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We're coming into warmer weather and eventually the Freo doctor will start bringing its regular afternoon sw winds to perth. Where should I go for my first attempts at downwinding? Was thinking the swan as I've seen a couple of YouTube clips. Looks like Melville water? Pt Walter heading towards applecross??
The Swan is a great place to start as it is nice and safe and the overall run isn't too long. However you will find it better in the winter when we get the big westerly fronts come in (like in the video).The run in the video is Pt Walter to Heathcote in a 30knt westerly. With the seabreeze you don't get enough fetch to really create great runners, so it will be more like a wind assisted paddle rather than a down winder, still not a bad place to start. The river is also a great place to start as you don't have to worry about swell getting mixed up with the wind runners and everything is nicely groomed.
Best to also check the river usage as well as the wind!
Boats competing in a time trial or yacht races can make the water very choppy.
Lets us know how you go.
Down Winding on the Ocean is the best, however rivers & estuaries are pretty cool places to be when it's blowing the right way :)
Mandurah Estuary in Winter
Swan River in Winter
Once the Dr kicks in one of the more sheltered runs is the Woodman Point to South Beach run. Jump off from the end of the point and head for the Fremantle Hospital building. Garden Island protects you from ocean swells till the last bit of the run, leaving you with nicely groomed runners that have built up along Cockburn Sound. Only downside is there are break in problems with vehicles at Woodies. As mentioned before by the SUSS crew,winter is definately better for downwinders on the Swan. Possible in summer late arvo but the breeze can drop quite quickly and boat traffic can be a real problem.
These are a couple more videos recorded a couple of weeks later than the first video.
I know a few crew got out last week and got some incredible runners in 30-35knts.
