Sailing Locations

he map below shows the layout of the main WA sailing coast. Some of the locations are click-able, and will take you directly to parts of the page describing the area.

There are many sailing locations in Western Australia, and the following pages describe Margaret River, about 270km south of Perth, Lancelin, about 130km north of Perth, Jurien Bay / Cervantes that are about 200km North of Perth, Geraldton about 400km North of Perth, and Gnaraloo about 1000km north of Perth.

Patrik Hamlyn's text gives a brief description of places up and down the coast. I do not recall where the original came from, however the author is credited in the document. It is well worth reading, as a brief synopsis the spots up and down the coast. Over time I have added some pictures to this excellent document as well.

In my estimation, the main two places for the first time visitor would be Lancelin and Geraldton. Lancelin is a nice place to visit and stay and the sailing is good (well, great). It also has the advantage of being only an hour and a quarter drive from Perth (or the airport).

Geraldton is a larger and more busy city but heralds the 'Mecca' of windsurfing in Australia ' Coronation Beach'.

It should be noted that Coronation beach is a great windsurfing beach and also provides some great kitesurfing conditions.

The only caveat on kitesurfing there is that the beach is quite narrow, and launching can be a slight problem. There is a special launching / landing site set up on teh nrthern end of the beach, however is is quite small and crowded. Someone will generally be around to help you launch / land however.

Kitesurfing is generally done on the the northern end of the beach, so that keeps the kites away from the Sailboarders to some extent.

Coronation beach is one of the few beaches that tends to have more sailboards that kites, which does amplify the fact that it is a truly great windsurfing beach.

Generally, as the season progresses, the wind tends to move south. This is obviously a generalisation, however it is often accepted that in October and November, the best locations are up around Gnaraloo. In December and January, Geraldton and Lancelin provide consistent conditions, and in February Margaret River starts to pick up and become consistent.

This does not mean that any of these areas are un-sailable outside these times, it is just observed that they are more consistent during these times.