Lynfield speed bar Auckland New Zealand
Only 10 Kilometres from the centre of Auckland City the Lynfield channel is only exposed for the bottom 2 hours of the tide, the advantage of this is having 10 kilometres of flat water and low sandbar to cause minimal disturbance to wind flow (if Onno has added the photos, the area pic shows the SW over open water from the heads while the close up shows the actual run)
The predominant South west wind crosses under Tasmania Australia then over the Tasman Ocean before funneling through the Manukau heads (up to 380m high at Mt Donald Mclean) over the Cornwallis peninsula then sweeps over open harbour down the western coast curving slightly as it hits land at Lynfield, before exiting out over the Tamaki Estuary and on to the Pacific Ocean, this natural funnel across the Auckland isthmus produces a band of wind that can be 5 to 10 knots stronger than other beaches in the region.
For speed sailors there are two main issues, the sandbar is about 1.5 kilometres out in the harbour with pretty vicious harbour chop when the wind rises over 25 knots, this means choose your gear well because its going to be a mission to get back to shore and change or tune especially if you are on a 15 inch speed needle and the wind drops! The bonus side is that you can get some great chop jumps as you work back up the channel for your next run…if you are silly enough to do them with a weight jacket on!
Sailors can launch at Faulkner bay downwind of the bar with about 5 good tacks to get on the run… but a long way to sail if the wind drops or come out from under the Blockhouse Bay Yacht club…. The oysters are particularly nasty so wear your booties! The sand bar itself is hard packed black sand so quite easy to walk your rig back up to start another run.
I have towed an extra board out with other gear tied to it…. But this can be pretty awkward if you haven’t done it before… and if you are not prepared to rescue yourself, don’t sail here!!!!! We don’t need a bad rap from people not willing to swim home!... Over the last 15 years I have had to swim the channels on a number of occasions with broken rigs….Don’t expect anyone else to come and get you!! On a previous 30 to 40 knot day another local sailor spent hours in the channel getting horsewhipped every time he dared to lift his sail to water start..
To start a run or especially to reach a good 500 metre run at speed you have to broad reach several hundred metres out into the main channel, gybe and then come back at speed over the back of some pretty nasty rollers!! So if you want to get the best out of the site… learn to sail fast in harbour chop first!
The tidal restriction means often the bar is only working during the morning when the wind is still fluky and not filled in …. So the best combination is low tides late afternoon.. Enjoy.....
Oh yea... watch out for the stingray cruising the shallows... they often flap their wings and zap out when they hear you coming!....but you don't want to hit one at speed!
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