Now, before everyone just says "WA" without thinking, I do want to stress the "year-round" part of the question.
If you wanted to live somewhere:
-you can sail all year round with, say, 7.5 or smaller
-you can sail within a reasonable distance of the city where you live & work (weekday after-work sessions are a must)
...where in Australia would you go?
Perth... if you want consistent summer winds and the option of a variety of spots on weekends. Winter winds are mainly frontal though.
Sydney is ok... but you will need to be flexible. The sailing in the afternoon is mainly a summer affair... especially since it get's dark to early. That said July / August will usually produce consistent Westerlies in the afternoons... or at least it used to. La Nina had somewhat put a stop to that last season.
Victoria seems to get a consistent wind but it will probably take you a couple of years and a good wetsuit to acclimatise to their arctic conditions.
So I guess in regards to the question what state? I guess the only place that has reliable conditions year around is Maui, Hawaii.
guess again
you need to be specific
i sail year round in Canada, butt built my winter sleds for ice n snow myself
in the winter i rarely need to go over 7.5 :-)
due to my weight - 8.5 is my sail of preference in the summer
so, come on over :-)
joewindsurfer.blogspot.com
Richie - great pic, which state is that? Ah, small island ...must be Tasmania! And there's Hobart!
Do you reckon they're looking for a lighthouse keeper? I presume the shorter structure is the pub/windsurf shop...
I'd imagine in Australia Tasmania would be the go as long as you can put up with winter's cold weather and short days.
Why not consider New Zealand and Wellington? The main issue would be you are earning NZ dollars which are being worth less and less compared to the Aussie dollar as time goes on. Plus people talk funny over there.
Newcastle area seems to have had a ton of wind over the last year, as does Woolongong/Kiama/Gerroa area.
I think it's hard to combine "working in the city" with "sailing after work".
I think less metropolitan areas are more likely to give you sailing after work.
Adelaide is pretty good. You can get consistent seabreezes in summer, and storm fronts through the rest of the year. Before I became an office jerk I could sail a few times a week in summer on a 4.5 and plenty of sessions through the winter. Never owned a sail over 5.2 until I moved to QLD. I think Adelaide metro would rival Perth metro for conditions, plus it's less crowded on the water.
I think Tassie. 9 months of frontal activity. Even the weak ones must be 6.5 weather?
I'd be interested to hear from the Tassie guys how much they get out as it looks like cold fronts all of spring and autumn when the rest of us have nothing
But the cold (when sailing) would get to you if you'd lived elsewhere in Oz all your life. So I pick WA. Last winter was crap but considering the 7.5 max size in the original question: in a normal year you'd get out every day in summer if you wanted (each week say 4 morning easterlies on river and 3 seabreezes on ocean) and you'd do at least weekly in winter.
Adelaide is good for Summer seabreezes and winter storm fronts as mentioned by Squidlips, the city centre is only 11kms from the beach, so if its blowing you could be on it in 45 minutes or so (semaphore, seacliff etc)
Has been an ok season, lots of wind if you are prepared to travel, seems to have been plenty of SE winds this year, so Sellicks has been the go most weekends, sweetest, cleanest beach in the world to sail at....
Not so windy May - June or September - October, thats why SUPS were invented.
Can.t comment on the rest of Aus but I usually sail a couple of times a week winter spring summer and autumn and miss afew cause of work around adelaide.
You can wave sail, lakes and B&J - you need a 6.3 and a big freestyle board for the lighter seabreezes tho -through to 4.2 or smaller for the ballistic days - and we had a few this summer and theres heaps of remote coast to chase if your keen.
Its a nice spot to call home
Tassie is the go i could sail here most of the time if school and work wasn't in the way. You guys just need to harden up and you will have some epic sails threw winter as well.Not to mention some of the epic wave spots too, just a few places below:http://www.nomadic.net.au/Nomadic_Wavesailing/Locations.html
then you have the flat stuff:
Henty River
Stanley
Port Sorell
Montagu
and thats just a few of them
Have a browse thru the GTC,
www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/index.php?country=1
you can compare each state's teams posts.
www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/rankings/year?country=1&year=2010
Might give you some idea.
But when you compare the pit crew to the mandurah mob, remember they're sailing at the pit, which is a much better speed venue than we have. (and it's likely they have better sailors).
Good to see a couple of blokes sticking their hand up for Tassie, but when I lived in SA I didn't sail but loved fishing and I used to get right royally annoyed at how windy it was all the time. SA or TAS in my opinion deliver some great all year round sailing if you've got a fresh supply of cement pills.
I like this ranking...
www.gpsteamchallenge.com.au/rankings/year?country=1&year=2011
Bowen North Qld, just north of Whitsundays.
We sail all year, very rarely does it go for more than 2 weeks without wind, 7.3 was my max. Now I don't bother unless its 6.3. This time of year we can have weeks on end of 20-30knts, november dec are the sadest with some gutless northerlies, although with 7.5 theres still a sail.
Three beaches in 5 mins of each other that cover north to south east wind. All within 3 mins of town.
I go for the south coast of WA. Where I am (Albany) anywhere between ENE through to W is a sea breeze, plus you get the SW frontal stuff through Winter. Esperance is probably even a little better. All the plebs in those places know that family beach activities must be planned for the morning coz you'll be blown off the beach in the arvo. As for water, both places offer everything from flat, protected water, to open ocean, to good surf beaches. You get the bluest water and whitest sand in the world and if you live more than 5km from the beach you're a farmer - and even some of them live by the beach! Not a lot of days each year with <20kts.
My 2c worth
Disndale
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Don't come here.
