Anyone ever heard of people sailing lake eyre? I've seen so many pictures on the news of water flooding in from qld and am heading that way on a camping trip and considering taking the sailing gear.
Considering that it only floods in there about three times a century and windsurfing probably wasnt even invented the last time it did
.....let us know how you go.
Some of the other lakes up there used to be deep enough to sail trailor sailors on...
I went there on a family trip when it flooded in the early nineties and wanted to take my gear. It would be a long muddy walk to get water deep enough.
I remember seeing a picture of 2 guys who sailed it, may have been in the advertiser - Dave?
hmmm crazy idea...don't think that one will get off the ground??!!
Will let you know how I go guys, thanks for the tips. Hopefully I return with a few good pics of me planing across the lake.
The held a Hartley TS16 race regatta there in the flood during the early 80's. These boats draw about 1m so there was heaps of water... not much wind though (always the way!)
Wouldn't the constant influx of salt water and evaporation of the fresh water would make it very salty/acidic in a few years, unsuitable for anything? Then you'd have ruined something that's been around for many thousands of years.
Way to go, man.
If my memory serves me well it was our old friends Shane O' Callaghan and a blast from the past named Peter Jefferies it was in the early 80's i think.
woodsea
yes i remember that trip and a few other's who also did/tried the same thing.
one group (Des's) camped at the edge of the water and over night the wind changed directions... had to walk in soft mud for five hundred meters or more to get to fin depth (only using 25cm fins). an experience but not good sailing.
fantastic to see and fly over, a real big effort to sail on,
David
I seem to remember some guys who sailed at Semaphore a few years back had a gear trailer with a map of Lake Eyre drawn on the side, and marked up with their windurfing route.
But everything I hear from canoeists etc is that it's one long, long trudge to fin/paddle blade depth
Some time ago some of the land sailing guys were looking at a trip there,
have a look at this link it might have some info you might need
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44543
and of particular interest would be this link about the "Lake Eyre Yacht Club"
www.lakeeyreyc.com/
Good luck if anyone does the trip I would love to see the pics......
Hi,
I windsurfed on lake Eyre south about twenty years ago with my kids. We had a few good runs then the wind changed and the water went away. We had to walk back a long way through mud.
We had a much better time windsurfing on Lake Torrens when it filled about a year later. The water was deep and crystal clear. We took a bit of video and John Riddell when he was a reporter for Ch 9 put a story together for the weekend TV news.
I will be up Lake Eyre way in August and will probably have a kite surf.
Hi All
I sailed it on Windsurfers in the mid 80's with a mate. Very muddy and a long walk to the waters edge and even further to clear a fin. Advertiser caught up and wanted a photo so went in again from road to Oodnadatta.
Wind was light and flukey and only about knee deep a few kilometres out. No land marks so can be difficult to find your way back to where you started.
Really salty so easy to float!
cheers
Ross
Really interesting links quoted above. Interesting that the indigenous folk knew there was going to be a big flood in fnq before it happened by the pelicans nesting up high and some grub appearing.
