A recent enquiry about the best time for Sandy Point speed-sailing reminded me that the time is upon us again. This is the time of the year when we usually get the wildest and strongest WSW frontal winds. This is the time of the year we used to hold the Speedweek and Speed Fortnight events for so many years. It was within those weeks when we have had our most epic and memorable days.

Sustained winds of 50-60 knots are not uncommon in this time period. Witness the epic day of the first GPS speedweek in 2004 where we had 40-50 knots most of the day, and boards and rigs were literally blown away from their sailors.

Chris Lockwood saw over 44 knots on his GPS!



And I first cracked a recorded 40 knots on my 3.7m wave sail.



Foxy, lost his grip on his rig and his board and rig cartwheeled 200m downwind, just missing Craig Hollins sailing upwind!

Go back even further to 1989 when during the Speed Trials we had sustained 45-50 knots all day with gusts over 60, and Mal Wright exceeded the existing outright World Record speed, while most of us mere mortals just got well and truly worked over.





And of course the epic 27-09-09 when we had 45 to 60 knots all day. Again, most of us got trashed, but one who goes by the name 'Spotty' (on a 5m sail) cracked the big 50 Knots peak, while Tony Wynhoven (on a 4.4m Koncept. The only time in his life he has used one) claimed the WGPSSRC 10 second World Record with 47.52 Knots. (Spotty later claimed this record in 2011 at Sandy Point with 47.58 Konts)
( www.continentseven.com/new-gps-speedsurfing-world-record-at-sandy-point/ )

During the Speedweek and Speed Fortnight years, speeds between 45 and 50 knots, in winds over 35-40 knots, were a regular occurrence with the who's who of Australian windsurfing Speed Sailors as regular attendees. The photos and videos are around, but a bit beyond the scope of this post.

My recent digging up of some videos from September highlighted this to me again.

25-09-13:

Mat's crash at 42 knots: (we never get tired of seeing this one! )



same day not crashing on 4m sail and 40+ wind:



same day Ado on a 4.4m:



Sailquik on 4.2m: (View in HD to see the sand blowing)



A few days later on the Saturday, 28-09-13 were were joined by others and greeted with 50+ knots of Mayhem:

Craig Hollins:



It's not very often you see Spotty swatted with a 5m sail (2014 Koncept Proto):



Spotty walking back for another go. Check out the sandstorm in the background:



Spotty having another go. Check out the smoke on the water (50+ Knots bullets, and that's behind the sand dune!) and how he is getting worked. It looks like he got a bit to close to the dune and got backwinded at the end:



And a couple of really old Pre GPS ones from 1991 just for fun:

Geoff Smith on 3.2m Sail:



Speed tandem @ 35 knots with 3.5m and 3.7m speed sails:



And another with 'controlled' get of:



All these clips were from this time of the year. I see a possibility of the first big front next Tuesday, but it may stay too Nor'Westerly. But if you are keen to challenge yourself, I'd be keeping an eye on the forecasts for the next couple of weeks at least!

awesome post!

Uncle Chop Chop would be proud

Love it! I guess there must be no wind!

Nothing comes close to the fluoro tandem video with Van Halen!

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Adriano said..
Love it! I guess there must be no wind!

Nothing comes close to the fluoro tandem video with Van Halen!

..how about an inflatable tandem with inflatable rig's in 40 knots, with Tim Minchin's 'Inflatable You' what could possible go wrong.. super safe sailing with inflatable co-rider/doll

LOL!

Data from the big day, and getting more difficult to get another PB there looking at those start vids Daffy. The gustiness at the start can be violent and hard to manage as you try pinch up to the last dune. Now there is many, so have to stay a bit further out to get cleaner air at the start costing entry speed.

Data below from Navi and Foretrex,

That's a pretty decent storm. Your lucky the whole state didn't loose power

Hey boys, did your hear that's how the low pressure is going to develop this Saturday, the BOM have it all wrong.
Ill see you there at the PiT.

Stop it !!!!!
I'm not even close to getting back on the water and this just makes me me sad

Wish I could make it but I am in warm weather. What would be the penalty for sneaking a d10 with sand tracks in for a night of dune reduction surgery?

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Piv said..
Wish I could make it but I am in warm weather. What would be the penalty for sneaking a d10 with sand tracks in for a night of dune reduction surgery?

a night? you'd need about 12 months.

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Piv said..
Wish I could make it but I am in warm weather. What would be the penalty for sneaking a d10 with sand tracks in for a night of dune reduction surgery?

Just do it Piv. We can keep a secret!

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Spotty said..
Data from the big day, and getting more difficult to get another PB there looking at those start vids Daffy. The gustiness at the start can be violent and hard to manage as you try pinch up to the last dune. Now there is many, so have to stay a bit further out to get cleaner air at the start costing entry speed.

(Those results are from 27-09-09. )

Thats true Spotty, but the window is still there. It just has to be at just the right angle. That day, the 28th-09-13 with the videos was dead westerly (270). Ideal angle is between 260 and 245 now. Then there is still not much interference to the wind and ideal bank angle. Best is probably between 250 and 255 degrees. (WSW) When the wind well is up over 35 Knots, it is still possible to start where you were in those videos. Buts as you say, you have to stay a bit further out on the run up.

It's starting to look promising for next Wednesday morning...

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sailquik said..

Piv said..
Wish I could make it but I am in warm weather. What would be the penalty for sneaking a d10 with sand tracks in for a night of dune reduction surgery?

Just do it Piv. We can keep a secret!

AFAIK it's environmental restoration work!

Might get some quotes!! Plenty of mining gear in surplus yards here in Perth but just a bit too far to float. Might be something coming up from vic coal mines soon!

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mathew said...

