Hi all,
I will come from Sydney in January for Guy Cribbs clinic. I am intermediate, 80 Kg., planning to rent a freeride board around 115 ltrs. Do you think it is the right choice for the conditions ? what sort of wind and chop to expect? Any other tips?
Thanks !

January is usually dependable for good southerly seabreezes around Perth - depends where Guy's clinic is and what he's teaching? If you're 80Kg I would go with a 100L (+/- 5L) freeride (with a weedy fin) - Have heard Cribby does a good clinic ......

the clinic is freeride 7-8-9th january, at Safety Bay windsurfing club. I was thinking of the bigger board because I am still not confident waterstarting. How windy would it be on average, how choppy is in the bay?
thanks!!

The sea breezes have not kicked in yet at safety bay but I would go the 100 ltr board and a weed fin. The section at Bent street is good for learners, there is a section between two sand bars and is probably 2meters deep at its deepest,the wind is fairly constant at that time of the year and can be up to 25 knots and sometime more but fairly flat water,chopier if you venture more into the bay.

Select to expand quote

xtreme1 said...

The sea breezes have not kicked in yet at safety bay but I would go the 100 ltr board and a weed fin. The section at Bent street is good for learners, there is a section between two sand bars and is probably 2meters deep at its deepest,the wind is fairly constant at that time of the year and can be up to 25 knots and sometime more but fairly flat water,chopier if you venture more into the bay.

yea its about right, i would go 100L cause if its normally windy im on a 4.2-4.7 plus freestyle board, and im 110kgs

looks like much stronger than we are used to here, but not too choppy. And why the weed fin, for the sandbars?
thanks all !

Select to expand quote

powersloshin said...

looks like much stronger than we are used to here, but not too choppy. And why the weed fin, for the sandbars?
thanks all !

Its for the weed

There is weed in the water, but it does help for the sandbars when the tide is low. It is much nicer to slightly hit the sandbar with a weedfin than with a pointer.

So you guys all use small no cams sails, like wave sails? I find cams easier, less twitchy, but my smallest is 5.8 Koncept, and I hardly use it here in Sydney.

Plenty of speed sailing at safety bay, so plenty of cammed sails in use too. A 5.8 might be too big when it's really honking. 25-30 knots is not unusual in January.

I sail Safety Bay and use only two sails a 6.6 and a 5.3 both cambered and use a 100 ltr freestye wave.A weed fin is a must here for weed free sailing..

guys you've been great, you saved me a lot of possible grief. I think I will bring my 6.6 and 5.8 and hire 2 smaller ones. The weed fin tip also is worth a beer at the pub, so I hope to see you all there

Select to expand quote

powersloshin said...

guys you've been great, you saved me a lot of possible grief. I think I will bring my 6.6 and 5.8 and hire 2 smaller ones. The weed fin tip also is worth a beer at the pub, so I hope to see you all there

That's a good idea. There is WAsurf nearby that rents out a bit of North equipment, so you should be able to find something if its too windy or not wind enough.

I know some of the locals will insist that they only have a handful of sails, but when I go there I take enough sails to cover most options. Last year I took from 5.5m up to 8.5m and ended up using the 8.5m a fair bit!

Some weed clumps will stop you dead in your tracks so a weedy is a must in the bay. The whole bay is fairly shallow so short high chop does exist further out. You'd be pretty set if you use a 6m sail i reckon. 15-18knts +6m anything over 20 knots you'll be well powered with the 6m. The guys i've been talking to usually carry 5.8's to 6.8's

Select to expand quote

Stuthepirate said...

Some weed clumps will stop you dead in your tracks so a weedy is a must in the bay. The whole bay is fairly shallow so short high chop does exist further out. You'd be pretty set if you use a 6m sail i reckon. 15-18knts +6m anything over 20 knots you'll be well powered with the 6m. The guys i've been talking to usually carry 5.8's to 6.8's

Thanks Stu, my 6.6 and 5.8 should be OK between 16 and 25 knts, maybe could get a 5 and a 7.5 to cover me for any 'unusual' wind.
Cheers

I'm 82 kg, can plane & gybe. When I sail Safety Bay my usual combo in the summer is 5.6m and 91 l board, followed by 4.7m + 78 l board.
When it's really on (30 kn +) I use 4.2m & 78 l board

6.5 m (my biggest sail) gets rarely used in the summer.
Disclaimer: I only sail weekends, and if the wind is less than 18 knots I don't bother.

I think 4.5 - 6.5 m sails (2 or 3) will have you covered with 115l board.

