Nice work Obelix, good to see some PB's!

Thanks.

Just checked. I am 1.5 minutes short of one hour. Don't know if it would have been any good, considering how much time I spend waterstarting. That sail is a bitch to flip in the water.

Are you going in?

Nice speeds Danijel! Congrats on the PB's.

Nice work Danijel! Couple of pb's is always a good feeling

Cheers guys. It's only by a fraction, but feels good. I think I should get a bit smaller sail (7m maybe to fit between 6 and 8) and move to a smaller board. BTW, everyone still on the water? Not bad out there.

well done and the "buy more gear bug" has bit- EVERYONE, OBELIX IS HOOKED!!

Toby, you didn't get to sail today? There were many happy people out there today.

Obelix, new co worker so i am in training mode and the auditor was in and board meeting coming up and have the flu- so lots of pressure but none in my sails!! wont get out till next week  You better have one for me!!

perth traffic keeps everyone going slow- especially if a drop of rain falls out of the sky "whooooooaaaaaa better slow down for that baby- it might break the windscreen"  Could be the new fixed speed camera at the intersection of Canning Hwy and Riseley St. That thing must be worn out by now.

Chris I think the wind meter at Melville is pretty accurate. Maybe a touch on the conservative side (the "gust" measurement could be a 10 second average rather than an instantaneous peak). I dont think I did a run where the wind was over 15 knots the whole time. Even in the squalls. There was one squall later in the afternoon that I reckon was averaging high 20s for a minute or so. But with driving rain it often feels windier than it is. The rest of the time it was barely going over 25 in the gusts (which were all too short).

Did anyone else think yesterday was quite gusty?

Solid set of numbers there Mark, especially the distance.

Good back-up by Chris and well done on the PBs Obelix.

Hopefully there's some wind leftover today?

Anyone else notice a discrepancy between the actual wind and the Melville plots on Seabreeze?

From my observation Seabreeze always underestimates by about 5 knots in a norwester at Melville. Their anemometer must be somewhat sheltered in that direction. At the time Mark phoned me to say it was whitecapping at Melville the seabreeze graph read only 10 knots.

I am reluctant to disagree with Slowie, but can only assume that he was going so fast himself that the apparent wind was only 15 knots at best.

Did anyone else think yesterday was quite gusty?

It wasn't gusty earlier on, not by Melville standards, but the gustiness increased later as the wind picked up.

I think you are right about the wind meter being inconsistent. If its the one on the post at Majestic Pt then its a bit strange that it reads a SE pretty well, but not a NW. The readings would make sense if it were located closer to Pelican Pt or Nedlands Yacht club. I dont know where the BOM gets its data from. And on second throughts there were some squalls that came through that had to be more than 30kts since I was struggling to hang onto the 6.2m, yet the max gust was a touch under 30 on the wind reading.

So add 5 to the gusts and a couple of knots to the average is pretty reasonable correction for a NWer.

The reason I thought it was pretty gusty was that on most runs I was sailing through lulls having to work hard to stay on the plane, and then blasting in 25kts wind for other parts. Not to mention a fair amount of standing around waiting for a gust to get planing.

When I asked Laurie over a year ago he said the windmeter for Melville Water was on the "dolphin" pylon in the middle of the river between Pelican Point and Pt Majestic. Because it always underreads in a NW I have always assumed it must be closer to the Peli side. 

It was frequently getting knocked off by yacht booms, so maybe they have moved it. If it was at Pt Majestic though, the windstrength there in a NW should be similar to Melville Beach.

Here it is: Inner Dolphin Pylon. 31.99S, 115.83E. It is still in use by the BOM.

Sorry I don't know how to post maps.

It is just on the end of the Pelican Point spit, but SW of Pelican Point, so in a NW Peli Point would shelter it.

there is a wind meter at Majestic Pt. And I remember there was one on dolphin pylon that was frequently looking worse for wear because it stuck out (I nearly hit it a few times gybing a bit close). But havent seen it for a while. Maybe thats old info and they relocated it. Its possible that the hill is creating a local affect that kills the wind there in a NWer. In a seabreeze its often a few knots stronger there than anywhere else on the river. Maybe thats a clue- seabreezes read over (relative to Melville), NWers read under...

The BOM is still using inner dolphin. If you google "inner dolphin pylon" you can get all the current readings. According to their list of nearby sites they don't have a location at Majestic point.

The location of inner dolphin off the end of the Peli Point Spit would explain why it underreads in a NW.

OK that makes sense... must be someone elses weather station at Majestic Pt.

yeah i am 99% sure the bom meter is on inner dolphin (right on the end of the point)

the one at melville i think is a uwa asset.

the bom one cops a hiding from cruisers rounding up in transit and gets taken out from time to time.

west to nor readings will nearly allways be dodgy from this location.