I?m thinking of retiring in the Nowra area of NSW, I sail mainly flat water and from light wind with a sail on a stand-up paddle board to 20 + kts on small gear.
My question how many days sailing do they get in this area of NSW and what are the best months.

Hi,

NSW does not have a windy season as such. Summer does get seabreezes however there is no guarantee they will blow. We will get westerlies in winter but there is no guarantee when they will blow. Southerlies will come through every now and then, again they are unpredictable.

If you are not working then I guess you could probably get over one hundred days a year windsurfing, getting out at least twice a week when its windy. However if you enjoy sailing in lighter winds you could probably sail almost every day of the year.

There are some beautiful flatwater windsurfing spots around Nowra, especially Sanctuary Point. If you plan to do a lot of windsurfing then you should consider moving there, rather than Nowra. If you are a bit flexible where you can move to, ie family wise, then consider Toukley on the Central Coast. Housing is quite cheap there and its one of the best places to live for flat water windsurfing as its located between two big lakes and will get a consistent breeze and long runs in flat water no matter what direction the wind comes from.

Nowra is not the best town although areas close are Jervis Bay and Kiama/Gerringong which are all coastal and much nicer.

Gerroa (northern end of Seven Mile beach) is the NE wind magnet and can be sailed with flatwater gear if the surf is small
as X-off wind.

Sanctuary Pt & Lake Illawarra are great flatwater spots & also Callala Bay which is the northern part of Jervis Bay.

If you search 'lake illawarra seabreeze' and the same for the other spots you will find plenty of info & pics.

I went for a family holiday some years back and loved Culburra.
Culburra was a great place to windsurf.
Flat water runs on the lake plus i hit the surf in a nor'easter a couple of times.