Piv said..
Wish I could make it but I am in warm weather. What would be the penalty for sneaking a d10 with sand tracks in for a night of dune reduction surgery?

a night? you'd need about 12 months.

Have you seen a d10 in action? 50 cu m every push. Just need to knock the tops off those dunes, push up the trees and smooth out the big lumps. Would be worth it even if it did take 12 months!

FOUND IT!

This is ripped from Mal Wrights excellent little video of 2004 Speedweek.

I am struggling to work out exactly how strong the wind was. I think I measured it on my anemometer before we rigged and seem to remember 30-35 Knots with possible higher gusts. The big difference is that the wind was very solid in that 30-35 kt's range. Very Solid!! Those were the days of no sand dunes and the wind was laminar to water level.

That is gold. Looks like hard work on the way back. Got any of the runs? Increased air density from all the sand being blown.

Solid 50kts, I was hanging onto a 3.7 kult when Foxey offered me his gear to try. oh for another 2 days like that day. One day to go oh s@$)t it's windy and the second to go fast

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kato said..
Solid 50kts, I was hanging onto a 3.7 kult when Foxey offered me his gear to try. oh for another 2 days like that day. One day to go oh s@$)t it's windy and the second to go fast

I can relate to your excitement Kato, but I think the wind strength has magnified in your memory with the passage of time. You were actually on a 4.7 Kult!

I was on the 3.7 Kaos, but I am just a little old wimp!

I think Fox's sail was 5.2m or 4.7m and Chris L was on a 5.5m. No way he could have held that in much over 35-40 knots.

Also, you will see that there is none of that 'smoke on the water' we get when the wind is up around 50 knots.

I recon if we got that today I would be on a 5m or maybe even 5.4m. (with plenty of lead on board).

I did measure the wind with anemometer and there was only around 35 when I did. I remember now talking to the MI guys about it. They said it was about 7-10 knots over their window, and they were not really comfortable with much more than high 20's

I will try to post the more of the video to Youtube

here is another teaser. Chris L sailing back upwind and then bearing away into the chop a bit. The fast speeds were downwind on the other tack, but Mal was only filming from the Launch area. There is either a very steady hand and/or some amazing video stabilisation going on as even at extreme zoom the video is quite steady.



you can seem Amac standing in Awe at the end and the back of Foxy's head, probably thinking the same thing along with all the rest of us!

Good reason to have an uphaul so you can hang onto the gear! I'll have 30kts please- anymore and I'd get blown off the water!

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sboardcrazy said..
Good reason to have an uphaul so you can hang onto the gear!www.seabreeze.com.au/images/forums/icon_smile_wink.gif' /> I'll have 30kts please- anymore and I'd get blown off the water!

You would be fine in the right conditions Sue. You have just got to be brave and work up to it!

If all goes according to our hopes, you will get your 30 Knots at LG next year.

And after a few days of that you will be wishing for more.

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sailquik said..
here is another teaser. Chris L sailing back upwind and then bearing away into the chop a bit. The fast speeds were downwind on the other tack, but Mal was only filming from the Launch area. There is either a very steady hand and/or some amazing video stabilisation going on as even at extreme zoom the video is quite steady.



you can seem Amac standing in Awe at the end and the back of Foxy's head, probably thinking the same thing along with all the rest of us!

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sailquik said..

kato said..
Solid 50kts, I was hanging onto a 3.7 kult when Foxey offered me his gear to try. oh for another 2 days like that day. One day to go oh s@$)t it's windy and the second to go fast

I can relate to your excitement Kato, but I think the wind strength has magnified in your memory with the passage of time. You were actually on a 4.7 Kult!

I was on the 3.7 Kaos, but I am just a little old wimp!

I think Fox's sail was 5.2m or 4.7m and Chris L was on a 5.5m. No way he could have held that in much over 35-40 knots.

Also, you will see that there is none of that 'smoke on the water' we get when the wind is up around 50 knots.

I recon if we got that today I would be on a 5m or maybe even 5.4m. (with plenty of lead on board).

I did measure the wind with anemometer and there was only around 35 when I did. I remember now talking to the MI guys about it. They said it was about 7-10 knots over their window, and they were not really comfortable with much more than high 20's

I will try to post the more of the video to Youtube

Getting old and memory failing but I knew it had a .7 in the sail size and doesn't get windier the older the session was

First few minutes of Mals Video. You might see someone you know right at the start.

Looking at this again it is obvious that the wind was pretty close to straight SW from the way we are able to crank back upwind and still bear away a bit towards the launch point.

As I am sitting typing this, the wind and rain is battering the house something fierce. Reminds me a lot of those days! But why does the best wind and direction so often seem to come in the middle of the night.

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sailquik said..

sboardcrazy said..
Good reason to have an uphaul so you can hang onto the gear!'> <a href= ' class='forumPostTextImage' /> I'll have 30kts please- anymore and I'd get blown off the water!

You would be fine in the right conditions Sue. You have just got to be brave and work up to it!

If all goes according to our hopes, you will get your 30 Knots at LG next year.

And after a few days of that you will be wishing for more.

I hope so! After being such a successful wind sacrifice this season I'm owed some decent sessions!

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sailquik said..
First few minutes of Mals Video. You might see someone you know right at the start.

Looking at this again it is obvious that the wind was pretty close to straight SW from the way we are able to crank back upwind and still bear away a bit towards the launch point.

As I am sitting typing this, the wind and rain is battering the house something fierce. Reminds me a lot of those days! But why does the best wind and direction so often seem to come in the middle of the night.

I HATE that!

would be nice to come back and speedsail there again and hang out with the good crew

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pierre said..
would be nice to come back and speedsail there again and hang out with the good crew

It would be great to see you again Pierre!

If it's good enough for Bronte!!!