Hey John.

I reckon the RQ Saturdays would be a great starting point. Be a good chance to have a look at some gear as well and get an idea of what you should be looking for if you decide to buy something.

If you are not sure I would also recomend asking the question on here before you buy, as some gear listed as good for beginners on some of the other shopping sites is not ideal.

And by all means come along for a sail. This is a very friendly and helpful bunch, as are pretty much all of the people I have met who frequent this site.

Cheers, Brad.

Fifth day in a row sailing nor easters??????
better than yesterday, 7.0 and 140 naish global freewide.

Tried out Jeffs 130 f2 sx slalom, light, faster than the naish but harder to gybe and more technical to sail.

Great board to go places in a hurry?? I will try it in 5.5 -6.0 weather and see what it does!

commitments tomorrow so I doubt I will make it six in a row.....

Golden beach sunday.

In in the last couple of weeks I've broken a mast, boom, harness lines.... Lot of cannibalising going on to keep me going.

Might drop in at Dita's too.

John, pm me and I'll give you my phone number for when we are sailing Bribie again, you are welcome to join us and have a go.

We we have gear you could try to get an idea what it's all about too.

We sail turners camp Ne and pebble beach Se and Bongaree sw and nw.

Thanks for the advice guys, i'll keep an eye on the weather and this blog and catch up shortly to pick your windsurfing brains

Hi @pad.

See if you can get to the windwanders meet up at golden beach tomorrow morning. Would be a great opportunity to meet the sandstone regulars. I'm bringing some beginner gear - throw your swimmers in and lets get started

Cheers Jeff

Thanks for the offer Jeff, I'll PM you

Late sail at sandstone today, incoming low tide so a 120 lter board and 20 cm weed speed delta fin for the shallow water.
7.5 sail and spent 3/4 of the hour tuning and changing until I got comfortable and it got dark- so I went home.
Yesterday was a good day with the wibdwanderes at golden beach and took the opportunity to pick up some much needed bits and pieces at Dita's.
great to catch up with the crowd and meet new sailors.

I thought that bit of a SE blast would be too much for you to resist Pete, it was a pleasure meeting yourself, Jeff and the other guys up at Golden Beach, you buggers have made me want to get some gear now and push ahead with learning to sail a board, so all going well i'll be picking up that learning board we talked about later on this arvie and i'll be keen to join you guys for a sail

@pad great news

Pete and i are planning to meet up with Josh tomorrow morning at Sandstone to continue his learning curve

SE winds predicted - may get some of that light wind gybe practice

cheers Jeff

It looks like it'll be perfect learning weather tomorrow morning, and I'd love to get this board out for a run now I've got it, unfortunately bloody work will be getting in the way of fun yet again.

I used to work... What a frustrating intrusion on my life it was too.......
Give us a bell when you have some time to sail John.
we will catch up then.
meanwhile......see you guys tomorrow at sandstone for some gybe practice.

A huge shout out to basically all of you who wind surf, most specifically Pete and Jeff for the time and effort in introducing me to the freedom that is.. look forward to strapping in and bouncing across the bay, all in good time I see after reading some of this forum topic.

Happy days,
Josh

Good on ya Josh, I didn't get to say hooray on sunday you were too busy out sailing. Pete said you were sailing well yesterday, he spent a few hours teaching me today too at Sandstone it was great. Are you sailing on the weekend? It sounds like a few guys might be sailing late morning sunday at Sandstone in the SE wind and high tide.

I don't know whether we should start a subforum "sandstone point learners" or not but thanks to Jeff's commitment to windsurfing I

have become happily involved in his efforts of "Giving a bit back"

Jeff, in his usual generous and convivial self, spent a lot of the day at Golden beach getting Josh and Pad started on their first go at

windsurfing by bringing a set of first time learners gear to the gig ?(does wind wanderers have this sort of gear and the people

required on the day?) anyway we met up with Josh and Pad beforehand and arranged to meet at Golden Beach for their first lesson

/tryout and as we all know it's the first try that sorts the men from the girls or women from the boys???

After Josh and Pad had their first try at the Golden Beach Wind Wanders gig {and survived) we arranged to meet at Sandstone for

some learners sessions

Yesterday it was Josh's turn.

We met up at around 9 and i helped Josh rig and gave a few tips in rigging and setup and then I went to my U3A gig on Music

Appreciation and got an insight into the life and work of J.S.BACH (wikipedia him if you have a spare hour or two)

By the time I got back at 11am there was this guy sailing up and back and tacking no worries (sorry I didn't have my camera Josh)

The wind was onshore 4-8 knots and the tide was about chest/ waist deep for a couple of hundred meters out and receding.

Earlier Josh started to rig the 4.0 but we changed to a 5.2 wavesail and he was on his element. if it wasn't for my superb, insightful,

sensitive and proactive tuition he would have probably drowned but I don't want to take any credit.......

Today was Pad's turn and he turned up with a full kit of shiny (almost) new fabulous starboard/gaastra gear.

Talk about commitment, apart from the fact that it was an absolute bargain the investment ensures Pad's requirements for the next

year or two.

