Sandy Point is about to Explode!

The wind here are 35-50 knots right now at 10.45am. Dead West, but the radar and forecasts suggest it will go WSW in the next hour or two.

WSW and 35-50 knots is 'Make a name for yourself' territory. This is Big Sunday, 27-09-2009 stuff, but with more sand dunes and more turbulant wind!!

Low tide is around 2pm, so there should be a couple of hours window between around midday and 3pm for epic (Epic-ly tough?) speed conditions. I don't think there will be any takers as Melbouneites are still locked down until this evening and I am feeling too old for that craziness, especially on my own.

I might go down and see if I can get a picture of a big cloud of supersonic sand though.

Yanakie readings 10.40am (I recon add a few knots for over the Inlet!!!):

Well, The old Banksia tree in our yard certainly exploded!!! It landed on the Tinnie, but also on a stack of timber, a dirt mound and another trailer, and the base end is held up by a wooden pallet that was leaning up against it, so I don't think the boat is damaged. Wind still westerly:

Come on Sailquik and Kato. You owe it to the rest of us, who can't get there, to have a crack!

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sailquik said..

John340 said..
Come on Sailquik and Kato. You owe it to the rest of us, who can't get there, to have a crack!

Sorry mate. The switch to WSW was too late for the tide. By the time its changed the tide was coming in, which means big standing waves and too much danger for me to take on, on my own. The tide changed at about 2.30-3.00pm. The wind didnt swing until about half and hour later.
I recon you would have done a PB though for sure John!!

Yanakie:



Wilsons Prom was WILD!!!









I got the fallen tree chopped up though. Sadly, Kato might be right. The boat does look a bit stuffed. Might need a new one.

Just joking Daffy. These days, I get excited doing 20kts on a foil!

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sailquik said..
The wind peaked at an incredible 60-73 knots at South channel Island when the wind change hit there a few hours ago after sitting at almost the same westerly strength as we have now just prior to the change:

Wow. I have never sailed in more than 30 knots I think (4.2 fully powered). Is 60-70 knots sailable at all?
Do they even make sails that are small enough?

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dedekam said..

sailquik said..
The wind peaked at an incredible 60-73 knots at South channel Island when the wind change hit there a few hours ago after sitting at almost the same westerly strength as we have now just prior to the change:

Wow. I have never sailed in more than 30 knots I think (4.2 fully powered). Is 60-70 knots sailable at all?
Do they even make sails that are small enough?

Well, yes and no.

Generally speaking, winds over about a constant 35 knots are not really sailable in most circumstances, but the devil is in the detail.

Is the wind constant or is it just brief gusts from say high 20's to 35-40 knots, or constant 35-40 with brief gusts to 50+?

Experienced speed sailors sometimes sail in winds 35-40, gusting 50+Knots. (60-70knots NO!! )

This is in a Canal like Luderitz or behind a sandbar like at Sandy Point where the water is flat - that is, sheltered from any waves more than a few inches high. And the runs are very much on a broad reach at about 130-140 degrees off the wind. At those angles and at speeds close to the true wind speed (40-50 knots speed), the apparent wind over the sail is much lower than if the sailor was on a beam reach. This makes sailing speed runs in those winds survivable, but only JUST!

'Big Sunday', 29-09-2009 at Sandy Point was in this range and we even saw gusts in squalls to 60 knots that day, but I dont remember anyone actually doing any runs during those 50-60 knots squalls! The wind didn't ever drop below 35-40 that day. Speeds on the very high 40's were recorded by a few people who managed to get down the course, and Spotty did a peak of 50 Knots
Spotty - 49.87 2s, 47.755 5x10s,



Tony W - 49.11 2s, 46.19 5x10s



One of the young fella's took a short bit of video of the anemometer that day only 100M from the speed strip (the caption is probably slightly exaggerated for this moment, but it was very true at times):



I saw winds gusting 40-50Kts on my anemometer at Luderitz when I was there in 2013, but those gusts can be bullet like and brief. The wind was very 'gusty' and variable. I believe there have been days there when it was consistently stronger and a little less 'gusty'. Perhaps on those days when the world records were broken?

Here is a bit of video of the anemometers on a moderate day when us amateurs where getting 45-46 knots of speed and the big guys were getting high 40's over the 500M average. I would call this wind 30-35 gusting 40+. What would you call it? Note how much the needle on the analogue anemometer jumps around!! My comment was "No big gusts at the moment"



Here are some comments on another day in 2013 at Luderitz when the wind was at least 10 Knots stronger and got too broad and dangerously choppy on the course for us and most of the other windsurfers. (Ideal angle for the top speed Kiters) It swung slightly less broad later and then Tony peaked at 50 Knots.



Here is a video of my anemometer on a Gusty NW day at Sandy Point. I can see everything from 20 knots to over 40 knots here. What would you call this wind strength



Windsurfing on open water where there is unrestricted wind swell and waves is a very different situation. The strongest winds I have sailed on wave type gear is around the low 30's on 3.5m and 2.9m wave type sails, but I have no doubt some guys have sailed reasonably successfully in a bit more wind.

I have carried a good anemometer around my whole sailing life and measured the wind, as best I can, in just about every session I have ever sailed - at the actual sailing spot. I can tell you with certainty that many wild claims about the wind strength people claim to have sailed in are just that. Wild claims! Oftern they are accompanied by a statement like: " We sailed in 40-50 knots on the ocean today. We were on our small slalom boards and 5.2m sails. The winds were 40-50 knots at the local wind station." What they don't say, is that the local wind station was 10Km away on a 90m bluff on top of a lighthouse! Really, the winds were probably 25-30Kts, possibly even gusting, maybe 35Kts where and when they actually sailed. And dont get me wrong. That is a seriously good effort on open water.

But not '40-50 knots'.

Show me the video of the Anemometer on the beach!