The things I do to keep you all informed! A great expenses to management and my body, I took a punding in 25-30knt gusts late yesterday arvo in Mooloolaba bay.
The aim to find some BLUE water NOT SANDBAR effected low tide slalom sailing, with some distance and good wind.
1st disclaimer* Do not try this at home kids!
This was as off shore and gusty as you can get, you need to be able to float in 0-5knts then hold on in 25+knt gusts to get to clean wind, and same to get home!
2nd disclaimer* Do not try this unless A) experienced sailor, B) have a home time emergency plan! C) can hold on in massive on/off gusts, D) can swim a mile+.
3rd Disclaimer* best at low tide to avoid nasty shore break
RESULT: Awesome session, some of the fastest ocean sailing at times, scary out the back as my JP65 and 6.3m started to do fin walks with more time off the water than on it.
Would I sail it again, YES/NO/MAYBE as a LOW tide option on a really windy day only, but no where near as good as the spot in a W/SW winter wind, its really hard to get out to the wind line, really hard, very patchy also, lots of time spent in the water!
WAVE/BUMP JUMP sailing, is definatly on big time around the waves off the rock wall, just gusty, but further out there is another break in the middle of the bay that would be cleaner wind, but less on the waves, there was a mad SUP guy out there yesterday!
In summary in 20+knt SE off the main beach Mools or Maroochy near Cotton tree on wave/bump gear a lot easier, still was nice not having to be concerned about breaking my neck/ankle hitting sandbars at full tilt, I find that more scary/dangerous than off shore ocean or wave sailing!
Last note, totally amazed at how much wind my 6.3m Loft blade can handle, at no time yesterday did I feel the sail over power me, amazing...the board over powered me out the back plenty, but the sail was amazing...pitty its such a b@$%ch to rig!
Enjoy the next few windy days!
Part two of Mooloolaba SE, sailability.
after a lazy lunch time high tide sail at Noojar rd, after work I hit Mooloolaba taking off just left of the loo with view(left hand arrow in the pic) for a greedy second sail of the day!
Low tide made the shore break nice and small, a bit of a swim and drift into deeper water then into the wind..a bit cleaner and more consistent than in the corner.
BUT just as you get flying....frkn#$%! shark nets! what a horid feeling getting caught up in them, who put them there! too close to shore!
It was still gusty but much better in all, and the further out the back the windier it got! and swell also got bigger, no surprises there I guess, was wishing i was on a 4.7 with a wave board, but blasted about on slalom gear ok...
the Shark net makes getting back a bugger as its right where you want to sail back to, and there are rocks if you drift down wind..
All in all much easier spot to sail due to better wind, but not as flat as in the corner...its a great free ride sailing spot in a BIG SE blow, cant belive more people dont sail it..pretty awesome coming on dusk with all the lights on the esplanade...
So if its really windy and you fancy something more challenging than a 100m flat water break your neck on a sand bar sail, put Mooloolaba beach on your list, especially if you have small wave/freeride gear there are great ramps out the back!
Would say its a lot easier to sail than in the coner, not sure how it would be at high tide? I'm thinking the walk down to the water puts you more into the wind sooner, high tide may be another story.
all this wind has me scouting the buy/sell for a wave board and sail, regret selling mine now! I feel bad that those windy ramps went to waste today..
