About 12 kiters at Double Island Point today due to great conditions....
I was a little under powered on an 8m (74KG) 136x39 TT, but well powered on 10m
The wind fluctuated from 15-18 Knts to 18-22 Knts IMO.
Today 10:30 - 17:30 in the Northerly the readings went AWOL (wind shadow) - not that critical from MPOview but it is a weather & shipping resource. Does anyone know how seriously the accuracy of readings from these sites are viewed?
The meter is part of the lighthouse setup some 30M up on the headland - normally this place reads 40-60% higher than the other Sunny coast reference points on the main land due to height above sea level, and the fact the point sticks out a fair way from the main coast line.
Cheers
AP
After sailing up and down the coast for a few years full time you get to know which ones are good and which ones you need to make adjustment for. To be homest though you are really only using them for passage planning (go or no go) and weather model confirmation, it would have to be a very serious (read cyclone) sustained average for the big ships to care. So if one station is wigging out you would take the sustained average over a few hours and compare that to stations around it and see how it fits in with the latest Bom ACCESS model (which can be spookily accurate over 1-2 days)
As you get further North it gets easier as they have stations on the coast and out on the reef. Land stations are always a bit crap because they are at the point of deflection where the wind gets bent northwards in a SE'er and probably a lot of turbulence in the afternoon in a Northerly where the prevailing wind is starting to compete with the sea breeze. Like yesterday when it was blowing between NE and W (Sunny coast). Overall though I reckon the BoM is the only real gov department Im happy paying taxes for, the peeps do a great job and their online and radio services are excellent.
should of come a bit further north it was as sweet 19-21 knts gusting up to 30 i was powered up on a 6 meter at the end and waves were at least 5 -6 footers was a blast . 
cant even walk today though . ^^^^ with above i kite di 9-10 times a summer and i find the seabreeze map is generally pretty close .
It can be really difficult to find locations that have power, communications, servicability, are secure (from vandals & environment) .. as well as being free from wind obstructions. Sometimes obstructions can appear years after the initial install.
100% agree re-BOM - their 1-3 day modeling is really good - (although - I am happier about my taxes being spread around a bit more than Dl33ta 
)
There was an obvious wind shadow as pointed out... (have yet to trudge up there but possibly a cliff with vertical air movement and a rotor from that direction). The readings were way off. I will do the trudge next time I go and check it out.
DI is normally so reliable it had me wondering - not much to be done for this direction I suppose.
For anyone interested the lagoon is still great but much smaller than last few years it is going through a re-growth phase - 2 channels out to sea - timing is everything - access is tide dependent.
Cheers
AP
I did once find a reference point at Rainbow stating 8m in elevation that seemed pretty accurate. Am guessing it was at or near the surf club where there is a Coastalwatch camera. Can't remember the website though. This site seems fairly reliable, though am guessing it also uses the headland station:
www.meteorology.com.au/local-conditions/qld/rainbow-beach
