The Abrolhos Islands 80kms west of Geraldton have quite a few of these, is warm and has reliable strong winds , you would need to hire a charter boat, was a dream of mine, but the aging body has diminished the fire inside that is necessary to organize such an adventure. Best to act on these ideas whilst the fire is still burning, because nothing lasts forever

The Western side of Wallibi Is has an NM run, and there are a few other spots if you zoom out and check the islands and sandbars, the prevailing wing id South or SSW

earth.google.com/web/search/Abrolhos+Islands,+Houtman+Abrolhos+WA/@-28.44936467,113.69961206,6.95961672a,16527.74510731d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CiwiJgokCctxXyQHSEDAEVEVqdMhSEDAGRNbx_EB8FxAIZN2wwHf71xAQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA

Tricky spot to sail, the moose swim between the islands and are hard to see in the water!

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Roo said..
Tricky spot to sail, the moose swim between the islands and are hard to see in the water!

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hardie said..
The Abrolhos Islands 80kms west of Geraldton have quite a few of these, is warm and has reliable strong winds , you would need to hire a charter boat, was a dream of mine, but the aging body has diminished the fire inside that is necessary to organize such an adventure. Best to act on these ideas whilst the fire is still burning, because nothing lasts forever

The Western side of Wallibi Is has an NM run, and there are a few other spots if you zoom out and check the islands and sandbars, the prevailing wing id South or SSW

earth.google.com/web/search/Abrolhos+Islands,+Houtman+Abrolhos+WA/@-28.44936467,113.69961206,6.95961672a,16527.74510731d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CiwiJgokCctxXyQHSEDAEVEVqdMhSEDAGRNbx_EB8FxAIZN2wwHf71xAQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA

Does the wind get as strong out there as it does at Gero and Shark Bay? Might have to organise an expedition, just for fun, I recon.

Looking up charter boats.....

^^^ stronger and rarely switches off

Would it cost any more than Luderitz to get there?
How strong is the wind?
Maybe another speed challenge

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decrepit said..
Would it cost any more than Luderitz to get there?
How strong is the wind?
Maybe another speed challenge

Well a Luderitz trip for 2-3 weeks is probably in the order of around $20K these days, including fees to run the canal! You might be able to do it for a bit less if you got really good deals on airfares and accommodation.

I cant imagine a trip to the islands would cost anywhere near that.

I think I have seen an article or video somewhere of a wave sailing expedition out to those islands? There are fishing , diving and surfing charters taken to the islands.

www.abrolhosislandcharters.com.au/abrolhos-islands/abrolhos-islands-surfing/

$500 a day per person for the surf charter with this company.

Another boat charter company offers day trips for $1980 for the whole boat charter.

Doing a day trip when the winds are up, and strong, my not be practical for navigation safety or comfort though?

If the winds are stronger and more consistent than Shark bay, as Mark Australia says, then they will be more than adequate!! Winds at Shark bay regularly exceed 30 knots in the summer months. Any more than a solid 30-35Knots becomes more of a problem than an advantage.

What remains to be seen if if the speed strip setups are ideal. Like, angle, chop, obstacles in and next to the water, wind consistency etc.

It looks to me like an exploratory trip could well be feasible with a group of 5-6 sharing the costs.

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Roo said..
Tricky spot to sail, the moose swim between the islands and are hard to see in the water!

Cripes and I thought turtles were an issue!

Just looking at google maps, Shag Bay on West Wallabi Island and Turtle bay on East Wallabi island look to be promising speed strips on the right wind direction. And possibly the NE side of West Wallabi Is if the wind in more SW.? Can't tell what the shoreline is like though.

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sailquik said..

Where is that?

I want to ask a couple of dumb questions:

Are you mainly looking for a shallow area that doesn't have a lot of interfering buildings up wind, but does have a sandbar to stop the chop from building?
What length is desired?

There is a spot here in Tampa bay that has something like that but I've never sailed it in a strong offshore wind. Seems like it might work?

The wind would need to be coming from the NW here (green arrow on left) with sailing directing along the sandbar on the right. On lower tides the sandbar is exposed.

Track is from where the wind was NE, where I usually sail if the wind has primarily an East component.

