American wave sailor planning my first trip to OZ and planning to sail most days. Solo trip in a van probs. Like Paul VAN Bellen.
Travel to WA is just too far for me. Are winds reliable in late Dec/early Jan for wave sailing near Sydney in NSW?
Welcome any recommendations. If it's WA or bust (which I have heard before) I'll have to plan another trip for longer time, I'm afraid.
Select to expand quoteQuez said..
American wave sailor planning my first trip to OZ and planning to sail most days. Solo trip in a van probs. Like Paul VAN Bellen.
Travel to WA is just too far for me. Are winds reliable in late Dec/early Jan for wave sailing near Sydney in NSW?
Welcome any recommendations. If it's WA or bust (which I have heard before) I'll have to plan another trip for longer time, I'm afraid.
NE seabreezes blow through summer, depending on what the summer is like. One of the best spots is Gerroa - 2hrs south of Sydney
The NE afternoon seabreeze can be good in spring / early summer on the NSW coast. We are probably due a good season after a few lean ones. You won't sail every day even in a good season. The NE seabreeze cycles through for 1 to 3 days a week ( when the high is in the Coral Sea) interspersed with hot westerlies , short intense southerly front and often placid easterlies. The swell is usually best at the beginning of the NE cycle. There are a number of popular spots along the 2000km coast including Flat Rock near Ballina, Wallaby Pt near Taree, Nobbys in Newcastle, Long Reef in Sydney, Geroa south of Woolangong, Merimbula on the southern end of the coast. Geroa has land topography that enhances the NE seabreeze. The is also a really good competition and wind festival at Merimbula in late November that's definitely worth visiting.
Life on the east coast in late Dec-early Jan.
+/-10 percent chance it will be epic
-40 percent chance you'll get on the water
+50 percent chance you'll be sitting at the pub with bored crew knocking back bevvies talking about the WA forecast and how expensive flights are around Xmas, New Years.
Select to expand quoteQuez said..
American wave sailor planning my first trip to OZ and planning to sail most days. Solo trip in a van probs. Like Paul VAN Bellen.
Travel to WA is just too far for me. Are winds reliable in late Dec/early Jan for wave sailing near Sydney in NSW?
Welcome any recommendations. If it's WA or bust (which I have heard before) I'll have to plan another trip for longer time, I'm afraid.
Sydney to Perth flights are just 4 hours. The shortest flights form the US to Sydney (from Oahu) are 10 hours; from the US East Coast, typical connections are 24+ hours. It's well worth the extra hours. I'm not a wave sailor, but Coronation seems like the perfect spot for beginner wave sailors to top-level PWA competitors. Want bigger waves? Catch a good day at Margaret River. I watched a photo shoot with Philip Koester, Jaeger Stone, and a few more top sailors others there a few years back in double mast high waves that was the most amazing wave sailing I've ever seen (and I watch most PWA wave events). High loops or doubles on every run out, and great wave rides on every ride in. Pozo, Sylt, and other PWA wave spots looked like crap in comparison.
The last 3 or 4 years have been incredibly inconsistent on the East coast, so much so I moved West and others also moved away. Even arriving in what have been some of the worst years according to locals here you can have a lot more days on the water than in the East coast.
You'd be incredibly lucky to get good conditions on a short trip over East and rarely more than a couple of days in a row.
I really appreciate all of this feedback! Thank you so much, and definitely a lot to think through here
Yeah I agree with Sam
yes I have never lived in the east but I meet people every summer who have come to WA and are blown away by how much time on water they get here compared to nsw or vic
Caveat - I mean mid summer season
why go halfway around the world and not go to Lancelin and Geraldton? Especially if it's a short trip - if it's a couple of weeks do u want 8-10days sailing or 2?
fly into Perth get the cheapest van and gear you can, drive north
sell it when leaving
When I used to live in Sydney, you would see a forecast for the weekend and drive up the coast or down the coast, and sometimes there would be wind. More often them not you would sit around waiting for this wind to turn up. Sometimes it did.
When it was a good season, you might see a decent Noreaster at the airport as you drive past after work, but you would never know if there would still be a seabreeze on the weekend.
Now I live in WA, when you get a week like this one, you think 'yeah, it's windy, I can go next time'. I think it has made me too lazy as I can choose to go sailing or kiting when I want to. And the wind would actually come in almost all the time.
I remember when I first started coming to WA people would marvel at my huge range of sails and wonder why. They would have only a few sails and time their sailing to suit the conditions. I think that says a lot for the conditions.
That said, I am not sure what it has been like the last few years in Sydney, but in WA I think it was a good season in 2019/2020, but pretty ordinary since then. This week seems too good to be true...
If your trip is only based on windsurfing then don't rely on Sydney/east coast. The massive boom in housing has defiantly affected the micro climate and out sea breezes are no longer consistent, as regular nor as strong. I moved to Australia to go windsurfing in WA, 40 years ago but I've never got there yet! WA or bust!
