Rame Head

From Cape le Grand there’s a downwinder north of up to 20km on southerly winds. The waves aren’t as big as on Fourth Mile Beach, but are a bit cleaner thanks to the lack of currents and slightly cross-offshore wind. Either drive along the beach in a 4x4 or take the long route through the national park. Bandy Creek at the end of the bay offers freestylers particularly flat water in easterly winds and a long beach downwind for extra security. The freeride option is Main Beach in the town centre just north of the long pier. The water here’s also a brilliant aquamarine and so clear you could mistake your own shadow for sea life. Northerly wind is also sailable here when it’s offshore everywhere else in Esperance. Fourth Mile Beach is the most sailed venue in the usual E-SE wind. The waves aren’t so clean in cross-onshore wind, but it’s good for jumping and even in the absence of groundswell there’s always some windswell about. The ultimate challenge awaits on Observatory Beach on a SW swell, where it can even top mast-high. Summertime easterlies are cross-offshore, turning the nine-mile strand into a hollow beach-break, perfect for riding and aerials. There’s no channel though, so it’s extremely demanding. The landscape is just as spectacular; Twilight Beach Road weaves between boulders worn smooth by erosion through thick green scrubland – Porsche even film their commercials here. From Esperance west, the eternal Highway 1 passes through vast rambling farmsteads as the landscape becomes more wooded towards the historic whaling town of Albany. The wind-farm on the hills south of town is encouraging – and indeed there’s a launch just below the turbines in cross-shore SE. Only with windsurf kit though, as the beach is very small and the wind gusty in front of a steep coastline. It’s safer at Anvils with plenty of space on the large beach in a secure crescent-shaped bay by the idyllic town of 'Denmark’. You can’t miss the anvil-shaped rock in the water that gives the bay its name. Access by car is around the inlet where there’s sheltered flat water to sail on. West of town, Lights Beach is another real swell magnet, whose powerful waves quickly turn unsailable at over 2m. To save a long walk, launch right beside the car park then sail upwind to the break behind the rocks. Plenty of 4x4 tracks strike out from Peaceful Bay to several world-class beach-breaks. The most reliable is Rame Head offering clean faces even in strong winds within a kilometre-wide crescent-shaped bay. Heading 40km further, west of Walpole, Mandalay Beach was named after a Norwegian three-masted ship that ran aground in 1911. You can still see parts of the wreck in the sand, the best launch is upwind of it where the current isn’t so strong. Even without wind Mandalay is a fantastic beach with its views of Catham Island, and there’s no need for four-wheel-drive to get there – leave Highway 1 at Crystal Springs and follow the gravel-track for 8km. You’ll definitely need a 4x4 to get to Malimup Beach. This vast beach north of Windy Harbour catches SW and W swell, but high limestone rocks at Point D’Entrecasteaux cast a long wind shadow. It’s fine further north, but the 4x4 tracks are hard to find and even harder to drive. Jasper Beach also has a big, powerful beach-break. The launch from a rocky coastline is a tad tricky with strong currents. Just getting there takes commitment, a good 4x4 and a determined driver – especially from Lake Jasper.