MikeyS said...Patchk said...
I still don't understand, what makes Greenpoint good in Northerlies and St Kilda bad? (the fact that no one was there and this was on a hot, windy day between 4 and 6pm so I was surprised.)
Chop did get pretty bad, it was the first time I've ever fallen in while moving so fast that it actually hurt hitting the water.
St Kilda is bad in a northerly because the wind is very turbulent coming straight off the land.. I suspect that buildings and apartment blocks contribute to this. Northerlies are generally quite gusty in the bay anyhow, but close in to shore at StKilda, the turbulence amplifies that. At Green Point it can still be quite gusty, but the wind seems to have "settled" a bit by there. You can often see gusts and squalls heading south if you look north up the bay from the lookout there. It is probably the place furthest north in the bay that gets "cleaner" (more consistent) air. Green Point sticks out into the bay a bit- any further south and it will be blowing offshore. The further south down the bay you go in an northerly, the weaker it tends to blow. Rye can be great in a northerly, but it generally needs to be really honking for it to push that far down.
That makes sense, it was ridiculously gusty the other day, within a 5 second period I felt the wind shift from the perfect angle, to directly behind me, to pushing against the sail, then back to normal again, it was like tug of war
. The benefit of being the only one out was that no one could see me struggling, or hear me cursing the wind, as if by insulting it it was somehow going to calm down.
Thanks for all the tips
