Hi everybody,
this is nully from Italy again. one year ago I asked how good it was windsurfing in Tasmania since I was headed to the AMC to do naval architecture. In the meantime I got accepted and I should begin on February 2017. So I figured I got time to make sure I am headed to the right place windsurfing wise.
I got a little put off when somebody told me temperature can get pretty cold there and in winter there is the need for booties and hoods…so how long does this booties and hood thing lasts?? But more importantly I would really appreciate if somebody could tell me how many days a year the wind gets at 15 knts or stronger being that the threshold beyond which I can windsurf.

to be precise I am from Verona, Italy and I use to sail on Garda Lake where the wind is pretty consistent all year round. This means we sail from beginning of March to mid November (than the air temp gets under 10c and it is no fun anymore even) and in this time frame between the north wind that blows in the morning and the south wind that blows in the afternoons we can get 5 day a week of good windsurf on average. So measuring the goodness of the windsurfing condition this way, how many windy days/year (15+ knots) would you say there are in Tassie? doesn’t matter whether it is north or south, I’ll have a van and be able to move, but I will be living in Launceston attending AMC.

thanks
Nu

Lake Garda, is that where the moto guzzi factory is?

Ciao Nully,
One of the terms used for the lattitude Tasmania is on is "The Roaring Forties" which refers to frequent strong winds.
The wind is predominantly generated by frontal wether systems which generate much of our wind. However during summer we experience aftenoon seabreezes much like the Mistral although not as reliable. It is difficult to put a number on how many 15 K + days a year. Needless to say we get a lot of sailing days. It helps to have a wide choice of equipment. The Low Head area is the most popular sailing spot near Launceston for all disciplines. The South East coast near Hobart also offers many choices. The North West Coast boasts some world class Wavesailing but is also remote requiring planning and commitment.
Winter is fast approaching. Although we have had an unusually warm late autumn. Generally hoods and boots come out from June till October, depending on how much you suffer cold. Personally I wait till pain sets in because I dislike wearing boots and hoods! Boots are also needed for protection at some spots because of oysters and sharp rocks.
Go to the Windsurfing Tasmania website which has a comprehensive spot guide.
Once you have arrived keep a look out on this site for when and where people rear sailing. There is a great community of windsurfers who use the site for that purpose.
When you arrive feel free to private massage me. I am of Italian heritage. You'll be able to have a laugh at my rusty Italian language skills!
Buon Viaggio!

well covered Relic

Nu Launceston is a good spot as it's close to the north coast 45 mins from Bell Buoy one of the best jumping spots on the planet, 3hours from Marrawah some of the best wave sailing on the planet, 2 hours from Stanley one of the best speed runs on the planet, 2 hours from Dorans where like minded academics drink a lot yes quite a lot and sail a bit.
Climate is similar to the south coast of France probably gets a touch cold July Aug so close to year round sailing provided you don't mind a drive we'd probably average 3-4 days a week for 10 months.
Check out the windsurf spot guide on this forum under the welcome to windsurfing tab.

Nu,

Relic has hit most of the important points I think. It is difficult to provide you with a definitive answer because there are not many of us looking for 15 knots. Most (but not all) of the people who use this site tend to wave-sail by preference, so we are looking for 20+, and none of us ride floaty boards so 15 knots is 'off the radar'.
The other problem is, because the weather is frontal, it is directionally variable, and there are some directions that are just not worth sailing.

Our prevailing wind on the north coast is W - NW, and in these conditions we have a choice of spots noted by Houston above, as well as Greens Beach and Bakers Beach for wave sailing, and Lagoon Bay and Kelso for flat water, all about 45 minutes from Launceston.

If I had to guess, I would say that it is typically possible to sail one of the surf spots 2-3 days a week on average on our wave gear. If you are interested in flat water and have floaty gear this might give you 4-5 days a week (guessing).

The other side of this coin is the upper end of the wind range - we sailed on Sunday in 55 knots... 55 litre boards and 3.7m sails, and got blown off the water. As Relic said - a wide choice of equipment should give you plenty of sailing, but don't be surprised if, like the rest of us, you don't get out of bed for less than 25 knots. And when the wind is kicking for long periods, you just need to get some recovery time occasionally too.

I don't think that you will be disappointed. Don't forget too, you might have some study to do on those 'off' days...

