Slowy & Ado's Shark Bay mission report

As requested by PD, here is what we got up to while you were all smashing your PB's at Hardies - a big road trip.

The road trip ended up more recon than sailing, not that we intended it that way. The idea of finding that perfect speed strip in the windy North was very appealing but the target remains elusive.

The first day we stopped in at Little Anchorage near Green Head. It was 25-30 solidly and the chop was river-like. Slowy was hitting high 37's and me low 35's. It's a good spot as it's always windy, but the water is not particularly flat.

Day 2 (Friday 28th) we headed further north to Pt Gregory and checked out the bay which is protected by a shallow reef several km long. The breeze was solidly 30 by 10am and it looked pretty smooth for a balls-out NM run, but we didn't try it (we should have) as we were even more excited about another spot nearby - a 1.25km levy 50cm high protecting dead flat water and giving an angle of around 115 degrees in the raging SSWester. When you look at the photo I have posted, or on google earth, you will understand why we have christened it "aGAYbar". Anyway we walked the levee system extensively checking for hazards and then eventually rigged up 5.8's and waded across some horrible rock lined muddy channels to get to the water.

We got into the water which was immediately just under knee deep with a hard salt bottom, so we walked a little further out to where it would be deeper except...it wasn't...and it wasn't any deeper 50 metres out, or 100 metres out or 200 metres out! The entire 200 odd hectare expanse of water was just under knee deep, and consequently about 10cm too shallow to sail. That's 10cm away from being probably the most perfect speed spot this side of SP, and with far more consistent wind! Aaaargghh!

So with no more than a couple of fin-scraping abortive attempts to sail, we packed up and headed north - all the way to Shark Bay, where the breeze was still relentlessly howling from SSW. We checked out a couple of spots on the Denham side, including Little Lagoon which looked OK but is probably pretty gusty as it's quite protected. We then headed over to Monkey Mia where we hooked up with some kiters who generously let us onto their trimaran & yacht for a sail out into the bay to check some more remote spots. We found plenty of very shallow water but the incoming tidal currents produced chop that was actually bigger then the water depth. We did a downwinder back to Monkey Mia in nice open water with Slowy unleashing a series of 34 knot NM's with his 5.8 and some peaks around 38/39 for him and 35 for me just out from Monkey Mia itself. Another visit to Shark Bay would be definitely worthwhile and there are definitely some spots with serious speed potential if you have a boat, but only on a low tide. If the tide is low enough those channels that are visible off Faure Island on Google Earth will be insane.

Monkey Mia is actually a really nice place to sail and a good spot that spouses and kids will enjoy while you go sailing. There is a perfect protected lush lawned rigging area and endless warm crystal clear water (with lots of interesting things living in it like dolphins, rays, dugongs, sea turtles, little sharks, big sharks etc.). The water is not particularly flat off the beach but it's windy and Slowy reckons 40 can be done there. As I said, with a boat, anything may be possible on a low tide.

Day 4 (speed sunday at Hardies) we drove 650km south into the continuing 30 knot breeze back to Cervantes for some runs there. The breeze had swung almost due south by then so the course was a bit square and very gusty, as well as having quite a few fisherman along it. Neverthless Slowy was peaking out a smidge under 40 while I was nudging 36. We drove home that night and the irony is that after the 2300km of driving, I did way better speeds at good old Woodies yesterday where the breeze was solidly 25-28 and there were hardly any kiters to dodge for a change.

So the best speed spots in WA may actually just be in the Perth / Mandurah area but it was well worth a look up north.