See how the sailing area is smaller. Also I crashed due to weed at the bottom left corner