We had a rigging/ setup session and the breeze was about 5 knots....

That is until we got into the water where it promptly died..

we rigged two sails at minus 5 knots per sail so Murphy's law means that there is bugger all wind.

After about half an hour of bugger all we got a couple of knots of breeze and Pad was moving... after another half hour we got a few

more knots and he was sailing!!!!

Half an hour after that I managed to get my lightwind board on the plane and we were in our element!

It slowed down a bit after that but we kept sailing and Pad was sailing back and forth and tacking same as Josh on the previous day.

We stopped for the obligatory cup of finely brewed coffee from the thermos and afterwards resumed our sailing...

the tide put a stop to our efforts about 1:30 so we packed up.

We have two potentially great sailors coming up if they keep their commitment and i am happy to be a part of it, a couple of really

enjoyable days sailing for all!

You're right Pete, we have been hijacking Jeff's blog here with the development of us new Sandstone Point sailors so I hope he doesn't mind. Agreed though, Jeff's enthusiasm has rubbed off on us all and has not only got an experienced sailor like yourself keen to come and sail and teach us, but has also got new sailors like Josh and myself into it too. Even roofer Adam was sounding keen yesterday when he was down the carpark doing his paperwork between jobs so there might be another learner on the scene too. I've just gotta chase down that weed fin now.

As mentioned also on the Sandstone Learners thread, Janet and I are planning to be at Sandstone tomorrow. Hope it's good! Nice to have a midday tide.

By the way I'm chasing after a good condition recent model 4.5m sail to fill a hole in our new quiver, if anybody has something.

What a day!
Something for everyone...
Light winds for our newbies, a wally race, strengthening winds and really strong winds....
Great company
who could ask for more.....??

Another growth day on the water.

Still working on getting to grips with rough/tough water and strong gusty winds. Really have not found the skill set or gear combo to get even close to comfortable - main issue is skill set and I understand I just need to keep turning up

Reading the forecast I turned up to turners camp with all the lightwind/large gear on board. Don't you get frustrated when that happens?

Fortunately I had the BIC techno 283 on board as I was moving it on (yes team time to let go of a few boards - Xmas on the way- already some luscious carbon under the tree ;-) )

Rigged up the Ezzy 5.8 SE wave sail (packed so I could practice low wind gybes). Put in a 42 fin (smallest trim box I had) - have worked my way down from 46 with 7m sails


With heart in mouth I entered the gladiatorial arena

Was able to get planing easily in the chop but couldn't get away from the shore - would come off the plane as I headed out into the Chanel. Even though the sail felt powerful when running down/cross wind I would loose power heading up wind. I wanted to blame the smaller fin but I've had success on it with my Ezzy 7m sail? Despite feeling powered up there wasn't enough for me to water start

After a few goes of beach starting and 'walk of shame' return I decided it's one of those days you sit out

Pete then said put the 5.8 in his big board/big fin I was able to get away wahoo. Mindfull that I was full speed overcommitted on somebody else's board (couldn't make the rear strap) I decided - enough!

Well after an hour of watching Pete, Tony and Mark mastering the conditions I re-engaged

Managed a few good runs - got the rear strap first happening after frustration of crashing trying to put it in last (a vulnerability on mine on the BIC in strong choppy conditions). Managed the run into the sand bank

Scored a 10 out of 10 from the boys for that manoeuvre

So still working on what to do on those big days? Tony did very well on his carve 141 with severne Gator 6m sail

What to do? Obviously keep turning up and engaging

Should be working getting the carve131 development underway?

Different type of sail?

Still feels very early days with this gusty high wind chop+++ type of sailing
Cheers Jeff

IMHO, Turners Camp is hard work in those conditions. Very flukey near the trees and with the chop and waves running through. Just bloody hard work!

I am thinking I am going to give Golden Beach or somewhere else a run next strong Northerly.

Call me a big girl if you wish, but I have earned a little respite after my last few sessions there.

Have a look at the Golden Pond photos. Looks much more refined there?

Turners camp isn't perfect but it's close to home

its choppy and weedy at times and low tide Its muddy and grassy.

Theres a sand bar near Ningi creek that will catch the unwary off high tide.

But it works in a nor Easter and the tide doesn't run too quickly.

I've sailed off woorim beach and turners is easier by far in comparison

when it's windy like yesterday you need to work offshore a hundred meteres or more to get cleaner wind and avoid the sandbar.

Right out in the channel it can get very choppy in a strong breeze and at times it can be very gusty.

To be able to handle those conditions requires committment and a bit of heart

But it is rewarded by some exciting sailing.

Everone out there on Sunday displayed those qualities and it showed in their success.

Jeff, I know youre not fishing for compliments and I think you'll agree that it was so worth it!!!!

we all had our own challenges and no one stayed dry all day

The more we sail difficult conditions the better we become, even if we don't think so at the time.

I, too, wish that I could sail as great as I would like to and each new hurdle is still Difficult

thats ts what makes windsurfing so wonderful

Close to home for some.