Instead of looking for some remote Shangri La for speed sailing, have we considered what deployable technologies could be used to temporarily take our available shallow water speed spots to the next level. I'm thinking a 100m deployable strip of wave attenuation to be placed at the correct angle, on the day.

Option 1: Deployable flood barriers like www.hydroresponse.com/water-gate-barrier that could be rolled out in and anchored in 10m strips before they self fill from the wave action. .

Option 2: Permeable units that attenuate the chop like weed beds do .

When I looked into that option the logistics were a nightmare, cost, deployment, anchoring, permits, removal, storage better off chartering a boat to the Abrolhos Is, or shark bay, or some of the reefs off Cairns, its cheaper and less hassle.

Charter or lease a good livable boat,put 5 or 6 paying windsurfers on board and explore the reefs out of Cairns.

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hardie said..
When I looked into that option the logistics were a nightmare, cost, deployment, anchoring, permits, removal, storage better off chartering a boat to the Abrolhos Is, or shark bay, or some of the reefs off Cairns, its cheaper and less hassle.

Ha We did the same for SB and Useless Loop

I'm in for an Abrolhos trip. Plenty of sharks out there though..

Was out there last Easter (not sailing) and saw a few potential spots. The wind is super consistent and clean. All the islands are just a few metres high at most and wind is regularly in the 30-40 range.

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Alhop said..
I'm in for an Abrolhos trip. Plenty of sharks out there though..

Sharks!!

That it. I'm done!

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Jetlag said..
Instead of looking for some remote Shangri La for speed sailing, have we considered what deployable technologies could be used to temporarily take our available shallow water speed spots to the next level. I'm thinking a 100m deployable strip of wave attenuation to be placed at the correct angle, on the day.

Option 1: Deployable flood barriers like www.hydroresponse.com/water-gate-barrier that could be rolled out in and anchored in 10m strips before they self fill from the wave action.

.

Option 2: Permeable units that attenuate the chop like weed beds do .

I lot of us put a lot of research into barriers many years ago.

Problem 1: Unless they sit on the bottom, they don't stop waves getting through. floating barriers dont work. look at the trials that Dunkerbeck, Naish and Bringdale did in the canaries many years ago. it was hyped up, and a great effort, but it was a failure.

Problem 2: As Hardie pointed out - Cost for the barrier, and the logistics of setting it in place and filling it with water (so it sits on the bottom) and fixing it in place. All very difficult and big blockers.

Problem 3: In many places, authorities may take a dim view.

But, if you can overcome those problems, it could make a lot of sense, especially at the place like Primbee.

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nbr said..
Charter or lease a good livable boat,put 5 or 6 paying windsurfers on board and explore the reefs out of Cairns.

Thought about that. But what is the common wind strength? If not regularly/reliably 30-35kts, not much point for speed seekers looking to go mid to high 40's.

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Jetlag said..
Instead of looking for some remote Shangri La for speed sailing, have we considered what deployable technologies could be used to temporarily take our available shallow water speed spots to the next level. I'm thinking a 100m deployable strip of wave attenuation to be placed at the correct angle, on the day.

Option 1: Deployable flood barriers like www.hydroresponse.com/water-gate-barrier that could be rolled out in and anchored in 10m strips before they self fill from the wave action.

.

Option 2: Permeable units that attenuate the chop like weed beds do .

Option 3: Let someone else do all the work. Oyster beds look like a good option. Here's a picture of some newly installed ones at Shoal Bay, Albany in 20-25kt breeze in deep water but just 50m from the shallows of Shoal bay (left of photo). Currently 2 banks of beds around 200m+ long each giving a run about 500m long, perfect for a SW..might be alternative option if tide too high for the weed at nearly Lilacs. They are just anchored each end. Government approved 4 sites for shellfish farming around Albany but current site #1 looks best.

Abrolohos will be cheaper than Luderitz.
I got out to Big Rat and North island by working on cray boats.
Speak to some cray fishermen, tell them windsurfer very strong and can lift pots, do tucker run and sail for free!

I saw many sharks looking at my head while diving on pots, but they didn't bite, they are well fed so i doubt they'll eat windsurfer.

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hardie said..
When I looked into that option the logistics were a nightmare, cost, deployment, anchoring, permits, removal, storage better off chartering a boat to the Abrolhos Is, or shark bay, or some of the reefs off Cairns, its cheaper and less hassle.