A bit over four years ago I moved to tasmanian to do Naval Architecture at AMC and maximise windsurfing time just like you plan to. Being in Launceston is fantastic for windsurfing and during the winter months you will be able to sail fairly constantly without a doubt. As Geoff has pointed out though unfortunately you can't make it through the degree without spending a bit of time actually doing uni work, so don't worry if it's not windy everyday of the week; just do uni when there is no wind and skip classes when it's windy . On a side note AMC has some insane facilities that you will get to use over the four years that you are there and the degree is very interesting. I highly recommend it!

oh.. I forgot to mention; look at Willy Weather site. Enter Low Head. You will see 5 year average wind statistics if you're interested.

I think I begin to sense there is some good windsurfing over there. I have a Neilpryde LT1 6.4 that I use with a 111L board (RRD Firestorm), an old but powerful NR 5.0 that I use with a Starboard Kode 103L, and two more sails: a 4.5 wave sail and a 3.4 for the storms. I will be willing to buy any board or sail I might need to cover the sailing conditions of the spots near Launceston and Tasmania in general, given the fact I’ll stay at least 4 years. According to what you guys say, I should be able to score 4/5 windsurfing days/week with this kind of windsurfing gear, shouldn’t I?. I also rather wavesail that do slalom on flat water but i figure I will have to study and for that I might have to skip some good windy day. But it would help to know that when i am free and I just had to skip windy days because of studying I can always rely on my slalom gear to score some windsurfing. What I fear are those places where there comes time periods when I kinda forget about windsurfing for the wind does not pick up for ten days and then it picks up for, say, two days, right those two when you cannot skip either working or studying and than it disappears again for another week or two and so on. I am looking to build that windsurfing state of mind that makes the difference between those who lead their life and than windsurf and those others who all they wanna do is windsurfing and than, but just because they have to, do other things. I used to study and live in Hawaii, that I chose chiefly for its windsurfing fame and I’d sail at Kailua (slalom conditions) and Diamond Head (needles to say wave riding) and between the two almost any time I had spare time I was pretty much sure I would be able to get into the water and have good time (of all the spare time I had 50% was sailable), and that would keep my windsurfing psychological balance in good health…and I am now under the impression the area around Launceston and Tasmania in general could even be better.

Any other hint?
what would you say about the cold? for how long a period do you guys use gloves and booties?

for FS: what do you mean skip classes? kidding or would it be really possible? I am not going to but you know…just in case… (FS could I pvt message you?)

Nully,I have a Hosting and wavesailing buisness here in Phillip Island if your interested windy all week here

It must be windy here in the North because most of us northeners cant be bothered to travel even a few km to sail anywhere else. By not travelling we missed some amazing wavesailing conditions on the west coast particularly in the spring when it always seemed to be Southerly or North easterly. I cant believe that I have never sailed Kelverton on the east coast. It looks Amazing.








Kelverton Photo by Appleman

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azzzza said..
Lake Garda, is that where the moto guzzi factory is?

that is more of a museum but yes it’s where the moto guzzi thing is (around there)

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Relic said..
oh.. I forgot to mention; look at Willy Weather site. Enter Low Head. You will see 5 year average wind statistics if you're interested.

ciao relic. thanks for the advise. Let me get this straight: on the willy weather site entering low head I found it’s going to be windy the whole week. so is the low head weather on the site the weather (wind and waves) it’s going to be on the beaches around launceston?

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nully said..

Relic said..
oh.. I forgot to mention; look at Willy Weather site. Enter Low Head. You will see 5 year average wind statistics if you're interested.

ciao relic. thanks for the advise. Let me get this straight: on the willy weather site entering low head I found it’s going to be windy the whole week. so is the low head weather on the site the weather (wind and waves) it’s going to be on the beaches around launceston?

See Gclark1's post of area above. The conditions vary depending on distance from the Low Head weather station. Local knowledge also comes into play on how wind nd swell direction effect each location. There are a number of different weather forecasting web sites. We use them all to work out what might happen. Sometimes we get rewarded sometimes we don't. When that happens we are "Skunked"!

I wish we had your wind consistency, its been 3 weeks since i have had a sail here in se qld. I dont even look at the forecast for days at a time now

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Surfinfreak said...
I wish we had your wind consistency, its been 3 weeks since i have had a sail here in se qld. I dont even look at the forecast for days at a time now

I spent 9 yrs in qld worst place ever for wind but the few days you get at the alley it's pretty neat ??

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Surfinfreak said..
I wish we had your wind consistency, its been 3 weeks since i have had a sail here in se qld. I dont even look at the forecast for days at a time now

Hey Freak you need to move to Tassie.....................or Phillip Island