pedleym said...

hey puppet
i often do downwinders from madora bay to shoalwater
it is quite weird because any further south the wind starts to drop out
also around long point the you have to stay a fair way out as wind also drops out near the jetty
but all in all it is a fun down winder

tightlines said...

As you are no doubt aware you will be lucky to get consistent wind at that time of the year but with the conditions we had for summer anything is possible so good luck.

puppetonastring said...


Spot on TL - any other year Id be saying 'waste of time' but this year Im with you - anything is possible so why not try for anything. Wont be at all surprised if it doesnt come off but reckon you gotta keep options open.

Thanks for feedback so far. And pls keep it coming. I will get back to you all via PM's for more info.

Mystery for the weather nerds - why is it wind drops out between Mandurah & Bunbury. Seems its an all time rule ??? Weird. Is there a reason.








As a mandurahite i have watched the wind closely, by the hour (yes I'm obsessed) for 8 or so years now. You will see the seabreeze kick in like perth/rocko for an hour or so, then bang she drops again, to finally kick in albeit less an hour or so later. Although more than is liked it stays the same 5 knot less wind.

My theory: The land heats up, hot air rises, seabreeze fills in (no sh1t you say). Then due to the presence of what is a pretty large body of water (the estuary - I live in falcon and there is what would be less than 4 km strip of land between the estuary and the ocean), the air is relatively cooler. The in filling sea-breeze hits this cooler air hence the initial drop in wind. Sometimes the wind is strong enough to overcome this, and the land heat differential across the estuary links up and all is well.

But as I said too often the wind is not only less, but much much more gustier - very noticeable above 20 knots - just look at the charts next time, well next season when we get a seabreeze, have a look at the grey gust bars. All over the place.

hence my choice of kite (you all know too well what that is). You need smoothness in a kite down here, and enough raw power to get through the lulls.

My bro and I use 11m kites (well his is an 11.5m kahoons V2), and we would use this kite 85% of the time. Anything smaller just sits in our shed until winter.

Hence why I'm looking for a bigger kite, that still will turn quick enough.

I'm in for the downwinder by the way, but puppet unless we get some freak weather this will have to wait until next season. last few days have been perfect temp, but no wind man. The high's have already moved to north - or is the otherway round, can't remember.

bakesy said...

bit of a tip for vehicle access(beach) puppet, Whitehills through to Tim's exit can be problematic at the moment, Whitehills south to Preston is fine atm but to get through to Tims is a tide and sand issue at the moment, one particular spot were you need to get around a rocky outcrop can only be done at low tide and swell needs to be minimal (1.5m). Of course Tims to Melros is closed with beach access at Melros only for launching boats. Then the stretch up to the Cut is off limits until Pyramids from there on a coastal road is on offer. Good luck sounds like fun.

puppetonastring said...

Nice take on it Eppo - sounds logical enough to be accurate. Huge open beach like that should get clean wind?







On a westerly front as per normal but the estuary must impact on the consistency of the sea breeze wind. Above 25 knots can be a real handful. The gust range is probably twice as bad as further north. Just have a look at the graphs they tell the story.

Comments pls........