Aloha dear fellow windsurfers!

I'm going to visit your beautiful country in winter 2009/2010.
I'll be staying for 7 weeks in Melbourne and one week on the gold coast.
Maybe I will even move to Australia in the future since my girlfriend is from there...

I'm 65 kilos and I do the water (and beach) start, both footstraps and harness +planing on a 100 l JP FSW board. I prefer conditions in the range of 4 to 6 m sails, flat or choppy water. I'm going to go down in board size to about 85 l shortly.

I'm from Sweden and given the circumstances I feel lucky if I get to come out on the water once a month (if you spread out the sessions over a whole year, that includes winter season which I do not sail because it's too bloody cold for me).
My two favoutite spots in Sweden are only 30 min away by car.

So, why do I write all this stuff. Well, I'd like to ask you about windsurfing in Melbourne in general. How does it work to combine windsurfing and an ordinary 8-5 work? What can I expect from Melbourne in terms of windsurfing?
What spots do you recommend for me? How often do I get to surf? How far is it from the city to the best spots?

I'd appreciate if you could tell me a little about life in Melbourne in general as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read this! Bon vent!

Best regards Micke

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k man said...

Aloha dear fellow windsurfers!


So, why do I write all this stuff. Well, I'd like to ask you about windsurfing in Melbourne in general. How does it work to combine windsurfing and an ordinary 8-5 work? What can I expect from Melbourne in terms of windsurfing?
What spots do you recommend for me? How often do I get to surf? How far is it from the city to the best spots?

Hi mate, Welcome, its certainly warmer here in Oz! I'll answer a few questions for you.

Windsurfing in Vic during Winter isn't that great, as we can go 2-3 months with no wind, however by the end of September through to March/April is when we get our season, though we can sometimes get some decent North Westerlies during Winter.

We have daylight savings from the first Sunday in October through to first Sun of April which means you wind your clock forward an hour, essentially giving us more daylight after working hours. This is the best time to be able to get a couple of hours of sailing in after work. During Winter, it gets dark by 5:30pm and isn't really possible to sail unless you get out of work early.

From Melbourne you can sail in any number of places around the bay or on the coast either east or west. You will need to provide us with the suburb in Melb you are staying to give you more exact locations. If your staying IN Melb then probably best bet is St.Kilda beach which would be 5-15 mins away depending on traffic. To sail in the surf, you will need to drive atleast an hour.

On a good season, you can get on the water maybe up to 3-4 times a week on average (if you have sails ranging from 4.0 to 6.0).

There are lots of people who have 9-5 jobs that windsurf after work during our season, it works very well indeed!

Hope this little bit helps ya!

Thanks a lot Windaddict for your reply! I really appreciate the useful info.

LOL, meant of course summer 2009/2010. I'm not used to the winter in summer and summer in winter thing yet =)

Seems like a great place to live! The work / windsurfing combo here in Sweden is sometimes an unsolvable equation unless your working hours are very flexible, Melbourne sounds like a dream!

I'll be staying in the northern suburbs (Essendon), so St. Kilda Beach is the closest spot right?

I've seen some posts about shark spottings. How common are shark attacks? Is it something I should be worried about, i.e get an armoured wet suit or so =)? No for real, is it a problem?

Cheers

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k man said...

I'll be staying in the northern suburbs (Essendon), so St. Kilda Beach is the closest spot right?

I've seen some posts about shark spottings. How common are shark attacks? Is it something I should be worried about, i.e get an armoured wet suit or so =)? No for real, is it a problem?

Cheers

Hi mate, there might be some other spots on the western side of the bay (I only really sail on the eastern side of the bay) that another member can tell you about.

There have been maybe a few smaller sharks spotted in the bay, but no man eaters. I can't remember any fatal shark attacks in the bay for the last 30 years (thats not to say there hasn't been, I just don't remember hearing of any). It personally never even crosses my mind when sailing in the bay.

Thanks again Windaddict!
Now I'm looking forward to visit Australia even more