Exactly that.

Hardy and Sammy the Snail did some amazing exploration around shark bay. Some of us Easterners even had a crack at following in their footsteps. We checked out a couple of places with huge potential, but they are so remote that we were reluctant to sail them in strong winds. If things go pear shaped (a strong possibility), it could go from ouch to catastrophic very quickly.

The best spot they found that is acceptably lower risk (at least to us) is BooBays, in Shark Bay, but that spot is very fickle for tides. That said, I have had a few very fun days there, including one epic day with Doddi on Christmas Eve 2016!!

Doddi smashed it with a 2 sec PB which still stands!!



I was very happy with 44 peaks!



i have been back there half a dozen times since but never got conditions to come together that well.

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Flex2 said..

Option 3: Let someone else do all the work. Oyster beds look like a good option. Here's a picture of some newly installed ones at Shoal Bay, Albany in 20-25kt breeze in deep water but just 50m from the shallows of Shoal bay (left of photo). Currently 2 banks of beds around 200m+ long each giving a run about 500m long, perfect for a SW..might be alternative option if tide too high for the weed at nearly Lilacs. They are just anchored each end. Government approved 4 sites for shellfish farming around Albany but current site #1 looks best.

The problem with those floating barriers is that they don't kill the underlying waves, as it somewhat visible in that photo. At best they just smooth out the surface chop a bit. get 35 knots of wind over that and I think it would be whoop-de-doos all the way! But keen to hear how you go if you try it Flex.

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Ben1973 said..Where is that?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sable_Island

If you want a real mission, head to the bottom of the world in the land of fire. 6km long runs with a perfect wind angle.

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nbr said..
Charter or lease a good livable boat,put 5 or 6 paying windsurfers on board and explore the reefs out of Cairns.

Don't need to explore it's already found - Michealmas Cay and Arlington Reef (although tide dependant) both just North of Green Island if you don't mind being rescued (if gear / body breakage) you can sail to Arlington from Green Island to get your Km runs in

I've found this one Grub Reef North of Cooktown - would probably leave from Coen somewhere or charter from Cooktown SE would be square ESE could get some deep off wind down the bottom end

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sailquik said..

nbr said..
Charter or lease a good livable boat,put 5 or 6 paying windsurfers on board and explore the reefs out of Cairns.

Thought about that. But what is the common wind strength? If not regularly/reliably 30-35kts, not much point for speed seekers looking to go mid to high 40's.

25 - 30 in Cairns very consistantly during winter (boardshorts ) can get 30 - 35 here and there trouble is the easy to access spot is very tide dependant and is a quite short run on the bearaway

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aeroegnr said..
Are you mainly looking for a shallow area that doesn't have a lot of interfering buildings up wind, but does have a sandbar to stop the chop from building?
What length is desired?

Not dumb questions at all.

It does not need to be shallow if it is flat. But it adds to the safety level if you can stand up and walk ashore if something goes wrong.

Preferably, you need to be able to sail within a meter or so if a shoreline so there is very flat water, or at least only small 10cm ripples. Sandbars are great for this because they often taper smoothly to the waters edge letting the wind blow in a quite laminar way right to the surface without any turbulence. Of course, any obstacles upwind will make the wind turbulent, gust and make control more difficult on the edge. = slower.

You need enough run-up length to get to around 25-30+ knots when you turn off the wind for the speed run. 50 to 100m is often enough and the run-up doesn't need to be super smooth, just flat enough to build speed in control and bear-away into the run without loosing control. Then you need at least 200 to 250m for a 10 second run at top speed, longer is always better, but always harder to find spot like that. Spots where you can run a top speed Nautical Mile are rare indeed!

The other factor that is required is an ideal angle to the wind. Somewhere between 120 and 135 degrees off the wind, but much more than around 130 will stay to get following chop in most places.

I am always amazed that so very few good speed spots have been discovered or explored in North America. I am sure they are there. It just seems that enough enthusiasts willing to explore and sail them are not.

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Roo said..
If you want a real mission, head to the bottom of the world in the land of fire. 6km long runs with a perfect wind angle.

LOL! Yes, and next stop Antarctica!