by Chris Klohn » Fri Mar 21, 2014 6:20 pm
Hi Brad,
That "sandbar" you see on Google Maps is the shelf I was referring to. On a big NW day the swell will actually turn about 50 degrees breaking from the W over that shelf. It sets you up for frontside port tack rides and starboard jumps on the way out.
The lower the tide the better for the shelf. It'll never go less than about 2' deep so there's no worries about hitting bottom. An incoming tide also helps wrap the NW swell onto that outer bank.
Richi, the area that sets up sweet off Acadia is just upwind of Wreck. If you were to draw a line from the tip of the Iona Jetty to the tip of the Wreck Jetty you'd want to stay just west of that on your reaches.
Again, this is where the bottom goes from very deep to just a few feet over that long sandbar. It 's the same outer edge of the sandbar that rounds Acadia all the way to Jericho. Instead of sailing 90 degrees to it, like you do at Acadia, you're sailing parallel to it right in big, breaking waves. It works the best on lower tides.
You can ask Peter M about it from the air. At Helijet, we used to fly directly over that area at 500' ten times a day. It's very, very easy to spot as it's usually a long line of breaking waves. There's another sweet shallow sandbar break that extends north off Delta Port to the Iona Jetty. Never sailed this one though, just watched it from the air.
Cheers,
Chris