Not that I am planning to sail from Flinders to Tasmania but really, how hard would it be?

Back in February I had organized to meet a guy called Vic at the beach for a windsurfing session. The session wouldn't happen till May because Vic was on Flinders Island and wasn't coming to Tassi until then. (Its very hard to imagine how cold May can be in the when it's still the middle of summer). Vic owns a JP Funster and was already a pretty good sailor.

By an incredible stroke of luck to forecast last weekend was for 20 to 30 knots so I was pretty confident that we would get some planning conditions, unfortunately the average daily temp in Launceston had been around 6 degrees and on one day we didn't even reach 9 degrees!!!! Mighty chilly conditions for a windsurfing session.

When I met Vic at the beach it was around 11 or 12 degrees with a bracing WNW breeze ripping across the bay. Vic headed out on the trusty Rio rigged with a 5.7 and had some nice runs across the bay. With the tide dropping it was getting shallow enough to avoid waterstarts and it was time to pull out the short board, a Kode 122, and do some runs. Pretty soon Vic had unlocked the secrets of short board technique and was low flying across the bay with some run ending wipeouts looking suspiciously like forward loop attempts. Not all of Vics crashes were due to rider error, the most spectacular happened when the only kiteboarder on the water managed to swoop his kite directly onto Vic knocking him into the water. Fortunately the results were more humorous than life threatening, Tassi can be a dangerous place for visitors not wearing Kite Repellent.

After a couple of hours on the water we headed back to the shack for some lunch an a discussion about the windsurfing conditions on Flinders. There are so many different places to sail.

The Flinders Safari is a project for the summer. Load up the Jeep and hop on the ferry to explore and find the best windsurfing spots on the island

Sailing from Flinders to Tassie would be very very dangerous,Some of the highest peaks of standing chop and big current flow.The boat i sailed on from launseston to Hobart returned a month or two ago going through Banks straight and they went through sailing with the wind against the tide and it was some of the most scariest situations he had been in and he was on a 47ft yacht.

A group of us did a trip over to Flinders for a few days with a heap of sailing gear (we flew, sailing gear went in a large van on the ferry)! Absolutely blew a gale the whole time. We also had SHQ there with beginner gear, which was used all weekend in freezing conditions, and we raced slalom as part of the Flinders Island Wind Festival. Very good fun, especially the flights in and out in light aircraft in a gale!

Be nice to try and sail over there (and back)!

Great idea, if you pick the tides/wind.
What is the distance?
Perhaps a group sail, it could be good!
cheers

I think Perks is right about Banks Strait, huge currents ripping through there.
On another one of our crazy trips with Hepper and his mad mates with decided to kayak to Flinders but after a fair bit of research found out how dangerous it really is even for the pros so we changed our itinery and kayaked around cape barren instead.
These guys paddled from Vic and said the worst part was Banks Strait,
Half way over they got caught in a 4 foot stopper...where the currents clash one coming from the esat, the other the west. When they meet one goes under the other creating the stopper. They were caught in that for 20 mins. They weren't concerned but had to wait for the currents to change....that was enough to put us off.
However I'll back Dave and Kaleb if they want to take it on, just do the research before you try, this could be the start on a Tassie to Vic trip.......come on guys

im keen to do a flinders trip, sailing back to tassie is a bit daft, but pertty cool challenge, if a chick can sail 3/4 of the way across bass straight in 30 kn on a barn door, im sure even the rocket man could to it

yes Flinders is a great place to visit and sail,spent 10 days there a few years back with other tassie sailors, teaching the local kids to windsurf .sailed all-around the lady Barron area but didn't get up to the northern end.wind didn't get under 30 knots for most of the trip.

a flinders safari would be a great tip.

Perks how long would it take to get from Flinders to Tas? Like nick says, pretty crazy but a bit of a challenge

Select to expand quote

houston said...

Perks how long would it take to get from Flinders to Tas? Like nick says, pretty crazy but a bit of a challenge

Don't you dare even think about it....chopper on standby for pick up

Whitemark to little mussleroe is about 80km ,I think NW to W winds would be best,20 to 22 knots. All going well we should make tassie in about 2hours.
I also think that little mussleroe is the place to leave from for a bass strait crossing,with an easterly wind usually more predictable and steady. It's also about the same distance. Flinders should keep the swell down for a good part of the trip. I'm surprised no one has tried it.

Select to expand quote

anthony perkins said...
I'm surprised no one has tried it.

Oh well here's your chance Perks!! I like Nicks idea of the "barn door"!