There should be a few of us there on Thursday. No idea on current depth though...
Yep, Heading up thursday for my firstly westerly session of the year
I assume it's still shallow....leave your pointer at home and pack your weedy.
The speed strip is in prime condition, The thick weed beds are gone with only weed on the very bottom with some ribbon weed floating around on the surface. I was able to launch from the shore today with my 17cm twin fin with no problems, Still a short walk for those with longer weedies. It's still shallow but it's at it's peek depth at the moment, No place for long fins but I think most speed fins would be ok....I'd still run a weedy just incase you find a shallow spot, Crab pot or Tree...All of which I saw today.
Should be a good day...
jason,
what street/suburb do you launch from. It's certainly looking windier than Sydney for Thu & Fri,
I can't make it for this time but hope to head down when the 30K monsters hit.
^^Most of us launch from Primbee, Not sure of the street name but if you drive round the waters edge you'll come across a parking area near a little bike track you'll most likely see other sailors there. You can also launch from the yacht club on the opposite side to Primbee.
Select to expand quotejh2703 said..
^^Most of us launch from Primbee, Not sure of the street name but if you drive round the waters edge you'll come across a parking area near a little bike track you'll most likely see other sailors there. You can also launch from the yacht club on the opposite side to Primbee.
I used to live at Primbee. Basically the lakeside park is diagonally opposite the soccer field there. I used to carry my windsurf gear down to the lake. Huge westerly winds in winter. One time you could see the dust blowing over the escarpment when the wind was blowing its head off.
Stuck in Melbourne with work but crossing my fingers that the first big westerly of the season comes in for you all. Lake depth and weed has been really good in the last couple of months, as Jason has suggested.
Somewhat related - has anybody else found the 'bog hole' that sits about 30m North-West of the Primbee launch spot? If you walk perpendicularly out from the shore you entirely miss it and only hit firmish sand and light weed. But if you walk diagonally out to your right (towards Port Kembla Sailing Club), you hit this spot with about 30cm of water but 1m of black quicksand like mud underneath. It can't bear your weight and I've had the entirely humerous situation of having to swim downwind to catch my floating rig in seemingly less than half a meter of water. Took me about a minute to catch it!! I'm sure it looked hilarious to anyone watching!! Disturbing the meter of silt like mud also releases the most horrible stench!!
Have fun lads!!
eckas you can see the boghole on google earth it looks like its created from drainage, if stuck here I use my rig to drag myself onto more solid footing, it can be a real trap for the unwary
oh yeah, sweet as photos, thanks man, all the sails appear to be rigged correctly, ha, that aus98 sailor looks like a super powerful set up, it looks like a great day, how did ol leslos go?????
Select to expand quotemuz720 said..
All this on a school day!
Some people have it hard.
i worked hard all day to get those speed's i ache all over 
Great shots you fellars have got a great place to sail if you could only get those conditions over here in wa it would super very jelious !!!!!!!!
Awesome pics!
Ahhh the Gong, makes me home sick....
How is the freestyle scene there? Looks like quite a bit of wind and some flat water conditions - perfect!
Select to expand quoteK Dog said..
Awesome pics!
Ahhh the Gong, makes me home sick....
How is the freestyle scene there? Looks like quite a bit of wind and some flat water conditions - perfect!
The freestyle scene basically consists of me and you're right the lake is awesome for freestyle. But alas i'm over here in Maui at the moment sailing sailing 30kt winds in a pair of boardies, pretty tough 
Great photos! Just bought myself a delta fin so I can join you next time wind and work allow
The photo of AUS-70 is pretty cool with the shadow on the sail.
Good to hear you have a weed fin Sparky. What sort of Delta fin did you get? I have one and its a strange sort of fin. Wonderful in the flat but pretty scary when its a bit choppy. The one I have I think is a 19 freeride.
nice pics as per usual Jason.
did you see Gerroa later in the day, brown arrows according to the reader.
some pretty big sails, 20 knots? what's Port Kembla wavesailing like in those conditions.
Only made day 2 of the season opener. I resisted the after-sail refreshments on offer and got out for a bit.
A spur of the moment award was made for Alpha Racing last season. A magnificent perpetual trophy, unknowingly donated by Knightmare windsurfing constructions. John Demol won it last season with an alpha of 24.68 knots. The IYC does not officially condone racing about the shallows, so it is open to all comers at Lake Illawarra. You just have to post on GPSTC and gate crash the presentation night at the yacht club next May to collect it.
The early season leader is Michael Thomson with an Alpha of 23.934 knots yesterday. Well done Michael.
Select to expand quoteMobydisc said..
The photo of AUS-70 is pretty cool with the shadow on the sail.
Good to hear you have a weed fin Sparky. What sort of Delta fin did you get? I have one and its a strange sort of fin. Wonderful in the flat but pretty scary when its a bit choppy. The one I have I think is a 19 freeride. Select to expand quoteMobydisc said..
The photo of AUS-70 is pretty cool with the shadow on the sail.
Good to hear you have a weed fin Sparky. What sort of Delta fin did you get? I have one and its a strange sort of fin. Wonderful in the flat but pretty scary when its a bit choppy. The one I have I think is a 19 freeride.
it looks like mini-me is out there with him
Select to expand quoteK Dog said..
How are you taking these pics? On your board? What cam?
All photos were taken from the bank with my Canon 60D with a 400 zoom lens, Gets me quite close to the action. You could walk out and get closer as most of where they are sailing would be lucky to be thigh deep.
Select to expand quotetomp said..
did you see Gerroa later in the day, brown arrows according to the reader.
what's Port Kembla wavesailing like in those conditions.
Gerroa didn't seem all that windy but I was snoozin on the lounge not long after I got home, Didn't even finish my beer before lights out....so I may have missed it 
As for port, Only sailed it twice in a westerly....To be truthful I'd rather sail on the lake with the speedsters, Lost more fun mackin down the speed strip on a skatey twinzer
Thanks everybody for the kind words, I've got a lot more from the day and as soon as I finish the edit I'll get them up on my flickr account for anyone that's interested in downloading hi-res copies for themselves. If you want some happy snaps just sing out when you see I've got the camera out and I'll do my best to capture you in all your glory.
Cheers