Yes it is better than Woorim. Probably better than a lot of spots, but then again there are a lot of better spots than Turners Camp.

I reckon that the learners there are going to suffer more than anyone as the chop makes it especially difficult, as well as the water depth. I think they are being done a mis-service if they are led to believe that Turners Camp is a great place to learn, in any sort of stronger wind, it just isn't.

Sandstone is different as being able to beach start and the reasonably flat conditions are much more suitable.

I personally have always loved Golden Beach, if it weren't for the drive and sometimes the traffic, it would always be my choice of spots.

There are some good options at Redcliffe in all wind directions too.

Lumpy and windy at Queens or Suttons if that is your thing. Northerly at Scarborough, tide dependent but not as much as Sandstone. Woody point or Bells beach in a southerly at any time.

Also for a few of us RQ and Wello are nearly the same distance as Bribie.

Just saying there are options.

Good point Brad

Happy to explore other options. - always looking to increase my repertoire of sailing venues

Adam and John are both Bribie/Beachmere locals so I imagine that has influenced venue choice.

Definitely interested in smoother water in 20+knt winds

Cheers Jeff

Golden Beach is lovely, I hadn't been there in well over 10 years until Jeff invited me up to the WW day up there and I really enjoyed it. I'm more than happy to sail there, but the downside of Caloundra on a nice weekend is that it's busy and the drive home is usually ridiculous. Obviously Turner's Camp and Pebble Beach are on my doorstep and so are pretty appealing to me, and right now as a beginner I'm packing up when the wind is getting over 15kn so I'm not having to face the real rough water as much as what you guys are having to. Let's organise for a Golden Beach day and give it a go, it didn't look like it was tide dependant and looks to be great sailing in wind from any direction.

A good afternoon at turners camp planed for the first time today next step is to use foot straps thanks peter for helping me learn

Good stuff Adam

Nuclear conditions today. More a case of survival. Not really working on my normal skills type of day. Had some fun plus enjoyed the company of Steve, John and Peter

Initially went out in shallow water with carve 131 (76cm) and large weed fin with 5.7 cam sail. Sail was too big just didn't have the nerve to stay sheeted in and every time I buttoned off I had a lot of the board snaking up off the water - ready to strike!!

Went back out on Ezzy 4.7 SE wave sail on 131 Go (71cm) with the plastic paddle 420 shallow fin. Still overpowered ++ in the gusts. Managed a few runs were I actually felt like I was sailing rather than just surviving. Never thought I would use a 4.7 in anger - wish I had thrown in the 4.2.

Feeling I'm making progress with board and fin choice - still not sure of what to do with sails. Going from nothing (25knts)to gusts that just flatten you is amazing sailing conditions.


I'm up for more of the same with gentler winds tomorrow.

Cheers Jeff

Sounds very exciting Geoff. We had a big day with work, so couldn't get there, but wish we had.

Wish I had a 4.2 for days like today

Select to expand quote

Surfinfreak said...
Wish I had a 4.2 for days like today

Just to think I got the small Ezzy SE as training sails for the teenagers. Never thought I would use them myself.
Yep a nuclear day!!!

Select to expand quote

jirvin4505 said...

Surfinfreak said...
Wish I had a 4.2 for days like today

Just to think I got the small Ezzy SE as training sails for the teenagers. Never thought I would use them myself.
Yep a nuclear day!!!

Always a bonus having a big range of sizes

Breakthrough day today.

Been working on and off in getting a handle on the 131 Carve for few years (callout to Tilldark for the board - thanks).

Had it on the back burner until Tony had success with it last trip to Cootharaba and raved about how good it felt

I couldn't get it going - something in my technique would cause it to start snaking out of the water as I ran downwind trying to get it on the plane

With yesterday's big winds I got it going in obviously overpowered wind and Knarly water conditions but never really got locked it and flying with control

Well today ....Got its skirt well and truly lifted

The big winds predicted didn't develop while I had a window to sail (kids to collect. )

Went out on shallow incoming tide with a big weed fin and 7.5 sail Ezzy lion. I could get into plane on long downwind runs but never felt powered up or could make upwind ground when on the plane

After coffee and debrief with Pete I went back out with a 48 fin(bit limited on small Tuttle sizes). Wind had started building again and it all became easy - wahoo

What i have learnt to do is let the board run much deeper off the wind and not load up the fin. Keeping pressure in the sail as speed developed and then a shove forward and it's away

A few good long planing runs in the straps - a couple of peddle to the metal experiences

Now I know it's early days - always a keen beginner- but I'm not sure where the carve fits in with regards to sailing experience. It wasn't the hiked out on the rails blasting experience that I get on the jPSLW and Stingray with powered up big sails driving the fin. I had to be carefull not to overload the fin on the carve - Pete says lots of weed around?

Did loose the fin a couple of times but managed to get off it and bring it back.

Ended up on same sail size as Pete (usually a metre bigger) happy about that.
Very happy- just love the sport




Breakthrough number 2.....
Saying goodbye ----

Managed to let go of 2 of my boards ..




There has been some joy and heartache in these two boards

Cheers Jeff
Life is great