Cocos Island - wots it like

> 10 years ago
Reply
Register to post, see what you've read, and subscribe to topics.
fbox
fbox
WA
3 posts
WA, 3 posts
24 Jul 2006 2:38pm
can anyone who has been there tell me what the sailing is like ? I saw some pictures from Zepher sports and most show no wind (partying looks good)

looks like only about 15kn to me

tks
Paul
Paul
WA
346 posts
WA, 346 posts
25 Jul 2006 9:01am
Hi. Average wind at this time of year is 18 knots. For the past 3 years over a 2 week period I have use sails from 4.5 to 7.8m. It is a trade wind that blows all the time from june to october, lighter some days and stronger on others. General sail size would be 6.0-6.5 on 90-100ltr boards.
Last week had 3 days of 25 to 30 knots.
Cheers
patsken
patsken
WA
717 posts
WA, 717 posts
25 Jul 2006 4:46pm
been there 3 times .. '97 ( spouse - no kids ), 2000 ( spouse + 1 kid ), '04 ( spouse + 2 kids )..... if I could afford it I,d go every year !! '97 it blew and blew lovely warm, strong tradewinds 12 out of 14 days, 2000 with a young-un I did a fair bit of baby sitting while the wife had a good sail due to softer winds, '04 was a bit of a mixture but with 2 kids was still a great time -- the highlight of this trip was hitting the water at about 7am in July with a rashy and boardies and get hammered with a 4.5 for an hour or so with not a soul around except the turtles and fish until the tide dropped and I had to wait 'til the arvo for the next tide and the crowds ( maybe a dozen or so )....
It's all lagoon sailing though unless you're extremely adventurous.
Love the place.........
It's one of my favourite places in the world for water based fun
gh
gh
NSW
156 posts
gh gh
NSW, 156 posts
25 Jul 2006 8:59pm
As previous post mentioned sailing time is limited each day by the tide, it's been a while since I was there and cannot remember how much time each day we sailed. I also vividly remember as well waiting for enough light in the morning so you could just see where you were going on the water.
Geoff
jc13
jc13
QLD
80 posts
QLD, 80 posts
26 Jul 2006 1:21pm
Do you take your own gear. Or is there decent hire gear available.

Sounds like an ideal winter warm up.
shi thouse
shi thouse
WA
1159 posts
WA, 1159 posts
26 Jul 2006 3:45pm
Got back from Cocos on Sunday after spending three weeks there. I dont know the cost if you go with Jez from Second Wind however if you were to go up there expect to pay largish dollars. For starters:
- dont try and get your own gear up there unless you know some secret formula. I have heard stories of peoples gear not being loaded on your flight up to Cocos, and eventually your gear arriving on the day you leave. Given that the flight is usually booked up (only two per week) room in cargo is very limited, and this is usually taken up with more important supplies for people who live on island (ie. food, postage, etc.) - Secondly if you do get your gear on board, keep your weight of luggage down to the bear minimum. You get 20kgs per person, and from there on in it will cost you $10 per kg. This adds up quickly. - If you organise this trip yourself, look at spending around $1800 on airfare (return), accommodation is around the $1000 mark per week (shared), transport (make sure you book ahead as their is limited car and motorbike hire) is around the $50 - $80 per day mark. You can get around on push bike ($15 per day) and then all you need to do is just get someone to drop your gear off for you at the Yatch Club (you can safely leave all of your gear here). - Food, this is limited, however if you dont have an addiction to cabbage (around $7 each) you should be fine with spending around $15-$20 per meal however these restaurant facilities are very limited and you will need to provide for yourself at times. There is a supermarket however this has limited and at times somewhat expensive supplies. - Alcohol and tobacco, this will be heaven if you drink and smoke too much. Alocohol is very cheap, around $17 for a bottle of vodka (1.125 litres) and apparently about $30 for a carton of smokes.

