Hi I just moved to Melbourne from montreal Canada until December and i'm looking forward to windsurf as much as possible.

I didn't bring my gear, but needed to buy new used gear anyway. If I was to buy one or two sails, what size would be the best? (I weight 63 kg) I guess a 100L board would be could!

How often do you guys go sailing (working 5 flexible days a week).

And a last thing, I don't have a car do you guys co-drive to the beach or is there a place there to leave my gear like a locker or something and bike to the beach or tram???

I brought my wetsuit so don't think it should be to cold ? (in canada we go down to 5°C)

(does anyone have old stuff to sail or lend/rent for three month especially a wishbone)

Thanks in advance

Hope to see you guys on the beachs

Cheers

Thomas

Hey Thomas

If you let us know what area of Melbourne you are staying in, someone close to you may be able to help out.

As Mr Ocean asks, where are you going to be staying?

FWIW, there were about a half-dozen guys out at Elwood on Saturday - which had an air + wind-chill temp of 5 degrees... so some of us are keen.

Lots of guys sail from places around the bay - St Kilda and Elwood are popular... so you should find other guys to sail with.

Elwood Yacht club has some lockers available for windsurfers - I think its about $50 per month or so. And if you are lucky, some guys head off to Sandy Point fairly often, so you might be able to get a ride with them.

Aside: if you are here are the start October or particularly the first weekend in November, quite a few guys from around Melbourne head to Sandy Point for that weekend.

Hey thanks for the advice !

I am staying in coburg (a little north of Melbourne city)
And I work at the Bio21 institute corner Fleminton Royal Parade.
Anybody around there I could contact ???
I wouldn't mine leaving me gear in a locker.

What about the sails ? (63kg) board 100l ? Budget minimum for board more on the sails for now!

Thanks for the advice

Tom

Hmm... not sure of anyone that you could contact directly - except maybe me... There are quite a few guys around, but they tend to have their own lives...

The locker thing is a good idea until the seabreezes hit - at which point, Elwood is not so good to sail from. Until then, it is a good beach for the N/NW, W, SW winds that Melbourne gets in Spring; the seabreeze is S/SE, making Elwood offshore (aka not good for broken bits); the N/NE direction is a bit shadowed, but you can drag you gear up the beach 1km to a better spot (Port Ormond), but again is offshore.

If you can find someone/somewhere to store your gear, St Kilda beach is the place to go for the S/SE seabreeze. eg: I store a mate's gear in my van; I just ping him when I'm at the beach - its then up to him whether can make it down for a sail.

I'm 73kg, so use an 85l JP freewave with 4.5 (+25kn) to 7m (~12kn), with corresponding fins. My most common used sail is about 6m +/- 1m, although Spring-time in Melbourne can easily be 4.0 weather.

Depending on your skill level, you might find 100l is a little big for your weight -> the Bay gets a little choppy when the wind gets up (from about 17kn), the 100l may just be too flighty.

Also... Windsurfing Victoria (wv.org.au) has a start-of-season BBQ, which you may be interested in...

Thanks, I'll have a look for some sails and try to gear up board maybe around 85l then,

When those the seabreeze start ??

So St-Kilda seems the best to me I just need a co-windsurfer near by, cause I can get down to the beach in tram or on bike I guess ?

I got that BBQ date noted

For Mathew, if you've still got some spare room in that van, I cold make up for the trouble (a couple beers !!! and food or some cash or something) if not i'll look for someone (in my next topic)

Wow I'd really like to have this work out can't wait to windsurf, it's been almost 2 months !

Cheers

Thomas

Thanks, I'll have a look for some sails and try to gear up board maybe around 85l then,

When those the seabreeze start ??

So St-Kilda seems the best to me I just need a co-windsurfer near by, cause I can get down to the beach in tram or on bike I guess ?

I got that BBQ date noted

For Mathew, if you've still got some spare room in that van, I cold make up for the trouble (a couple beers !!! and food or some cash or something) if not i'll look for someone (in my next topic)

Wow I'd really like to have this work out can't wait to windsurf, it's been almost 2 months !

