Tales of Gales from Wellington New Zealand.

Words by: Mike Fischer

Photos by: Leland Lebreton, Carmen Sulzberger, Will Davenport

It blew like stink in Wellington. Not just once or twice, but A LOT! Wellington is bona-fide windy.

Statistically, Wellington is the windiest (or one of the windiest) cities in the world. I reckon there are a few places in Siberia or perhaps the Himalayas that might take the cake, but Welly is damn windy AND a civilized place. Anyway, this is why I dragged Cheryl and I out there – she didn’t seem to mind, so its all good. The geography in the area, and its location in the “roaring 40’s” both contribute to how windy it is. Weather systems get funneled by the surrounding hills and mountains and pummel the City. Most people hate it. Frisbee players definitely don’t like it. I loved it.

Just briefly, Wellington is a City of about 180,000 peoples or so, not including some of the surrounding metropoli. It is very hilly and serves up the absolute best coffee you’ve ever become addicted to. Double shot espresso is standard… need I say more? It is bizarre for a newcomer, but you cannot just walk into a coffee shop and ask for a coffee. They won’t know what the hell you mean. All “coffee’s” are espresso based and have different names, like latte, flat-white and tall-black. If you want a “coffee”, go to MacDonalds.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and therefore a hub for public service, but it also has a very active artistic community with a lot of neat festivals, live music and art shows. It’s hilly, funky and windy.

Wellington sits on the west side of Wellington Harbour, which is located on the south tip of the North Island. This means that there are a number of quality sailing spots, not only close by, but also a short drive away gets you to some desolate but beautiful spots on the coast. Because of the topography, wind is generally always north or south, or somewhat off that by 45deg max. It rarely blows west or east… it just physically can’t here.

There are three primary sailing spots in Welly. I’ll describe each one and the magic about it.

Wellington Harbour a.k.a The Ditch

You can sail a number of spots on Wellington Harbour, but the main launches seem to be on Evan’s Bay. Evan’s Bay is a long bay that runs almost perfectly north-south, so not surprisingly, it works on both northerly and southerlies. It does get a bit messy though when it’s blowing off those directions by much. On a southerly, it is flat-water freestyle bliss. On a northerly, it becomes a rodeo playground very similar to Kingston Harbour on a strong SW, but a bit wavier. The Ditch is very fun, but that’s just me. I guess as a freestyler type, any conditions where I can try tricks on each and every run make me very contented and I then require only one coffee a day. On really strong northerlies, above 30knots, there are some magical moments when the waves become clean!

Perhaps even more magic and unique for us freshwater sailing kooks, is the odd pod of dolphins or orcas that swim by. Regardless of whether or not you are into freestyle at all, The Ditch is the location that will be most frequently sailable – probably up to 5-6days a week in the on-season, and maybe 1-2 in the off season.

Plimmerton

Plimmerton is about a 1/2hr drive north of Wellington, on the west coast of the island. For a change, it’s a beautiful sandy beach! Nothing like launching without damaged feet for a change.

Plimmerton is a wave spot that really is best on norwesters. It does get interesting on other directions, but I guess its range is really WNW through NNW at most. Too much north and it’s blocked by the hills upwind. Too west and it’s on-shore. Early springtime dishes up quite a number of good norwesters.

The waves at Plimmy are pretty fun, but by no means hairy or out of control. The bottom is sandy and the bars move around a bit making it interesting. The wave action takes place about 500m or so out in the bay. My typical run would consist of full reaches out to the break, catch a few starboard airs, continue on across into another small bay with flat water, try a trick, then turn around and do some wave riding on the way in. It’s a pretty fun spot when its working no doubt, and there’s a little café nearby for an après sesh cuppa. Typically, during common 4.5 conditions, waves usually get to be head to logo high making for some fun rides and good air time. The riding unfortunately is not down-the-line. It is mostly backside riding with the odd frontside cutback. However, on occasion when it’s good, you might be able to connect up to 4-5 frontside turns. Gotta look out for the old farts on ancient gear playing speed-slalom in the waves, right where you want to be bottom-turning.

Lyall Bay

Lyall Bay is the shit. Now I reckon not everyone agreed, but Lyall Bay can dish up some fine conditions. Again, like Plimmy, you’ll never get down-the-line wave riding at Lyall Bay, but you might also get a few frontside cutbacks if you are lucky. The joy comes in when it is honking and the swell is pumping. Exposed directly south, approximately 3,000 open-ocean kilometers to Antartica, you can imagine that the waves can get large, XL at times in fact. While I unfortunately did not witness it, during our stay, there was a huge 12m swell day on the Waitangi Day holiday. It was responsible for nearly sinking a Cook Straight crossing ferry (that made an idiotic decision to go out in the first place) and it broke apart a brand new sunken war-ship making it off-limits for SCUBA diving (for which it was intended). OK, you get the picture – it gets big. Mast high is common. All in all, a nice sandy launch with a café right on the beach called Maranui that dishes up creamy latte’s and mochaccino’s… Mmm… and has a perfect view of the action. It’s jumping heaven about 50m offshore from the café.

Other Spots

Alright, well those are the most common spots. I suppose if pure wavesailing is your cuppa, don’t expect that in Welly. But, if you want to sail a lot, and compromise a bit on that quality - Welly is your place. It beats Kingston any day, including ‘good’ Patterson and Everitt. Honestly though, there is no where in Wellington that can touch the quality of Sandbanks on a spot-on blow. For pure waves – gotta pack up and head to the Wairarapa Coast and Palliser Bay, or up to Taranaki.

General Vibe

The water is cool and generally varies between 10-20°C from winter to summer. Being a hairy cold-weather guy with some blubber, I thought I could show up those locals and go with shorts on the summer days… well, I was wrong. It really is steamer temp all year round (plus a hot day in Welly means 25°C and sunny – not 35°C and hazy like here). A 4/5 for the winter is enough, and short-armed 2/3 would be ideal for summer.

In terms of equipment, it all really depends on you, your weight and your style of sailing. For me (160lbs), my typical home quiver is ~6.0 down to ~3.7 on a 100L and 75L. I arranged for a 5.7 down to 3.7 when I arrived, plus a 95L freestyle wave and 76L waveboard. I sailed the 5.7 three times over the course of a full year and sold it nearly brand new. The 4.4 received the most abuse, while the 5.0 and 3.7 shared 2nd place. If you like strong winds, you’ll love it in Wellington.

Aside from that, a few other comments... Wellington is simply a really cool place. Cheryl and I were a bit freaked out at first, thinking we had moved to a big City – the downtown does have a bit of that feel to it. In the end though, we both grew to love the place and I don’t think I’d hesitate to live there permanently. There is great mountain biking, all water sports really, trail running and more hiking that you could probably ever do. One thing worth mentioning is the accessibility of hiking and wilderness there. First off, there are a ton of trails within 1-2hrs drive. Second, they have adopted a very successful system of huts. That means you don’t even have to pack a tent or sleeping pads!! Huts come on a first come first serve basis (but rarely fill up except long weekends and holidays) and are nicely spaced apart, giving you the option to push it hard or take it easy. Best of all I think, it actually makes overnight hiking for families with young kids a reality!

Anyway, the Wellington vibe is really great and the people are the friendliest we have ever met. The windsurfing gang is really into it and they give it heaps. No lack of stoke in the scene there! And for the windless days, there’s always a double-shot latte waiting for you at the local café. Well, er… I think there might be some left.

If you want to read any more tales, feel free to browse the blogs we kept up while we were there: www.fish-kc79.blogspot.com and www.charlafish.blogspot.com.