The forecast is looking pretty good for this weekend so there should be a pretty good turnout at Low Head. Saturday looks pretty northwesterly and Sunday will probably be a little more from the west.
Peter Nitshke will be at Lagoon on Saturday with a range of his Manta sailboards to demo, he should also have some Lorch boards in the van.
I am still editing the video footage from last week at Lagoon, but should have it ready to post next week. Meanwhile here are a couple of photos, the first is Tim H getting on a windsurfer for the first time in 17 years, the skills never go away but they do get a little rusty. The second photo is an old one but I don't have any good new photos from this summer at East Beach.
Are any southerners going up to either Low Head or racing at Port Dalrymple (apart from Dave & Steve). I'm keen to go up if there's wind, wouldn't mind a sail at Low Head.
I can't make it up but looks like you're going to have a good turnout
Great to see some action in the north, well done Al, you guys are really ramping it up
Have fun at the Port races
Lagoons Beach is at the mouth of the Tamar river on the eastern side.
Great spot to sail on anything westerly.
Well that was a great day, probably at the top end of my ability, came in at around 25-30 for most of the day. 5 knots less and it would have been perfect (for me) Good turnout, met some new people, learnt some new things. Looking forward to my next session there.
Looks like you guys got plenty of wind wich is more than us poor ba$%$# down here
. We spent most of the weekend looking for wind and very lettle sailing.
The westerlies were pretty reliable all weekend. I missed most of the best conditions on Saturday due to work, arriving quite late in the day to find that most of the windsurfers were feeling pretty hammered by the punishing conditions. The wind started to die by the time I could get on the water.
Sunday started with light conditions so we spent the morning teaching the kids to sail at Pilot Station Beach. The wind was a little stronger than ideal (quite gusty and up to 10 kts at times) Still the six children who participated all had a great time. We had two rigs, a 1m sail on a 122l Kode and a 2m on a Rio.The stand out for me was seeing Theo, who is 5 years old, cruising downwind with absolute confidence, a real proud dad moment.
In the afternoon the wind kicked in and the big kids, myself included, enjoyed some nice 20kt+ conditions at Lagoon Beach. Highlights included seeing Adam cranking his Zot at absolute top speed (retro is the new cool), Ben confidently planing around on the Rio (after spending more time on the water than anyone else on Saturday he was back for another big session on Sunday).
The wind cranked again on Monday, having no regard those of us that have to work. Having watched the obs all day I fully expected conditions to ease off at the end of the day. Fortunately it was still windy at 8pm so with dinner still settling I drove down to East Beach and rigged up a 5.3. Conditions were very gusty but there was a little 2 foot swell to provide a few wave rides. I tried to stay out longer than the surfers but I think they were waiting for the lull that can happen at night fall.
Hi Al good to see you are getting some company out on the water.
You know it's strange, I hear all about having to work when the wind is up but two times now I've been in Launceston and dropped into the shop for a chat only to be told you weren't there because you were sailing. Funny that.