Quite a few people have asked me to let them know when it looks like being a good day at Sandy Point.
Well this one is starting to look pretty epic.
I was heading back to LG tomorrow, but now I think I will stay at Sandy Point for this one.
If there are any sailors at LG who have a burning desire to try Sandy Pt when it's angry, it's only an easy 8 hr drive away!
The timing of the front is good and the tide is right (outgoing). All that we need is for the wind to stay between 260-250 degrees and at the moment that is looking highly probable. If it is still looking good tomorrow afternoon, I will stay for it.
It's now looking a bit iffy for Wednesday. The last GFS forcast run has the wind almost dead West.
271 dgerees when the front hits at 11am. 32-43 Knots
268 @ 2pm. 29-37 knots
267 @5pm. 25-33 knots
As I said earlier, the wind angle needs to be a bit further south from minimum 260. 250 is better. That is starting to look too marginal. It's frustrating because the tide is right, it's the strongest front forecast for a very long time and it is coming in the middle of the day.
The Predictwind models are still saying 260, but that is a rounded figure and I think it is too close to call
The BoM model (Meteye) shows a bit more South in it at around 260 to 255
If it is still looking iffy and the models are not improved in the morning, I may just head off the LG anyway.
Anyone night sail there? I read that Kato did when he did the 500km session a while back. He was sent back out in the dark and told to watch the car lights for where to go, crazy stuff!
it would be a strange feeling but probably safe enough without waves to worry about and flat water.
Well, I am still here at Sandy Point. It still looks marginal, but if it goes the right way it is too good to miss. Worth a chance.
Have a good one Andrew, the front hit here at Beachport at about 2.30 this morning and it's howling. We plan to head out to the lake at about 5.30 to get on the water at 6am
Wow! This is definitly the strongest Front of this season. Just turned West and hit here at 35-47 Knots. I just took my trailer down and parked it above the high tide line. The inlet looked very wild! Tide still coming in so it is a waiting game now. The latest forecasts are slight less favourable, but still showing a slight shift a little to the South of West early afternoon. It's gonna be WILD!
edit: South Channel just got a reading of 48-57Knots!
It was a wild day. 30-40 knots and sand blowing everywhere. It was dead west for the first couple of runs from about 3pm and then started shifting back and forth to WNW to WSW. The swings to WSW were too brief to take advantage of. On the West it was too broad and rough to get settled and do good speed. I got a couple of 39 peaks and Ado got a 40 peak. If the wind had gone to 260-255 and stayed there we would have been doing mid 40's with that wind. Gave up at about 5pm when it looked like it had settled back to WNW, but Ado said as he was leaving half and hour later it went back to WSW! Arggggh!
It was great fun though and well worth the wait and the flogging.