I grew up in the Macedon Ranges and used to struggle with the same dilemma. After trying lots of spots without much luck, I found the river at Barwon Heads really good for light wind practice. Used to launch on the Ocean Grove side in the grassed areas off the main road.

Also tried Cairn Curran a couple of times and was good except for the algae. I remember a good day in light winds at Rye too, but was much further for me. Especially in the pre-cross-city freeway days.

Lots of good memories

I'm new in melbourne and live in footscray and have tried a few different spots. I have finally settled on Point henry in Geelong for a northerly breeze (also works in almost any wind direction) and altona (launching from next to the boat ramp) in a southerly breeze although this can get quite rough when the wind really picks up.

If you are an absolute beginner Altona Beach (west of the pier at high tide or east of the boat ramp at low tide) with light southerly winds may be worth a look as the is water quite shallow so you can easily practice your beach starts when you fall off.

In a northerly you may even want to consider trying cherry lake, the bottom is very muddy and there are some hidden rocks at the west end which made an absolute mess of my fin (I found them at about 20 knots) but the water is nice and flat and its not too gusty for a lake.

Unless you are sailing a high volume board and are very confident in your skills launching from any of the williams town yacht clubs will be very difficult, Very gusty winds and a lot of traffic and moored yachts to contend with

D11 said: "Also, on the topic of the Mornington Peninsula, what's a good spot for a beginner? Got 4 days off starting Saturday and planning to use all of them to practice with my new gear."

Try the learner beach at Rye, corner of Daly St and Nepean Highway. Free carpark, 1 unisex toilet, no running water.

Closer to the Rye Yacht Club, there's a bigger car park. It's been years since I was last there, but there used to be running water, but no toilet, though you could walk to the toilet mentioned above.

Virtually anywhere from Safety Beach through to Rye is learnable, but watch the sandbanks at low tide. Also, on warm days, get there early, 'cos they're popular with families.

There are webcam links at the bottom of this page for Rye: baywx.com.au/schan.html

On the subject of the peninsula...

It looks like Saturday and Sunday are going to be E (Sat), N -> NW -> W (Sun). That's going to mean offshore winds for most of the peninsula on the Saturday. Also looks like Saturday is going to get a bit of wind (up to 20-25 kts). Once you get down to about Sorrento, or between Rye and Sorrento, the shoreline bends around and runs more WNW-ESE for a stretch. Would this area be ok for a beginner? Don't want to get into danger on my first solo outing. I have got upwind experience (on a 210L with a 4.9m sail), but not on my new board (145L with a 5.3m sail).

Maybe I can go across the other side of the bay at Indented Head, which Red suggested in an old thread, though that looks like it could be quite exposed to high wind given the position. At least Sorrento/Rye have fairly shallow water.