I come back to Safety Bay every year around the same time, and this year there seems to be not that many windsurfers sailing in the pond. There are not even that many kiters.

Has everyone gone somewhere else? The river? Has the wind been a bit hit and miss this year?

Reasons:
1. We like Safety Bay and the pond but we do not sail there on the weekends because the kiters are too numerous and too hazardous.
2. The sand spit has grown in the last few years and makes it very gusty in the pond.
3. the speed run is good but is only flat on a narrow range of tides. Liptons usually gets similar wind, has areas which are flat on most tides, and has many less kiters and they all stay upwind

tide will be low in the early afternoon when the best wind is expected today, and that makes it difficult to get out of the pond into the sound, so I am guessing most Safety Bay sailors will launch from Carlisle St today - next carpark down heading toward Penguin Island.
If you'd like to sail with a crowd, Thursday afternoon is looking good for Liptons.

Liptons – carpark at the end of Estuary Place, Wannanup. (on the estuary just south of Mandurah) www.google.com.au/maps/place/Estuary+Pl,+Wannanup+WA+6210/@-32.6041779,115.6511415,647m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x2a2d879ab6558d1f:0xee35d4b6fbc61a3d!8m2!3d-32.6015394!4d115.6516433
Liptons has areas of varying depth so there is usually some flat water except on the highest tides. Good in SW through to SE

FormulaNova said..
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Any hints as to where this Lipton place is?

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Anita is right, except we first started sailing here because every where else was too choppy in very high tides, it's the best high tide spot we have on the estuary in a SW
And yes Thursday is looking good, but low tide in the morning and high late arvo.
The tides here are important as some places just get too shallow to sail, also the weed gets closer to the surface, so in the real smooth you need a 50 to 55deg fin if you don't want to pick up weed when you slow down. With higher tides and strong wind, you can get away with small 45deg fins in the smoother bits.

It's a fun place to sail as there are flat spots either side of the boat channel.
But the boat channel can get rough, not a lot of fun with short highly raked fins.

Any way come for a drive and see for yourself.
I think it was Daffy who said, " this place is nothing like I imagined from your descriptions"

Too many kook kiters in the pond who dont stay in thier area and drop kites in front of you and i think the dredging was also worrying people. I sail off the beach in front of the yacht club where the slalom series is held now, and its nice. :)