I'm coming to Bowen in August for a fortnight. Can any local sailors tell me what gear I should bring with me? I can do sails 4.5 - 7.5 and boards 115- 85. 80 kilo sailor.

Watching the weather obs it seems like it's about 20 knots most days. Maybe I can leave the big gear behind?

take it all, its a long drive back if there is only a light breeze. you could leave the wetsuit at home for the extra bit of space, and what about a roof top tent to keep away from the big lizards that are prolific in the water up there these days.

bring what you can it can be great slalom to good waves

their are no good waves, when I go, and I take the bare essentials I take a board and sail that will be ok for 18-25knots, considering I only have wave gear, 85l board, 5.2m sail, and 4.8 as i have space for it but usually don't use it.

If I had a freestyle or a freeride board, and a bigger sail i'd take that instead.

if you have some slalom type gear than that would be great you can do big coast runs and sail between islands, just don't try to sail to Gloster the wind can drop or change near middle and the currents can be strong.

you can do some jumps but there is not wave ridding to be had, only ankle slappers.

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lungs said..
take it all, its a long drive back if there is only a light breeze. you could leave the wetsuit at home for the extra bit of space, and what about a roof top tent to keep away from the big lizards that are prolific in the water up there these days.

are you suggesting there are snappy crocs frequenting the beaches there now?

yep, caught up with old school mate last week and got talking about old fishing and crabbing spots (around Home Hill ) we used to frequent, they regularly see slides in the mud banks, which we never saw 30 years ago.

there has always been Croc's in the Proserpine river which is even closer to Bowen than Home Hill, even the odd one in Cannovale/Arlie beach but never heard of any around the Bowen area or the Glouster island group/Nth Whitsundays.
It's such a dry area through there not much thick lush bush etc...surprised to hear of them in Bowen...nothing is impossible though...plenty of feed for them for sure.

Hey IKW777 I often travel down there to sail from Townsville. Use the Hamilton Island BOM site for wind but drop a couple of knots off as the Bowen BOM site is not accurate. My most used combo the is a 90 FSW and a 5.2 although sometimes a 4.7 comes in handy.If it drops then I will get out on my 101 Futura and a 6.5 or 7m. As with anywhere it is good to have a big choice of gear but can be hard when traveling. So a 5m 6m and a 7.5 and 2 boards would cover it. PM me when you come up and if its on I will come down.

Thanks for all this info everyone. I'm really looking forward to my trip up there. At the moment I think I will, bring:

116
104
94

7.5
6.5
5.5
5.0

Will that cover it? Or maybe:

104
94
86

for the boards? and throw in a 4.5?

can you jump from a 104 to a 86 . i would bring 116 as a light wind board 104 as a moderate wind your 86 if it really kicks in . tell lungs the crocs have moved out as the water is to clean and they cant sneak up on you

You mean this right?

Hey Ikw, I live in Airlie and sail at Bowen.
I used to kitesurf at Conway Beach which is know to inhabit crocs, but I never seen any in three years.
Anyway I prefer to go to Bowen now for the cleaner water, and less SNAPPIES.
Front beach at bowen is the go in a S/E, need at least a 2m tide for it to be at its best, otherwise have to walk out too far.
The Don River mouth is another good spot, bit more wave action, but still fairly tidal, usually find a few kiters at either spot but never too crowded.

Trying to add go-pro video to message, but can`t work out how, any advise anyone?

What about this spot? Sean O'Brien posted a photo of himself sailing there a few years ago. I think he must have been launching off the end of Wentworth or Elphinstone Sts. Looks like deep water all the time?





This spot.

Never sailed that area where Sean is.
Further to the north is Kings Beach, some guys sail there, it works better in a easterly.
I usually go from Quay st. and sail towards the big mango to the S/W.( Can`t see the mango on google maps, but its near the visitor info. centre on the highway).
The water is usually waist deep with reasonably flat to a small swell at the most.
You can see where the shallow area is, and under a 2m tide be careful, no rocks that I`ve encountered, just sandy/slightly muddy.

Here`s the video I was trying to post earlier,(finally worked out how to upload it!)
Front beach Bowen.
Nothing too exciting, my fourth session
after 15 years away from windsurfing.

Hey ikw777. I grew up in Tville and although havn't been sailing up there for ages am familiar with the weathers.
As you would know it pays to be a optimistic pessimist when it comes to the wind. June/July/August are historically the least windy months of the year in this area.
If you were to be leaving for bowen now for 2 weeks according to the forecast you might get couple light days on the water.
Man i would try to keep my options if possible open and base your trip around the forecast which for the se trades are generally accurate. You need those big highs sitting down south ridging up the coast. If an east coast low forms forecast next week they tend to suck the pressure/life/wind speed out of the highs, and you may get more days on the water heading south into nsw,vic. Brrrrrr S,SWesters

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whitsun said..
Here`s the video I was trying to post earlier,(finally worked out how to upload it!)
Front beach Bowen.
Nothing too exciting, my fourth session
after 15 years away from windsurfing.