Another option is to contact Jez and he will organise most of these things for you.

fbox
fbox
WA
3 posts
WA, 3 posts
26 Jul 2006 3:47pm
can someone tell me more about the tide and access to the water, surely there are other options ??? Long way to go to find out I can't sail half the day. Pastken / paul ??
Jaime
Jaime
NSW
91 posts
NSW, 91 posts
26 Jul 2006 7:03pm
Hi all. I'm going in 4 weeks for the first time and have been told there are some waves (only for surfing) as well. Anyone know what the conditions and acces is like.
cheers
shi thouse
shi thouse
WA
1159 posts
WA, 1159 posts
26 Jul 2006 7:26pm
Will try and cover both questions Jamie and fbox: Hire windsurfing gear is not available on island. Maybe you can pre-arrange something with Jez before you go(thats if you dont do a package with him.

Tides are definitely a major issue here. You should be able to locate the tide charts somewhere on the net through the bureau or a Cocos site. Basically, you will need 0.9+ metres of tide to sail at the south end of the island. On this tide you will have around a three hour sailing window so long as the wind is up (it usually is). There are small bommies in the water and any less than this and you will tend to find them (especially with a fin over the 30cm mark). Water stays about chest deep to the other islands (about a four km run)

If you have extremely big nurries and can handle a 15foot plus wave and are willing to risk losing some gear then you can sail at North Park. If you want an idea of what this wave is like check out the Plug and Play dvd.

Another spot that can be sailed and is a bit more bump and jump is down at the boat ramp (Rumah Baru) heading towards the south end of the island. This is not as tidal and should give you more sailing time. Water here is deeper and obviously not as sailor friendly for those trying to learn. Apparently you get some big tiger sharks around here. Didnt see any but saw plenty of reef sharks.

Access to most of these places is very straight forward and accessible by car. The only possible difficulty I can see is if your going to sail North Park. You wont be able to sail straight out in front of this point and will need to launch in front of the shack and tack back to this spot. Mind you, if your going out at this spot you would be good enough to tack back with no problems at all.
Annika
Annika
WA
48 posts
WA, 48 posts
3 Aug 2006 11:30am
Just got back from up there myself.... always hard to return to reality.

At the normal sailing spot (the yaught club) you are limited by the tides times, normally allowing around 4 hours or in other words more than enough to completely knacker yourself and provide a good excuse for hitting the hammock with your favourite beverage in hand (as previously mentioned these are conviently cheap). Even on a .65m tide there is usually a 3 hour window, of course big fins (35 plus)can make it a bit more difficult.

The other spot mentioned (Rumah Baru) can be sailed all day. Wouldn't worry about the fishies cause they are well feed, but your close to the end of the lagoon and the current sends you toward indonesia pretty quick so you want to be at a fairly competent level with a couple of other crew around just in case.

I've only seen the waves sailed once (by Scott Mck and crew), and I'd say you need to be as good as them to get out there in the first place. Good news is the surfing is nearly always good with perfect offshores (as much as the locals will deny it), and apparantly it works best on a low tide to complementing sailing well. Oh and the snorkelling/diving/boating/pub are quite nice too.... got to love the water stuff at 26 deg water temp.

Well, heres to dreaming of warmer places
Jaime
Jaime
NSW
91 posts
NSW, 91 posts
3 Aug 2006 5:56pm
Yeeee hahhh!!! Thanks for the info Annika, can't wait. Also does anyone know if cocos was affected by the tsunami a few weeks back, the epicentre looked pretty close to cocos and more so christmas island.
cheers.
fbox
fbox
WA
3 posts
WA, 3 posts
3 Aug 2006 5:06pm

Yep, it created a 10cm wave. Apparently because it sits on top of a undersea mountain the wave energy goes around it. The 2004 chritmas one cased a 50cm wave and from what I can find it only stuffed up the tides. Good news is if you get warning all you have to do is swim out to the deeper water and it will pass by. Most people killed in 2004 are reported as being killed by the backwash containing all the timber, rubbish, buildings and crap.
Please Register, or first...
Topics Subscribe Reply