one more thing about sleeping on the beach, don't leave your kite, pump hose or lines unprotected on the beach or you will have pin holes in your kite and pump hose and little cuts all over your lines from the ghost crabs. Also using your kite as a tent in 25kn is not going to help you sleep.
gidday rph, like your dream and as i filled u in on whits' direct u know the story, Whitehaven is a long way from the mainland to get there 4 or more hours with a multi-hull via hook psg no beaches along the way, rest and eat in the blue,time tides to float thru passage!!! dont forget the bullets of the islands.I have tipped over thrillneck (8.2 farrier tri) while racing here. a kiter to keep in good consistent wind would have to go around hayman and in trade wind time a long slog to WH. depending on tide and wind the height of waves V length between can be short in places, in as much as at on a low profile yacht you loose sight of a nearby vessel. around the WhitS race is 100 odd miles and my best time was 12 hours, to give you an idea WH is 1/2 way on the big loop.Have a good look at chart AUS252
Bowen kiters do a downwinder from Cp Gloster home, there are 2 islands on the way Stone would be no problem, dont much about the small one only been used as a mark, fringing reef again onto the accessable side. Know your tides so that a bommie is not a rail !
All said kitetoures with friends could help me support my multi hull habit along with Oli's kiting, let's hope WhitS adventure takes on, won't give up my electrical licence!
As X Sydney 12 years ago, Airlie is a great place to visit or stay on, the beauty is there FA queenslanders. OK toads, i do have born and bred locals as good friends its just the nature of the village.
Look us up here if your passing thru, at Bowen try Whitsunday Kitesurfers on FB, Alva Beach is good and Marvin at ITLoop t'ville could give more info' than me.
Dont get me wrong as much as WhitS is home and kite enduro is possibly the next devolopment,a board built to strap on the extra K's down low.
these islands, passages and coral would be a nightmare without support so do our tourism a favour. I will talk with my local contacts doing charter about Kite Safari
Cheers if you read this far.
Ray
P.S
How good would it be to go EVERYBODY at the next AirlieBeach Fun race.
Time to plan asault to convention, keep it under the radar, pole dancers included.
Any like minded anakists please apply.
so is australia day weekend the go then? if so who's keen? then we might be able to sort something out with transport..
Ok, we have a sailing kayak confirmed and he'll b trolling for dinner and have room for a backup kite. He's got marine charts as well so we'll b drawing up a detailed plan with tracks and distances and enroute info. Should have it up in a week.
I think Tides are looking ok for the trip from coral bay. Not ideal but should be manageable. mid morning high tides with mid to late afternoon lows at 1m-0.88m mid-late afternoon. So we'll have the low tides in the arvo but still should b plenty of water over the reef especially if we can get under way mid morning. turtle hunter, do u reckon that'll be enough water? And can we get a bit of local knowledge regarding best spots to camp where we can drop the packs and get a bit of kiting in good water not over too much reef. Do you think it best to contact the stations regarding our plans and pay camping fees with the understanding that we "may or may not" make it to designated camping spots and have to pull up on the beach if necessary due daylight/wind etc
Lots of great input there from Turtlehunter - nice work Mr Exmouth.
I have been toying with this idea for years - determined to make it happen this year. My planning is for late Aug or Sept (with TH's approval).
Its gone from being a casual kiters expedition, very much like the one discussed here, to now looking like being an official Kite Surf SUP Tour with us arranging all the logistics so people can just come along knowing everything is covered & kosher. Making it less of a self reliant type gig.
If anyone is interested in being kept informed of our progress in the planning please let me know & I'll keep you in the loop.
This trip is emminently doable and must rate as potentially one of the top kiting experiences to be had anywhere in the world.
I totally love Ningaloo.
BTW did you know Theresa McKirdy did the Wirrabandi to Exmouth leg of this trip solo on a SUP a few years back. Marathon effort for charity. She was totally gobsmacked by the experience.
Did it just a few days - well under the time she had allowed.
www.ningaloostation.com.au/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi
Plenty of info there including the station phone number to let them know your plans and booking sites. There is a couple of nice bays north of norwegian bay that are protected from the southerlies with flat water to play in for the arvo (no naming the best but puppet was pretty close).
The next night you will probably be in the national park around sandy bay (another flat water spot). You will have to camp at one of the campsites but osprey bay is the most popular for kiters at sandy bay (just upwind of sandy bay).
I figured you would be interested in this post puppet.
Outta my league guys but what a crackin awsome topic.
Talk about opening a can of kite worms Steva!. Can't wait to see this happen!!
Good Luck to all!!
Not wanting to Hijack the thread, however I've been thinking about a more local one for a while.
I love my downwinders, often doing the Swannie to Pinnaroo run.
I thought about on a weekend with all green arrows doing say...
Perth to Moore River to Lano to Jurien or something similar. Staying each town over night.
I know the Perth direct to Lano has been done a bunch of times by various groups but they all say it is a bit too much in one go, which is why I thought it can be broken down a bit.
These towns all having cheap accommodation / camping, so you dont have to be so self sufficient with gear.
Certainly it doesnt have the grandeur or challenge of the ningaloo region, however would still be a good time.
Howdy,
The run is happening in a couple weeks,
PM me for details if you are interested.
I'll flick some pics up after the run.
keep watching the weather as it sounds like we may have another cyclone coming down behind this one. You may have to go from north to south
Yep, oz day day weekend, 4 confirmed, 2 possibles. Yeah will be keeping a close eye on the wx but if it doesn't happen then so be it. It's about the only time we could all get off.
Good on you guys, I am jealous! I'm not in the right frame of mind to do this right now, but this discussion has really opened up some ideas for me to get back the kiting mojo. PLEASE post lots of photos and stories.
My fiance and I both love remote camping (I have done the Bibulmun Track solo and unassisted), I love kiting, and once he is up and going, this kind of thing will have to be on the cards. What an awesome way for friends to spend time together kitetouring!
I did a downwinder from Eagle Bluff (I know what you mean by sketchy launch on the south side stevabeva!), to Denham, and it was a fantastic day, seeing coastline you cant get to from land, and all in the silent power zone of kite crusing. How glorious to do it for days on end.
Enjoy
I will have to learn to harden up a bit though- camping without a being able to rinse off the salt water and cold beer at the end of the day will be my biggest challange (I am a girl...)
PS that kite shelter posted by Andy was mine- was a good idea, but not really practical if a)no wind (needs wind to keep it up), b)too much wind (keeps pulling even huge sand pegs out of the sand)
Cheers knickers, should be a pretty neat trip. We'll have a few camera's along so should plenty of opportunity to get some good footage. We are now going semi supported with the drivers meeting us at a campsite on the second night with cool drinks and stuff but should be a blast all the same. would have liked to have a few more numbers but there's still plenty of time to try rope a few locals in.
Andyhansen, there is a spot free if u can get yourself to Carnarvon.
So at this stage, long range forecast is looking pretty lame for Aus day weekend. :-(
Will be in Port Lincoln
