Augusta

Has anyone speedsailed the Augusta river mouth?



Was down there yesterday, blowing a solid 25-30 knots. The dunes to the right of the picture front onto the beach, and the wind was blowing pretty much straight across them. Water looked really flat from where I was standing! You've just got to get across a shallow bar to get there, didn't look that hard to do. Once you're over there the rivermouth is looong... a couple of k's at least.



Anyone sailed there?

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Speed sailed the river-mouth (top middle of the photo) with John Norton and Peter Volwater in Jan 2014.

Quite gusty getting up there, the dunes play havoc with the wind.

At the river mouth the dunes are lower so it's less gusty, with some nice flat water but short runs.

That day we were getting 36 to 38 knots runs - 3 days before PV got a 44 at the same spot

Well worth the effort, crystal clear water at the river mouth. JJ

And chrissy day could be howling if you can get away. Or my local (Busselton) if I can't.

Nebs,
even though the sand dunes make it a bit gusty you can still get some nice flat and colorful water to blast around on. Just beware the odd tree branches with weed caught up around them about half way down in the middle, may be gone by now. As others have said dunes a bit lower at the distant mouth, with a pocket of flat water close to bank that runs into a shallow bar. When you head back from the distant mouth tend to follow the channel around this bar and point back up again, can be a bit hard in arvo' with sun glare trying to gauge depth at times. Best to explore on a low tide if you can, otherwise pretty safe place and nice spot to rig.

On my 8.7 I sailed down the inlet, then out the far mouth and played a bit there and then returned back via the surf into the near mouth/entrance to which is to the right of you're pic.

Fantastic info there guys, thanks so much.

Spotty those pictures had me salivating all over my keyboard. Suddenly a howling SE'er has options available to it

And it's only half an hour down the road

Ta, muchly

I sailed there earlier this year. That shallow bar was not there, but they had only just opened the channel to the ocean at this end, so maybe it has built up as a result of that. That may also influence the depth of the water at the other river mouth.
The run up to the river mouth was very gusty owing to the variable dune height. Kites had clear wind but it was very on/off for me.
Still a good option for you in SE.

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BSN101 said..
I went down on Wednesday and had a quick blast around. About 10 kites up but was pretty gusty. Tide was real low too. past few days its been blowing its box off, just look at the weather at cape leeuwin!

Yeah I know all about it today, took my ledge to lancelin gear down there to dust off the cobwebs and make sure everything fits before the race.

Note to self, a 7m sail is too big for 30 knot gusts. Sooo gusty, shallow in spots, difficult to get out to the 'spot' but the water is really flat when you get out there...

Think I'll take the kite next time I go there, or just sail on the other side of the sand bar.

Gave this a whirl yesterday, pretty disappointing. The dunes are too high! Spoke with a local, since they moved the river exit to the west (this year) the dunes have gotten much higher.

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racerX said...
Gave this a whirl yesterday, pretty disappointing. The dunes are too high! Spoke with a local, since they moved the river exit to the west (this year) the dunes have gotten much higher.

Man that's bad luck considering how it was blowing today. 25knts or more since 630am with max at 41knts. Today would have been great! I squeezed about an hour in dec 28th (that's all the time I had. Water a bit low but still had quite a few good runs on 6.5 NP Ryde. I'll go on Friday if it's like today. Mmm Cow Town bakery feed too.