Safety bay and mandurah are probably the best flat water spots.

The sand bar across to penguin island (safety bay) is probably as close as you'll get to what youre after, but youll need a smallish weed fin for it.
(Safety bay is about 50km south of perth, mandurah is a bit further again)

Winds around perth greater metro are generally quite consistent. it is true that its more consistent further up north, but realistically, you'll have to travel up to cervantes (about 270km north of perth) before you get to that more consistent wind. Lancelin (In between the two) quite often isn't much more consistent than perth. it does have some flattish water inside the reef, but its too deep to stand for the larger part.


Lancelin and cervantes are both great spots to sail, the wind in cervantes generally gets up closer to 25-30 knots (and thats also true for further north) theres one flattish section right in the corner of the bay, but its too deep to stand.


i guess it depends on how far you're keen to travel, and whether you want to do some general blasting around as well. If you're planning on heading away from perth, i'd definitely be heading North rather than south. But the catch 22 is that the majority of the Sailable flat water is south of perth.

PM me when you get here if you like, if you're not planning on heading off from perth straight away, come for a sail at one of the local spots. i can explain a lot more face to face in 5min than i can Message to message on SB

Tasdoc said..
I've heard a lot of good stuff about Shark Bay, that's probably how far I will be willing to travel if it ticks all the boxes.

Ah yes, shelly beach

Subsonic said..
Safety bay and mandurah are probably the best flat water spots.

The sand bar across to penguin island (safety bay) is probably as close as you'll get to what youre after, but youll need a smallish weed fin for it.
(Safety bay is about 50km south of perth, mandurah is a bit further again)

I have heard it is busy down there, is there a separate windsurfing /kiting stripor area like at Lucky Bay?

Ok, i've marked some pics up. Black circle is general sailing area, yellow circles are flat(tish) water


Safety bay: Weed fin generally required, but if you can live with towing some to the sandbar (to penguin island) with you, its not too bad over the sandbar itself. rig at carlise st boat ramp, which is the western most driveway to the beach between the two yellow circles. Try to park on The roadside as the rangers are nazis about the trailer parking. If you want to try the pond (eastern yellow circle.) rig on the grassed area just west of bent st boat ramp.

Lancelin: Weed fin generally not required. everyone rigs at the surf club near the southern point as most are there to sail waves on the other side of the reef. but if you want to sail the flat water, i'd rig up closer to the tavern (the driveway to the beach at the northern end of the black circle) to give yourself a bit more space to sail the seabreeze without hitting the reef. Keep in mind that its an offshore breeze sailing this area.
Cervantes: Weed fin generally not required. rig up at thirsty point which is the point on the north end of the black circle. Alternatively you can follow the dirt rd south just out of town, and it'll lead you to the beach right where the southern flattish water spot is and rig there, the beach sand is fairly compact so you can drive onto the beach and rig there. (At your discretion, the sand will find every crevice in your vehicle when the wind's up). Keep an eye out for the occy pots everywhere: two small bouys, generally on the verge of sinking with all the weed growth (aka camouflage).

theres also some nice flat water on the north side of town, but it can be gusty, being sheltered by the town and all. (Not to mention it's offshore on a seabreeze.) i wouldn't recommend confining sailing to directly west of thirsty point as it confused chop. Sail straight upwind into the bay.

the water up there is crystal clear and it can be deceiving. It looks like extremely shallow water In some spots but provided you stay over sand youre generally in over a metre of water. Don't sail over dark spots (reefs) because they are generally shallow. Its great fun sailing out in the bay at cervantes, but i wouldn't call it the flat water you're after. Head straight to the yellow circles if you want flat.

or alternatively, just go straight to shelly beach

There's also Coronation bay at Geraldton, that's certainly worth a look. It's one of the most fun places I've ever sailed. Flat water on the inside and endless jumps on the outside

Some great advice above. Mandurah (Liptons) is the flattest and so super easy gybing. Even though winds not quite as strong as Safety Bay, the highest speeds are usually recorded at Liptons due to the better water conditions. You can get some flat water in the pond at SB but it's overrun with kiters. If you cop a run of easterly winds, the west coast will be crap, but it could well be honking down in Albany - a 4hr drive and you can be at one of the best speed sailing locations in Aus ("Lilacs", Delta fin required).

Ok this was last week, the deepest spots are in the middle of the pic, chest to waist depending on tide. The thick red stuff at top left is where we stay and launch from, Lilacs water front cabins. Watch the sand bank at the bottom of the pic, even at low tide it's best to sail right on to it. There's a very steep drop off, if you don't step onto the sand, you could be in waist deep water struggling to get free of the weed. If the tide is high there's a large area where the weed doesn't come right to the surface and you can get away with a normal weedy.

Stretch doesn't say delta, just because it's shallow, it can be over waist deep and still have very thick weed all the way to the surface. a 50 degree rake is minimum requirement but I found that very draggy, 55 degrees was much better. And I don't think Stretch means Maui Deltas, if tide is high and wind strong, there's probably too much chop in the middle for them. The nautical mile run is shallow at the end so if you want to do that, a shallow fin is a good idea.

decrepit said..
Of course the best piece of advise, is to watch what's happening with the border!!!! With new cases in NSW the WA border could shut again at any time, to be stuck in the middle of the Nullabor would be no fun, and two weeks quarantine would totally stuff your holiday

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if you could end up in SA for 2 weeks before getting to WA (if driving). How quickly things change with Covid.

If you get to Albany Tasdoc send me a PM & I'll see if I can arrange someone to give you a basic rundown of Lilacs