Looks awesome! What board and sail was that? Nice long runs and not much chop.

its still been windy up here for most of june in tsv don't worry IL bring a long board down if it drop still a great place to visit pm us on your dates

normally theirs a pair of them

Isonic 97 carbon
NP H2 racing 7.2.

I seem to use my 7.2 most times, have trouble getting going with my 6.4,(technique needs improvement).
Also these new boards with the straps right on the rails take a bit of getting used to. Have to look down to find my back strap all the time.(Anyone else have this problem?)
Wind that day was around 18kts with a few holes in it, but still had a pretty good sesh.

As grich62 said, june has been pretty windy, but its been raining too. (very un-seasonal).

PM me when your here, I`ll come up if not working.

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whitsun said..
Isonic 97 carbon
NP H2 racing 7.2.

I seem to use my 7.2 most times, have trouble getting going with my 6.4,(technique needs improvement).
Also these new boards with the straps right on the rails take a bit of getting used to. Have to look down to find my back strap all the time.(Anyone else have this problem?)
Wind that day was around 18kts with a few holes in it, but still had a pretty good sesh.

As grich62 said, june has been pretty windy, but its been raining too. (very un-seasonal).

PM me when your here, I`ll come up if not working.

man do i have problems with new boards iv got a tabou manta 85 and hate the strap positions i prefer my old windactions and f2. ill try to post some footage of bowen a couple weeks ago on my exciteride i must of went over the front 6 times trying to get in to straps ignore the first bit as im not good at editing it will probberly take afew hours to up load

sorry after 3 hours of uploading it said no any way try this

I think we have the same problem grich62, I used to sail a windaction years ago too.
It must be a muscle-memory thing of where the footstrap should be.
I guess the only solution is lots of windsurfing and re-train the brain!

Great vid by the way!
I see you have your go-pro on the side of a helmet,
If I did that I would have snot all over it!!!

i try not togo that fast so the sn8t goes down my shirt

Great vid! I'm really looking forward to my trip now!

When I lived in Townsville in the mid eighties, we used to go down to Alva Beach out of Ayr for some wave action. I notice on Google Earth that there is a huge sand bar there now. Looks like a potential speed run. Has any one been there lately?

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Jacko51 said..
When I lived in Townsville in the mid eighties, we used to go down to Alva Beach out of Ayr for some wave action. I notice on Google Earth that there is a huge sand bar there now. Looks like a potential speed run. Has any one been there lately?

I kited once at Alva a few years ago, its an awesome spot.
I think it gets busy on weekends, lots of kiters.
Will have to try it windsurfing one day.

Hey Jacko51, I lived at Seacliff when I was a kid, Is it still a popular windsurf spot?

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whitsun said..

Jacko51 said..
When I lived in Townsville in the mid eighties, we used to go down to Alva Beach out of Ayr for some wave action. I notice on Google Earth that there is a huge sand bar there now. Looks like a potential speed run. Has any one been there lately?

Hey Jacko51, I lived at Seacliff when I was a kid, Is it still a popular windsurf spot?

Whitsun,

Yes still popular with the bump and jump guys. Lots launch from Kingston Park and others next to the Seacliff Yatch Club. Only sailed there a couple of times since moving to Adelaide. I have given up the rough stuff ( getting old ) and have been hooked with the GPS speed bug. Sail down at Boggy Lake these days.

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curac said..
their are no good waves, when I go, and I take the bare essentials I take a board and sail that will be ok for 18-25knots, considering I only have wave gear, 85l board, 5.2m sail, and 4.8 as i have space for it but usually don't use it.

If I had a freestyle or a freeride board, and a bigger sail i'd take that instead.

if you have some slalom type gear than that would be great you can do big coast runs and sail between islands, just don't try to sail to Gloster the wind can drop or change near middle and the currents can be strong.

you can do some jumps but there is not wave ridding to be had, only ankle slappers.

apparently we don,t get waves here and alva beach is not a wave beach and when i was 29 i new every thing any way the kiters tell me it is very silted up hope to get down an check it out need nth easter to use the speed runs on the sand bars waves are always strong on south easter

Curac, Don't confuse waves for surf. It is North Qld.

I know Alva is a a bit of topic but it is not that far from Bowen if IKW777 wanted an alternative to Bowen.
Grich62, I Googled images and found heaps of photo's of Kiting at Alva back in 2010. Looked like it would be good for speed runs in a SE, but like you said if it has silted up there might not be much water when the sand bar is out of the water.. When we used to go there it was for high tide and the S Eastly was always stronger than in Townsville.

your absolutely right it was great back then, unfortunately it needs a strong cyclone to clean out the sand bars and we use bigger fins now witch push tides up to clear sand bars