Where abouts is a good spot? I generally give up on wavesailing after seeing that its too onshore at wanda, head for botany, do a couple runs and get bored.
I suck at port wavesailing and want to improve a bit, any alternatives from wanda? Maybe down the coast?
Makaha (Long Reef) or Newport Reef. Both spots are awesome with good swell.
Plenty of spots in the Gong if its a quicker drive for you.
Ah yea longreef, heard a bit about it but never been tempted, might give it a try. Where abouts is Newport Reef?
Never windsurfed around the gong either, any general directions?
A few weeks back some pics were posted in the forum of wavesailing at the entrance to Port Hacking. They mentioned launching at Dharruk Park. If you sail Wanda, that's got to be closer than Newport
If you can afford the petrol, Toowoon Bay just south of The Entrance goes off.....only about an hour and a half each way......only it's port tack sailing too....
Toowoon Bay is actually Starboard tack in a southerly...so that may be an option for you as it is one of the easiest places to sail and start to progress into wavesailing.
So sorry, beg to differ....
As far as I know, wavesailing port tack means the wind is on your left when you are catching and riding waves. In a southerly, this is what happens at Toowoon Bay.
Anyone please correct me if I have been deluded!
Thanks
Dude, I think you have been working too many weekends in the shop. Seems to have affected your sense of direction. 
A southerly at Toowoon Bay would be wind from the right. Thats the same as Longy and is starboard tack.
A nor-easter at Longy is port tack (distant memory) so it goes up and down the coast in the same direction.
Peto is right on this one
Darook park is only an option when the swell is very big when it works it can be a lot of fun. Other spots to try near wanda are merries reef, shark island and windy point.
Merries reef is accesible from the boat harbour 4wd park or you can sail straight across from wanda its not too far away. Pretty fun place to sail, is cross on but can handle heaps of swell and provide some awsome jumping alot like sprecks in maui. There are some points on the reef which are cross shore but they are a bit sketchy to get to and get out of. I dont recomend sailing here alone its along swim if anything goes wrong. Might sail here tomorrow.
Shark island is cross shore in dead south and can provide some good sailing on a high tide. Not a long wave ride but a really deep take off will give you some adrenalin kicks. You can launch at the blackwoods beach nearby or just sail up from wanda.
Windy Point can be sailed when there is alot of south swell, some east or north east swell. It is cross to almost cross of in a southerly. Problem with this spot is when it is working it is also a very popular surfing spot, its also somewhere you dont want to stuff up as there a some pretty gnarly rocks to be encountered doown the break.
I don't even get the original post.
If da wind is southerly, as per title, then all waveriding tacks around ocean-side Sydney are sailing port. And the wind at Wonda could not have been onshore if southerly. So am confused.
And if you live in Sydney, there would be precious little true starboard waveriding, since it's mostly N-E and that makes waveriding mostly a downwind proposition.
Anyways, first question is where do you live. Going north from Sutherland, say, make not sense. Going Wollongong from, say, Collaroy don't make sense either (petrol).
I'm not a wave sailor - I need someone to explain please - so I can follow this thread.
Q 1) Am I right to assume Port tack is left foot forward - with an onshore wind would that mean you are riding a right hand break?
Q 2) Is Longy cross offshore in a NE'er?
Thanks
I have always been of the opinion that the tack is called looking out from the beach not the direction you are sailing ( otherwise every beach would be both port or starboard on any given day provided you return to the beach at some stage)
eg if your looking out at the water at wanda for example in a noreast it would be considered port tack wave sailing ( even though you are technically ridingthe wave with your right foot foward, starboard tack ), or the other way, if you were standing on the beach at nobbys in a southerly it would be blowing from the right so considered starboard tack, however it would probably be rubbish and you would go home dissapointed therefore making it an irrelevant conversation.
