South Australian Beaches
West Coast & Spencer Gulf
Yorke Peninsula and west to the Western Australia border
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Darrell Staight reports on Whyalla, Port Augusta and the
region in general. This is an edited response to an email query on
windsurfing in the Port Augusta area.
There are some
great winds in the region, although it's a bit seasonal. I spent 2
and a half years living in Whyalla and generally
found that
late afternoon winds in excess of 20 knots were quite common, in fact quite often it was way in excess of the tolerances of my old
gear and I had to sit out and watch some of the locals bombing up
and down near the Whyalla foreshore on their short freeride boards
and brand new 4 - 5 metre high wind sails.
While there are
certainly some locals in Whyalla who sail kites and
then put them away and get out their short boards and go windsurfing
when the wind becomes stronger, to my frustration there is no
organised racing contingent there. In fact the same can be said
about many towns in South Australia, despite the apparently ideal
conditions. While I was there I was seriously looking at a
partnership with the Whyalla Yacht Club to try and develop a Youth
Development Program that could feed into a competitive club. I felt
in many ways that if I had stayed their that I would have eventually
have pulled it off but there were some obstacles that came to my attention as I felt
Whyalla was not an ideal training area for inexperienced sailors but
lent itself more to people who were comfortable with strong winds
at the drop of a hat. It is very suitable for high wind slalom
sailing but having said that those that sail short boards just
seem to do endless runs up and down for fun but with no apparent
interest in setting up something competitive. That is a shame
because the 8 - 10 sailors that do it are obviously rather skilled
given the winds they go out in and I think it would make for a good
start for them to throw in a few buoys and do organised high speed
slalom racing between, but for some reason they don't!!! They are
also very good at kite surfing and it is not unusual in winds
between 10 - 15 knots to see 10 kitesurfers out just to the right of
the main Whyalla Foreshore Jetty (there is a nice setting up area on
the grass further down from the kiosk that you can park just behind
and are literally only a few metres walk from the water in medium to
high tide. In low tide they walk out onto the sand bar and
launch from there).
My 2 favourite places to windsurf in Whyalla are at the
Whyalla
Foreshore in high tide - roughly the end of the jetty marks a small
drop off into slightly deeper water and the larger swell there I
found was not as suitable for longboard sailing. Indeed both myself
and most of the locals liked to bomb around in the area that was
slightly flatter to the right of the jetty. Generally there is
enough water to sail there except in extreme low tide.
My other
favourite place was out near Point Lowly to the
left of the BHP jetty. Remember to stay clear of the end of the jetty due to shipping,
and that past the headland on the left there is a strong current
that you have to be careful of. So staying in the large expanse of
water off the beach is generally the safest.
Port Augusta. I never
windsurfed there but am off the opinion that it's a bit more
protected. Port Augusta marks the apex of Spencer Gulf and on the river
up the top there is an Aquatics Centre. I never managed to liaise
with them but I believe they do have a training program within the
Education Department for youth there. In many ways it was probably a
more suitable training area for inexperienced sailors but for more
experienced ones, I'm really not sure. Again there is a Yacht Club
in Port Augusta but most of their members are into keel boat racing.
However I still think it might be worth touching base with them and
seeing what they have to offer and whether they are happy for you to
integrate into their races and social scene (most Country folk are
pretty laid back so would probably be delighted for you to get
involved).
Then their is Port Pirie. Their Yacht Club is also on a
river. Although not used for it I am of the opinion that the part of
the river opposite the Yacht Club there is very suitable for flat
water windsurfing in strong enough winds. Again I guess most of my
assessments are based around older long board sailing and also the
suitability of the area for training. There is a beach further north
closer to Port Germein that would probably be easier to access the
open water, otherwise it's a long sail up the river, but Pirie has
interested me for a while and I might do a trip up there just to
assess it as I think it has at least as much promise as West Lakes
and the Port River down here. I would expect the winds on the river
in Pirie to be a bit patchy but less so than the highly residential
West Lakes.
Certainly I don't know of any
place to hire gear out in Whyalla or purchase for that matter.
Augusta I'm not sure but I would touch base with the Aquatics Centre
about that. There is a retailer in Port Lincoln (OES), in
fact they even
make their own boards there so a trip down there might be worth a
go, other than that as you're probably aware there are 2 retailers
in the Adelaide metropolitan area that sell both brand new and second hand
gear. Onboard at Glenelg and Glascraft on the South Road, Richmond.
The West Lakes Aquatic Club do not hire out or lend their equipment
to anyone other than students.