Cheers

Thomas

I've just arrived and I'm looking at a place in Brighton East and another one in Elwood.

Why is Elwood not fun to sail in the sea breezes? Too crowded?

I'm not sure on lockers either. Ideally I'd like to get one so I can get out quicker after work - no need to go home.

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ginger pom said...



Why is Elwood not fun to sail in the sea breezes? Too crowded?

I think he was referring to the fact that it is offshore and that if something breaks, its harder to get back to shore.

elwood is a great place to sail in the summer seabreezes.. onshore

Hi Guys,

Not to repeat what you have already said but I havej ust moved to Melbourne from Perth.

So i too will be getting used to the area and the local sailing spots.

The question i have is what thickness of wetsuits do you guys use, booties too.

When i windsurfed in the UK before I moved to Perth in the winter we had 5mm wetsuits, thermal rashvest underneath, 3-5mm booties and often a Gathhat of some wetsuit hat to put off the inevatiable ice cream headache.

Is it that cold here in Vic in winter?

cheers Mick

usually in summer is just boardies.
winter i use a 4/3 and on the really cold (around 10 degree ish) days i'll wear a thermal underneath. i have boots but rarely use them...

I lived in Elwood for 3 years and sailed it all through summer in a seabreeze. News to me that the seabreeze is off shore.... Its cross-on and totally rocks in a seabreeze!

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laff77 said...

I lived in Elwood for 3 years and sailed it all through summer in a seabreeze. News to me that the seabreeze is off shore.... Its cross-on and totally rocks in a seabreeze!

Its the smElwood canal dog turds, dead possums and oil slicks that flow offshore... slowly...

Seabreeze there is definately cross-on.

smElwood doesn't really have any real offshore reefs etc, so tends to be pretty flat.

www.google.com:443/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode&q=Pickles+St,+Port+Melbourne,+VIC+3207,+Australia&sll=-38.819907,146.118986&sspn=0.113951,0.150719&ie=UTF8&ll=-37.893144,144.975157&spn=0.028855,0.053988&t=h&z=15

A true seabreeze for Melbourne almost always has some easterly component - in particular, the later the time of day, the more it swings east. Since Elwood yacht club sits just on Elwood park, this puts the breeze travelling over the headland, making it shadowed and a little offshore.

However if there is some westerly component, say due to a cool change, the seabreeze doesn't shift beyond south, so it is good sailing - often bringing in some decent wind-blown swell.

Edit: during a seabreeze, Point Ormond is usually a little better, and more crossshore.

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mathew said...

www.google.com:443/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode&q=Pickles+St,+Port+Melbourne,+VIC+3207,+Australia&sll=-38.819907,146.118986&sspn=0.113951,0.150719&ie=UTF8&ll=-37.893144,144.975157&spn=0.028855,0.053988&t=h&z=15

A true seabreeze for Melbourne almost always has some easterly component - in particular, the later the time of day, the more it swings east. Since Elwood yacht club sits just on Elwood park, this puts the breeze travelling over the headland, making it shadowed and a little offshore.

However if there is some westerly component, say due to a cool change, the seabreeze doesn't shift beyond south, so it is good sailing - often bringing in some decent wind-blown swell.

Edit: during a seabreeze, Point Ormond is usually a little better, and more crossshore.

Ok... dont mean to be picky, but...
Technically what you are talking about is the ocean breeze. In Melbourne you get both - a seabreeze off the bay, and then an ocean breeze off Bass Strait a little later. This ocean breeze is what swings things things more southerly. (Not sure that i agree with your easterly bit - that appears to happen at Sandy Pt though...)
See, for example, our best seabreeze month, December:
www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/~awatkins/fbeacon.DEC.html
AB

Hey Tomas

I windsurf pretty regularly and work occasionally at bio21 (i'm based in the botany dept.). Head down to the basement and find Dave he'll give you my contact details.

Cheers