I've just come back from Safety Bay, Sorry I didn't meet any of you there personally, but if you don't mind I give you some feedback from a Sydneysider's point of view:

- In Wa the shops are always closed, there is no one on the streets,everyone is windsurfing or kitesurfing
- Safety bay is a great location and also testimony that windsurfers and kitesurfers can cohexist in a limited space, that would not be possible in Sydney due to road rage extending 10 miles out to sea.
- Safety Bay is also a great place for crabbing, the suckers love to bite any toes available, fishermen use the ones sliced off sydneysiders by weed fins for bait.
- It was so cold at night that i had to sleep in the board bag
- Guy Cribb is a good guy ! he served us cake with a weed fin and made us aware that our beer guts are actually 'harness retaining muscles', for that only it would be worth paying for the intuition course.
- I sailed on a rented JP slalom 104lt, it was a real bomb, at the shop they told me it was on consignment, so they couldn't take the rent money off if I wanted to buy. If you are the owner of the board in the picture you should ask for a slice of the rent.
- And finally i can say that after the course i never get my hair wet :-)

Cheers to everyone and if any of the readers has been there with me , please keep in touch

I'm glad you enjoyed it George, it was nice meeting you and I hope the foot is repaired soon.

Select to expand quote

powersloshin said...


I've just come back from Safety Bay, Sorry I didn't meet any of you there personally, but if you don't mind I give you some feedback from a Sydneysider's point of view:

Not that I live there, but I'm glad you liked it!

- In Wa the shops are always closed, there is no one on the streets,everyone is windsurfing or kitesurfing

The shops are for going to in the morning or if there is no wind. At least in the Rockingham area they have more shops open during this period as it is a tourist zone or something... Other areas of Perth have less open!

- Safety bay is a great location and also testimony that windsurfers and kitesurfers can cohexist in a limited space, that would not be possible in Sydney due to road rage extending 10 miles out to sea.

You got lucky. There seemed to me to be less kiters than the previous years. I don't know if this was because of the weather or something else. Also, it looked like the light wind on the Saturday kept some of them away, and then the stronger wind on the Sunday took some of them off the water early. One thing I have noticed is that it seems to get better after 6pm in that the wind comes in more consistent, and more people leave the water. The kiters at that time are usually pretty good and there is more room, so it is pretty good.

- Safety Bay is also a great place for crabbing, the suckers love to bite any toes available, fishermen use the ones sliced off sydneysiders by weed fins for bait.

Booties are a great idea!

- It was so cold at night that i had to sleep in the board bag

Again, I am not a local, but this is the first year of about 5, where I have noticed it being that cold, or even cold at all when it was windy.

- Guy Cribb is a good guy ! he served us cake with a weed fin and made us aware that our beer guts are actually 'harness retaining muscles', for that only it would be worth paying for the intuition course.

You guys looked like you were having fun. How many were in the group?

- And finally i can say that after the course i never get my hair wet :-)

I personally made an effort to gybe around you guys just so he would have someone to say 'not like that guy' when he was talking about gybing.

Seeing everyone there really made me wish I had signed up. Hopefully there is a next time.

Giorgio, was great fun three days. Hope the foot mends quickly. Happy sailing back home
Just remember Guys tips:
Hips to be square, oooooH and aaaaaaR, Growler and the best yet .......ARSE!!!!!!!
Was a great course. we had wind each day
That was a crack up, Guy serving cake on a weed fin as a slicer and a knife

Select to expand quote

FormulaNova said...

You guys looked like you were having fun. How many were in the group?

- And finally i can say that after the course i never get my hair wet :-)

I personally made an effort to gybe around you guys just so he would have someone to say 'not like that guy' when he was talking about gybing.

Seeing everyone there really made me wish I had signed up. Hopefully there is a next time.

We were about 20. As far as the jybing, actually there were a lot of good windsurfers jybing around us and he used some as positive examples; I have never heard Guy say anything negative about anyone, only talking about how to improve.
And the wet hair story is a joke because i'm bald :-), you cannot expect to improve overnight, but now I have much clearer in my mind what i need to do in the next year.

I know I had an awesome time, although I did also have my biggest stack yet and some of the stuff was frustrating for me at first but I improved out of site from where I was before the course. Had used my harness once, never been in the footstraps and never even attempted a gybe. Now I'm all good in the harness and footstraps and can get halfway round the gybe, need to work on that a bit but Guy gave us all the know-how on how to improve so I feel confident that given there's some wind when I get home from work I should be able to nail a gybe soon.

Nice to meet you Giorgio, hope you had a good time in the west and all the best.