Hey,
I am wondering how is windsurfing like on Peel Inlet.
Could you guys post some comments and reviews?? Where to go? What spots to avoid? What are the conditions like?
Great, you can sail pretty much any wind direction.
Distances are very deceptive, ie you can be a lot further away from base than what you think.
That water gets seriously F'ken cold in winter, where you can get in trouble in about 15-20mins if you are stuck out in deeper water, hence why we use PFD's.
Trust elmo to beat me to the post button, as he says it's a big body of water, roughly 10km diameter, and the eastern side is very isolated.
So what sort of windsurfing are you interested in?
Most of the regulars, are part of the "GPS Team Challenge" and we're into speed sailing, so want flat water.
Some of the better sailors have hit 40kts here.
If you search Fangman's posts you should find something, he made a google map with lots of marks and comments on it.
Also here,
www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/pages/guides/hardies_rocks
Is a diagram of the rock garden markers, between Novara and alpha land. Unless it's very high tide and you have a sub 20cm fin, stay well clear of this area.
Basically there are lots of places to sail, depending on wind direction and tide.
There are a few places relatively smooth up to about 25kts, once over that most of the spots start getting choppy.
The wind on the estuary is probably 5kts lighter than the ocean.
In winter there's a lot of very cold rain run off from the hills and the estuary is fairly shallow so looses it's heat quickly. So expect water temperature to be much colder than the ocean.
In summer, the reverse is true, in the shallow areas the water heats up and can be very warm.
There are Crabs that nip and cobblers that sting, these can be very unpleasant to say the least. There's also plenty of sting rays but I haven't heard of any agro from them as yet. There's been shark sightings as well, but so far no attacks I know of, plenty of dolphins to give you a scare though, they'll try and surf your bow wave, and can pop up right beside you without any warning.
Forgot to mention the weed, you can get away with a pointer most of the time in deeper water, there's usually not a lot of weed floating on the surface in the deep water. If there is a bit of loose weed out there a 30deg rake is usually adequate to clear it.
But most shallow areas have weed growing from the bottom, even a 40deg fin will collect this at sub planing speeds.
Then there are the "weedburgs" this is a mass of dead weed that's collected in shallow areas, these can be so dense you can walk on them, stand still too long and you slowly sink, but hit them at speed with anything less than 50deg rake and you'll be over the handle bars. The estuary is relatively clear of them at the moment, but you always have to be aware of their possibility.
And I've found Fangy's post, check it out.
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Gps/Mandurah-WA-Coodanup-foreshore-info-and-map/
Thanks for your reviews. I appreciate the efforts!
I read the posts carefully but could not find any info about the depth of the water etc..
I looked into naval maps which indicates water depth around 1.5m mark which is ok I am not sure about the areas close to launch...
If I am going for a normal freeride windsurfing with 46cm fin let say will it be ok in the shellows?
Not unless it's very high tide with a strong storm surge.
My biggest fin is 31cm, and I have to be very careful where I go when using it.
But the naval maps can't be very accurate, because out in the middle it's well over my head.
You can use a 46cm fin in most of the estuary but not real close to shore.
I use a 46 regularly, just close your eyes when going in close to shore "if you cant see it you cant hit it"
as Mike said you just go out deeper
Out in the middle of the estuary it is deep but varying depths around the edges, sometimes shallow for 500-1000m in parts. Take into account tide variations and you may be looking at 10 cm depth or 1 m. Best to ask the locals for advice on the day, or give us an idea of when you are thinking of sailing there. Big seasonal differences in tide, prevailing wind and weed. Local knowledge is very important. Oh, and you'll feel much more comfortable with booties if you step off a lot - it can be very squishy and weedy on the bottom and there are lots of crabs which will nip you.
