Has anyone tried sailing the Manning Point sand bar
I was there today and took some photos. The wind was S to SW about 15 knots. Looks like a good spot for SE & Southerly winds to get some good speeds on dead flat water.
(Photos taken from Harrington Lookout.)
I've been there and had a look. I think the main issue will be the tidal flow which looks pretty savage. It would be scary having a breakdown or something like that on an outgoing tide. The other issue would be launching, where to launch from? If you have access to a boat then that could be handy.
It sort of reminds me of the Nambucca River entrance with break walls and plenty of sandbars. I think Wineman has sailed there so he should be able to give some advice.
Karl the best place to launch from would be on the bar. I saw two 4x4 cars driving on the bar.You would have to drive around to manning point then drive onto the bar.The tide was running and it was has fast as you could walk.If you stayed near the sand bank & stayed out of the main channel it might be ok?
Yeah fair enough, I was sort of thinking of the place from the Harrington side. I had a look at Google Earth and it looks like there are a few places around there and at Old Bar which could be okay. Looks like a bit of a drive through the countryside to get to Manning Point.
From my experience of river estuary sailing up there they are really tidal dependent, usually high tide is good and low tide is sh!t. Plus the wind angle is very important. If it changes angle then you end up having very short runs. However checking Google Earth, the river looks pretty wide at Manning Point itself so could be pretty good in all wind directions.
Old Bar looks like it could have potential for some runs between sandbars too. Perhaps there would be a decent run on a westerly.
Holy guacamole!
Don't know if anyone else has flashed on this, but those pics remind me a heck of a lot of SP (except it doesn't have the slowly-growing wind-killing sand dunes that SP has).
Stop whinging about tide and how you need the wind to be from just the right direction; SP is exactly the same.
If you're worried about current, sail on the slack tide -> SP gets nasty currents with the incoming/outgoing tides too (and some huge standing chop on the incoming tides).
What's the distance from the scrub to the tip of the point?
'Might just have to go Google Map that one.
'Later!
have sailed there in N/E last year as it funnels down 
.
This photo is in bottom left of 2nd picture past seawall that curves out. ie far right of 1st picture
You get about a 500m run across river. Will post GPS google tracks tonight.
Would like to try the bar area in a S/E 
So we need a SE wind on preferably a rising tide. Any thoughts on the different tide states affecting the run, ie low tide bringing up a sandbar in the middle or something like that?
Its a good spot for a weekend run from Sydney, not too far away, probably around a 3 or 4 hours drive. I am pretty unfamiliar with the Manning Point side of things but it looks like you get there from the southern side of the river, driving up to Old Bar and turning left.
Do many people windsurf in the Manning valley nowdays? There used to be a shop in Taree, Saltwater Wine that sold windsurfing gear but that is from years ago.
Sorry to be whinging about outgoing tides. I'm just worried about them now after reading how a windsurfer drowned in a river entrance a couple of years ago at Caloundra and reading of the close calls others have had. Getting pulled out of a river mouth while the waves and wind are pushing you in sounds bloody lethal. I used to sail in the Nambucca River mouth but I'm too old for that stuff now.
Nice photos Wineman.
To get to Manning Pt, go to Old Bar then up to Manning Pt, easy.
Harrington has a rock wall all the way along.
Can get up on beach with 4WD.
Old Bar is very shallow & kiter territory only!
Looking from Manning Pt towards Harrington (NSW) in a N/E
gave the fishos a fright as I came from behind[}:)]
GPS tracks on googly earff
Red line is 550 m, white line is 1km
Photos show sandbar different to google image, so check it out & have a go
I think you have got it right Karl.We are going to try sailing there in a SE wind on a incoming tide first. I have found that it is the best where we sail at the Town Green, Port Macquarie.Mouth of the Hastings river. You get to Manning Point by turning off the Highway at the Oldbar turn off ( Near Taree ). Then follow Old Bar Rd till you get to Manning Point Rd.Turn left onto Manning Point road and follow it all the way. Salt Water Wine shops are still going strong, Taree,Foster & Port Macquarie.I talked to the Sailmaker at Taree ( about 1 year ago) and he said "guys still sail in the Manning river after work in Summer."
Looks like a nice spot for a summer holiday. Does it get much wind? It sure is a long drive between Manning Point and Harrington, even though it would be a two minute sail in a good breeze!
From September to X-mass you get the best NE, E & SE winds. If it's hot at X-mass, not much wind until mid January. Due to ocean being to warm. Mid January to Easter is good to. You could sail it in a ENE to E wind to. Sailing the opposite way to a S or SE Wind. There should be places to stay at Manning point or Old Bar.
I had a good look there, but haven't sailed it. There was two potential issues I saw with the location.
1. The tide looks really strong
2. The sand tunes looked quite high.
Perhaps sailing behind the rock wall could have some potential too? Measuring a rough SE reach has a length of about 3/4 of a KM. Little issues with tidal flows and there is a bit of a beach on the Harrington side to launch. I'm not sure if what looks to be a sandbar in the middle would be too shallow.
I have been looking at old photos of the bar and it does change after each flood.When the river floods like last year, it flattens out the sand hills again.
The main channel of water flow looks like it is on the north side. The current looked faster on the rock wall side of the river mouth.When I took the photos I would say the tide was 1 hour off low tide. I looked at the hight tide marks on the rock wall and they were about 1 meter from the top off the break wall.