The world standard for calling the tack of a wavesailing break is what tack you sail out on. If you ever read or are told it is a port tack break, that means sailing OUT on port tack, or as might be easier to understand, wind from the left when facing out to sea. And vice versa. This is the standard used by people world wide. Hence, pretty much everwhere on the east coast in a NE'er is PORT TACK wavesailing, and in a southerly STARBOARD TACK. Don't try to think too much, you will only get confused.
A true southerly at Wanda is cross on, the main stretch of beach does not run true north/south, hence why a N/easter is cross shore and a northerly is cross off.
The only real cross shore or cross off decent waveriding in a southerly in the area is generally, Windang, a couple of point breaks in the Gong or Makaha, then Newport when it gets more to the southeast.
Also, if you are lucky and live local you might occassionally get an epic sail at Wanda in a w/s/wester, but it is rare.
Sailing 101 (for those who need a refresher) -
Port Tack: Wind coming over port/left side of board (so left foot forward or try making an L-shape for left with thumb and index of mast hand - this doesn't work on starboard tack as L is wrong)
Starboard Tack: Wind coming over starboard/right side of board (right foot forward)
Note: This is independent of wind direction or surf/whatever, it's a relationship of wind with the sailor.
Davmen - I don't wavesail, but surf a bit. Port tack on an onshore wind would be riding an left-hander (breaks left from rider viewpoint)
again, what I said, what Brien said, what Dan said, blah blah blah blah
To possibly help for the flat water only sailors....
Kyeemagh in a nor-easter is port tack sailing. Further down the Grand Parade in a southerly is starboard tack sailing.
Not jumping, wave riding etc, just windsurfing.
For surfing, if your left foot is forward then you are a natural foot surfer.
If your right foot is forward then are a goofy foot surfer.
Dont start about harness hook up or down
Long Reef is like Wanda in its set-up. Well it used to be anyway
To confusing for me!
Port, starboard, starboard , port.
Left, right, Left.
Anzac day is next week.
Im going sailing.
Right.. so playing devils advocate here..[}:)]
If a sailor is windsurfing (just windsurfing..) on a river for example, with his left foot forward, and the wind coming from his left he would be on port tack? He then sails out the river mouth into some waves. Still left foot forward, wind coming over the board from the left side, still on port tack?
He jibes onto a wave, and having turned through 180 degrees, now has the wind coming from his right, and his right foot forward. And you're telling us that he's still on port tack??
And that's not confusing?!
Then, this sailor carries on sailing, sails back up the river, and at some point magically discovers that he's not on Port tack any more because there aren't any waves, and he's now on Starboard tack...
Magic! How does he know when the tack changes?
See, now it's confusing AND arbitrary! Not to mention at odds with every other marine sailing vessels definition of the terms Port and Starboard tack.
I still maintain that the spot is Port tack, and the sailor is on Starboard tack while riding the waves.
) on a river for example, with his left foot forward, and the wind coming from his left he would be on port tack? He then sails out the river mouth into some waves. Still left foot forward, wind coming over the board from the left side, still on port tack?
I don't care what direction the winds coming from, its what i feel like on the day. Some days I want to sail starboard tack so I go and sail starboard tack no matter what the winds doing. Then I might go in for a drink then decide to catch a few port tack waves so I just do it.
I don't see what's confusing now. 555 (and my earlier note) were right. People that keep bringing it in relation to the beach or the wind direction keep obscuring things.
Think of it as an international rules that applies for triangular racing, or out on the open on the ocean when two boats meet: couldn't possibly have anything to do with the beach.
If people don't know port from starboard, then it's no surprise the right-of-way rule on the water is so often ignored at windsurfing...
But let me be pedant even more here: it's not the position of the left foot when in front of the board that makes it a port tack. It's a port if the left foot (or hand) were in front if the sailor was sailing in a normal position! Reason is that I do a fair bit of freestyle, and I often cross path in funny positions that require me reasoning the ROW rule right on the spot.
You're confusing yourselves because you're applying boat logic (triangular racing??what the f**k??) to wave sailing. The 2 are totally un-related.
Gerroa in a NE is port tack. Windang in a southerly is Starboard tack.
once again....what Brien said.
