does anybody know any good spots for kitesurfing round the North Island of New Zealand?
Google Wellington Kitesurfers and get the google groups page. There's lots of info about spots around Wellington. Ruakaka kitesports in Ruakaka, and there's a crew up in Auckland.
Auckland is good.
Raglan is a popular spot too.
Think ozone actually tests their kites here.
Ahipara, Doubtless Bay in the Far north. You have every wind direction covered within a 20 min drive plus Ahipara is like kiting up in the tropical islands this time of year, Clear and bright blue.
I grew up in Auckland and used to Poledance at Eastern beach, 'Big' Bucklands beach (sandbar with maybe 800m deadflat water at low tide) and Mission bay on the harbour - These covered all the wind directions from memory...
For Ruakaka - info here:
www.ruakakakitesports.co.nz/Ruakaka_riding_guide.pdf
We also have this for the no wind days:
in Auckland where I used to kite - pine harbour, eastern beach, st heliers, kohimarama, tamaki eastury, cheltenham close to the city and muriwai on the west coast as well as orewa 30min north over the bridge.
Within a couple of hours south either raglan on the west coast or mt manganui on the east
so many places hope this helps
Pine Harbours pretty gusty. for steady wind best kiting the manukau harbour or the west coast in prevailing WSW direction. akl works all seasons... not too cold in winter (but wettie required). Eastuaries good kiting in summer with 15 knots in seabreeze. 30 degree water in da shallows... avoid main beaches... too crowded in summer unless there is a storm... then Eastern Beach kicks ass.
But yeah plenty of spots. 4wd required for some manukau spots and west coast
Yep heaps of uncrowded kite spots on the North Island NZ. If you want guaranteed wind, then Wellington is the go. Not many days under 20 knots here. Just make sure you bring your smaller kites. For waves, well you can do that in Welly too, but better off heading to the Naki for quality down the line kind of stuff. Apart from that there are a heap of other places that have been mentioned above, & if you go exploring a little bit, you'll probably find places that haven't even been kited yet...
Got back from Auckland last tuesday. Unfortunately wind wasn't great. The seabreezes are fairly light but sometimes pick up in the evening around 6 or 7. Only problem then is finding a beach(auckland) that isn't packed.If you do get a strong seabreeze, Orewa at low tide is my pick. If you get s/sw they are usually quite strong and the glendowie sandspit is great, got two solid sessions in there. Enjoy
Bay of Plenty - Tauranga Harbour - Ferguson Park on westerlies - tidal, shallow with flat water.
Mt Maunganui Beach - near Tay St - on NE seabreezes.
