Any tips on where to go during a 4-6 week windsurfing visit to Australia? My wife and I are in the early planning stage for a trip in early 2019. We're hoping to sail some of the great speedsurfing spots like Lake George. We'd be flying in from the US (but we're German!), so we'd stay as long as we can afford, up to 2 months. We'd definitely hope to meet some of the Australian speedsurfing teams. We'd probably stay at a bunch of spots for a few days to a week or so.

Any tips on which spots to visit around January-March, how to go about gear and car rental/purchase, where to stay, etc., will be much appreciated!

That period is good everywhere, I think you would get the best sailing if you go to Western Australia, but lake George from there is 3 days driving one way. In my opinion you should land in Perth, there are plenty of options and awesome speed sailors there.

January to March is excellent sailing in Western Australia, you have all the Perth, and Mandurah Spots, and when it gets hot you drive 4 hrs south to Albany with has brilliant sailing. Lake George when it is windy and the water conditions are good is a fantastic place to sail. February tends to be best for Lake George. If there was a forecast of 5 or more good days for Lake George, you would find at least 2 or 3 of us driving the 2 and a half days to sail there.

Thanks! We'll give Western Australia a closer look. Any tips for where to stay? Are there spots where it's easy to rent a place for a few weeks, and then drive to various nearby spots, or is it better to stay local? Camping or motels? The budget will be somewhat limited, it's definitely not L?deritz-trip sized!

Stayz.com for rental houses/flats.
Perth ocean & river. Mandurah speed sailing. Margaret River waves. August ESE, se, sse only speed. Busselton ocean & long runs quite flat. Lancelin, Cervantes, Leeman, coral bay Exmouth. Heaps on the west coast. And we are all pretty friendly too.

January is school holiday time, so accommodation could be a bit harder to find especially in the popular tourist spots.

January is possibly getting a bit late for the more Northern locations, especially if there's no wind, (think 40C and lots of flies.)

Lake George is fantastic when it's on, but water level is critical, and a year in advance is too long to tell what it will be like.

Here in Mandurah our speed spots rely on weed growth to be at their best, that's also unpredictable, (by me anyway).

Geraldton has some great spots, but more bump and JUMP and waves, that only rely on wind, and they seem to get plenty of it.

Not sure about renting gear or vehicles equipped to carry it.

This site has some local info on it, not sure how up to date it is.
windsurfwa.com/index.html

Certainly be nice to catch up with you, if you come this way

Thanks for the links! We just learned that we'll be able to fly with frequent flyer miles, so the ticket costs will be around $200 for fees rather than $3000+ for the two of us, thanks to generous bonus miles when you get a credit card. My lovely wife is quite excited about the trip, so it's very likely that we'll come in 2019. We may fly into Melbourne and leave from Perth (or vice versa), so we can see Sandy Point and Lake George on the way. It will be cool to get to actually meet the people behind the posts here and on GPSTC! I'm especially curious to see how much of the crazy speeds you guys are posting all the time are due to great speed spots, and how much is due to exceptional skills.

Since we'll probably buy most of our gear (with the hope to sell it again before we leave), we'll focus mostly on flat water spots for speedsurfing. Quite possible that my wife will grab a freestyle board and sail, too, if we find a reasonable offer, since that's her first passion. Fortunately, she also likes flat and shallow water for freestyle.

Generally good wind at Sandy Pt is more likely in Oct / Nov, while Lake George is best in Jan to early March. Trying to do both could be difficult.

The prime time for epic Sandy Pt speed storms is usually September - October, but January through March is generally more reliable for more days sailing, and many of us have done excellent speeds in that period. We usually get some quite good cold fronts in that period as well.
My 5th best speeds from GPSTC Jan 06 2014: 2 seconds: 46.332, 5 x 10 sec 43.834

Strong Easterlies are also common Jan -March, and 40+ knots speeds are common on them.
I have not cracked a 40 this year yet but I think I may tomorrow!
Easterlies here are also great for flat water freestyle. Ssshh.

But Nah! Our speed sailing conditions are actually quite miserable. We are all just super skilled!

Hope to meet you here.

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hardie said..
If there was a forecast of 5 or more good days for Lake George, you would find at least 2 or 3 of us driving the 2 and a half days to sail there.

I am assuming you are not saying you'd drive for 2 1/2 from WA to Canberra just to sail on a lake?

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stehsegler said..
I am assuming you are not saying you'd drive for 2 1/2 from WA to Canberra just to sail on a lake?

Different Lake George, and it is worth the drive if you stay for a month or so. After that you'd be dying for a rest.
And being an old fart I take more like 3 1/2 days