Has anyone sailed Smith's Lake in a southerly wind? Southerlies are forecast for later in the week it may be possible for me to stay somewhere round there and go windsurfing for a couple of days. What about some of the other lakes in the area in a southerly? I'm pretty flexible about locations as we have nothing booked and would probably stay in a motel somewhere round there, even if its a bit of drive from the water, like Taree or Buladelah.
Hi Mobydisc,
Yes Smiths Lake work's great in a southerly.
If you are familiar with the area you would drive down the dirt road to Sandbar caravan park and launch from there you won't be disappointed.
If you are lucky there is some cabins to rent there but call them first to see availability it get's full at this time of the year, its a very relaxed place.
Wallis Lake is also down the road and very nice but I have not sailed there when its a southerly so maybe someone else can advise you about that place.
If you do get a sail in at Smiths lake Let me know how you go and how the lake is at this time. I would image there is plenty of water over the sand flat area and probably a 1m or so deep all over the sandbar corner.
Enjoy
Kind Regards
Walt
I've sailed Smith's. NE is better but southerly still OK. Better bet would be Wallis lake which is only a short drive north from Pacific Palms area. It can be a little weedy although I have not sailed there for years.
For waves Bluey's is X, X-on. If you head to Wallis it's worth a look on the surf side from Tiona Park up or even Foster 20 minutes up the road.
Check out the surf at Boomerang after a day or two of southerly wind, it will be cranking at the south end.
Thanks,
I don't windsurf in the surf anymore as its a bit full on for me now. I don't mind doing a bit of body surfing and swimming in the surf though.
Walt do you have any contact details for the people managing the cabins? It would be great to stay close to the water for a couple of days. I think you posted some pictures from there and it looked pretty good.
I'll post my findings from there if we end up windsurfing at Smith's along with any other location around there.
Hey Mobydisc,
I have sent a PM message to you with some details
hope there's something available for you.
Kind Regards
Walt
Moby, I havent sailed Smiths, but a bit further up the coast there is the Pacific Palms sailing club. Long runs in a S or my preference is a SW which is what it is today (up here in Port at least) as the runs become super long. I am taking some time off work today, depending upon what time I get out I might head down to P.Palms......if I dont get out as early as I expect I will have to sail Queens closer to home. Should be nice down there, esp if the sun stays out like it is now, Fiji clear water, shallow sandy bottom and a nice serving of wind.....ENJOY
Edit: Hope you brought a weed fin, the southerly tends to tear the ribbon weed out of the lakebed
Hi,
We could not find any accommodation around there. We left it too late. So we kept going south and went to Hawks Nest. Good accommodation at a reasonable price and great windsurfing in southerly winds at Jimmy's Beach and on one of the Myall Lakes. The lake is huge. I sailed out for about ten minutes on a planing run and was only about half way across.
We saw some windsurfers and a kiter at Smiths Lake. We were close to the Sandpipers resort. It did not look that windy in the southerly. A bit too protected by hills to the south.
It was the southern most lake, the one that feeds into the Myall River. I launched from a White Tree Bay camp site about 20 minutes drive from Hawks Nest. The water is reddish in colour and not very salty. Its called Bombah Broadwater. In a southerly wind a reach across the lake is a bit over 7kms according to Google Earth.
Because the land is quite flat to the south, the wind was reasonably consistent without any huge lulls.
