In order to un-hijack the "weight vs speed" forum, here's a new place to debate this important topic. As an inexperienced but enthusiastic speedster, where are the best speed spots in WA, who has sailed them and what are the fastest speeds ("on the dial") recorded there?
I don't know much, but if Sandy is a perfect 10, what are Woodies, Pt Walter, Hardies etc.
My best has been at Cervantes (35.9kn). I give it a seven - it's very short, the entry is horrific but it is flat and windy as hell in Summer only.
Incidentally, there are some sandbars out in Shark Bay off Monkey Mia that look fantastic on Google Earth, and it is definitely windy. Has anyone been there to sail? I am planning a trip in December to check it out, so maybe I'll be the first, or at least close enough to the first to start an online argument about naming rights...
I was going to go last year but was not up to it. I had scouted some good possibilities tho' obviously Monkey Mia will win out on amenities, an important consideration. But there are so many possibilities up there. Even on the way to MM.
Here are some others which you should still be able to get to with that low slung 4WD of yours.
Clough bar .. access may be an issue as Useless loop is a closed town.
Further out is a nice cresent beach at -26.174,113.2 which should be good in southerlys.
After having the lucky privelage of sailing some of the best speed spots in the world the past few years, I'll add 2c to this topic.
If we are talking "best days ever" for each spot, purely on speed potential - ie dont care if its sub-zero, blows once a decade, is infested with deadly creatures...: Heres a rating out of 20- relative to Sandy Pt in a SWer.
Woodmans Pt 3
Melville beach (over the top of the sandbar) 4
Pt Walter sandbar 5
Lake P 7-10*
Hardy's run ?
Pelican Pt 2
Sandy Pt:
WSWer- 20
WNW (at the carpark) -7
NW (yanakie, _low_ tide)- 10
E - 14
International places:
Canal 25
Walvis Bay 10
Dias Pt Luderitz 12
* yet to be tested on a good day.
Chris (aus111) i know a place where it blows 30-40 knots every day and night thru summer and has potentially more flat water speed strips in the 1 location than all of the ones slowy has just mentioned put together!
it is also located within a days travel of Perth.
you just need to have some money at your disposal and some time and its just there waiting for us
i am not going to tell you here where its at,some of the SRM'ers know where i am talking about because they have heard me rave about it before
but if you are keen to know p.m me.
the only clue i will give is this...people have been eaten alive in this area.....
Yeah Slowy, you do seem to be a very harsh critic of good old Woodies. It's windy enough, and there is flat water in close when the tide is up...hmmm...it's gotta be either the thieves in the carpark or the fact that it's over run with kiters??
Has anyone cracked 40 at Woodies?
Yeah I dont rate woodies cos the wind quality is absolutely sh!t even on a 30+ seabreeze. You get 100m of good conditions, then the wind shuts off as you hit the lee of the bushes... I've done 40 peaks there a few times but given the wind strength it was always quite slow.
I rate Melville on a honking seabreeze because the water is not too choppy to go quite fast, but the wind gusts are big enough and strong enough to get more than a few seconds powered up at a broad angle. They are also quite stable since they are coming over the water for a few hundred metres or more. Sure its mega gusty, but the quality of the gusts makes the speed potential relatively high. Timing is everything. Trick to getting a good speed at Melville is to rig big, find a gust, and bear away into it broad. Hang on!
Pt Walter suffers from the same gusty factor, but in a seabreeze the angle is too tight to make the most of the gusts. You run out of them too quickly. In a WSWer its even more gusty but if you hook onto a 45kt squall you can go silly fast there.
IF you have the time there are plenty of spots up there.
On the road from Denham to Monkey Mia is a huge lake/pond of salt water it's reasonably shallow but has consistent wind and is big enough to do some decent runs.
On the northern side of the river entrance at Carnarvon there is a good spot, you have to wlk 500 metres to get to the water though and go across the scary channel
Gnaraloo bay is good for speed runs but only for 600 metres (40+ has been done here)
Cervantes is on again 24/11/07
P.S. I will be attempting some speed runs at Woodies this season to test the water.
