Hi All:
I am visiting Sydney for four weeks in February and was wondering:
- whether it would be worthwhile to bring my slalom gear with me (F2 SX Small, 5.9 and 7.0 TR2 MauiSails) - in other words: it there a decent chance of getting 13/14+ knots of wind that time of year, and if so
- where to go sailing? I read about Botany Bay. Is there any sailing on the ocean in the Sydney area?
Thanks very much.
Cheers from Belgium,
chris bel29
Can't help you with Sydney area, but here in South East QLD I know at least 3 from Belgium who windsurf with me. Bloody wacky folk they are 
Try this URL for Botany Bay sailing
www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_066037.shtml
Bear in mind that we have "La Nina" this year, which means a **** season. Your gear is fine for the NE seabreeze, but most sailors use smaller gear for southerlies
bel29,
Expect afternoon NE seabreezes ranging from 15 knots to 20+. These start to build around noon, and often peak anywhere from 2pm to 5:30pm, blowing until 7 or 8pm.
Also the occasional Southerly wind that can be anywhere from 20 to 30+ knots and come at any time of the day, lasting for a few hours or a few days.
Botany Bay gives you a nice safe 2km run out to the end of the Sydney Airport runway, but if you are brave you can keep going for a 4km+ run out to the middle of the bay. (and pray you have no equipment failure).
Check Maps->New South Wales->Sydney on this web-site to get an idea. February wind patterns are more or less the same as now.
Regards,
Harrow.
Hi Bel,
Sydney weather is very inconsistent. You could have some the best windsurfing in the world for the time you are here. You could have extremely poor conditions too with rain and no wind.
The best thing to do is look at the weather map for eastern Australia. If there is a strong high pressure system sitting between the east coast of Australia and New Zealand, that ridges across the coast, then we will get good windsurfing weather with nor east seabreezes.
Pressure systems normally move from west to east across Australia.
Southerlies are good but they are even harder to predict.
A big low pressure system will generate mega conditions, like they are having in Queensland right now.
The main factor to consider is the inconsistency of east coast Australian weather.
thanks very much for your replies. looks like I should have a decent chance to get some sailing in with a medium/high wind slalom set.
maybe see out there at Botany.
cheers
chris bel29
