Staying at Corrimal Campground for a couple of weeks just come in from a sail. 5.8m sail and 92 litre board managed to get planning but not enough wind to get back upwind. Knee high waves.

Thanks for the info will try Peggies next time. Tuesday is forecast for strong westerlies. Wheres the best spot to wave sail on a westerly.

Yep as Stehs said Port Kembla is by far the best westerly spot in the Gong although it's pretty cross off, works best in a SW or WSW, still awesome though; up the north end near the surf club. Lots of people sail in the lake (and I do when there's no surf) as the westerlies pump through there, damn cold at this time of year though, brrrr. Best spot is right at the Illawarra yacht club.

Im from NZ so the water temp is nice and warm, air temp is great as well. Looks like a good Westerly forecast for Monday - Wednesday and the swell is increasing as well. How do we know if Gerroa is on or not. Have a quad fin board so it gets a bit expensive buying weed fins.

Gerroa is OK in a westerly and can get strong but is more suited to the NE. Port Kembla is the go or Birubi (north of Newcastle). These are probably the pick of spots on the east coast with wind/wave angle.

Also Port Stephens is great bump/jump in westerly. You can do runs from Shoal Bay across to Hawks Nest, about 15 minutes full speed with 1-3 foot chop.

Westerly winds are somewhat unpredictable anywhere long the coast between Sydney and Gerroa. It can be 40 knts for 30 minutes and then suddenly nothing from one minute to the next. Only to be 40 knts again 10 minutes later.

In my opinion the most reliable spots in a dead Westerly direction are La Perouse in Sydney and Lake Illawara in the Gong.

I sailed Lake Illawara a few times last winter. Because it's relatively shallow it gets really cold really quickly... and I mean cold. The launch from the yacht club is the easiest. However, the best condition are in the middle of the lake near the markers where it start to get shallow... There is large area of very shallow water that drops into a deeper channel. Once the wind goes over 30 knts there is large area where the small chop builds into steep ramps. They are not big... maybe 50 cms at the moment but they are in a perfect angle so you can hit them at full speed. Good fun. BTW, I dont' use weed fins and found that as long as you stay in the channel the weed is usually not that bad.

I have only seen Port Kembla work once last season. Most of the time the swell wasn't strong enough and the wind blew the ocean flat.

As for Gerroa in a Westerly that's a real gamble. The wind meter is on a house up near the RSL club. The direction always seems of in a westerly but the wind strength usually is about right... sometimes even a bit less than what it actually is. Anything from a NW to a SW direction gets funnelled down Kangaroo Valley and arrives at Gerroa with quite a bit of force but it's usually stupidly gusty so a float board will help making it through the lulls. The best spot to launch is from the reserve on the northern end then make your way upwind. In a North Easter people usually launch from the car park near the caravan park but that's always too gusty in a Westerly.

There are plenty of sharks and dolphins around at this time of the year and the wales should starting to making an appearance as well.

This footage shows Gerroa and Gerringong an ultra strong Westerly:

Ian K said...

I suspect westerly winds are so variable with location in the Illawarra because lee waves develop as westerlies flow over the escarpment.

I think you hit the nail on the head. The same works for Gerroa in a Southerly / North Easter. Southerlies are notoriously weak while it can blow a gale up in Windang. At the same token it can be calm in Kiama while it's blowing a gale down at Shoalhaven heads.

Either way, after having lived in the area for nearly a year I'd say the area between Belambi and Jarvis Bay is probably the most reliable region for windsports anywhere on the East Coast... if you don't consider Sandypoint being part of the East Coast.

Sorry... Jervis Bay. Same thing...

frpialoux said...


I was thinking of Bellambi (it works in NorWest, so I would have thought it works as well with the opposite direction..).
Thk you.

No. too sheltered. Never gets in.
Best bet is Peggys (Bulli). SE is the best direction for the inside break.
Otherwise Windang.