Sailing in Shark Bay - Western Australia

[Rock Doctor]

Last June a friend and I took our yachts up to Shark Bay, a world heritage area about 1000km from Perth. Peter took his Welsford Navigator "Whimbrel"and I took my BR20 "Gryphon". The daytime weather was absolutely ideal for sailing but overnight, being winter here, was cool to very cold but never the less agreeable for the most part.

I have included a link to Peter's website where he has written up a blog on the trip and included our jointly taken photographs here: http://peterkovesi.com/whimbrel/sharkbay2017/

I hope you enjoy it and get a good impression of our sailing waters. Next trip is in May to the south and west from Denham.

[Graham W]

Chris,

That looked like a great adventure. Once again, trailer sailers have proved their worth by taking their owners to places that would not be feasible to reach in a keelboat in a short space of time.

The latest David Attenborough wildlife programme has just been shown in the UK.  It featured seagrass plains off the coast of Western Australia that could easily have been filmed in Shark Bay.  Among the denizens shown were four metre long stingrays hunting softshell crab and five metre long tiger sharks looking for green turtles (and cameramen?).  No dugongs.

[Rock Doctor]

Hello Graham,
yes that's the spot. Saw all of those creatures and more.

The places we visited were largely accessible by shallow draught boats only, that's what made is so special. Tides and winds caught us a couple of times but that is all part of the experience - I think!

Looks like we may try a different area of the same region next May, should be a little warmer then.

All the best from Oz.