2016 07 03 - Townsville mud
Dodgy session in mud.
I've carted my kiting stuff to Townsville 3 times now and haven't had one decent session - its kinda crazy. The forecast for this session was fantastic, I arrived at the beach and it seemed like it was game on. It's very deceptive there - the wind appears strong, whitecaps arrive but the warm air doesn't really have a lot of push. Most folks talk about great sessions in 17 knots up there so obviously we are playing in a different ball park.
Foil kiting has really taken off due to the light winds - so heaps of guys on foils. Unfortunately even the guys on foils struggled, one ditched his kite for about 20 mins and had to swim in.
It's a dodgy proposition in Townsville. One of the foilers had the back of his board bitten off by a tiger shark the week before - there is apparently a tiger shark breeding ground just off Magnetic island. He now has a little electromagnetic device on the back of his board.
Given those kind of stories, and the fact that there are crocs around, wading through the brown water holds an element of surprise. The foilers body drag about 500m out so their life is full of adventure.
After traipsing across muddy sand banks I had one run, but there are constantly little rocks and roots and all sorts - which can be easily confused for crocs. Had a couple of runs then had to pack up - once again dissapointed and with muddy gear.
I've carted my kiting stuff to Townsville 3 times now and haven't had one decent session - its kinda crazy. The forecast for this session was fantastic, I arrived at the beach and it seemed like it was game on. It's very deceptive there - the wind appears strong, whitecaps arrive but the warm air doesn't really have a lot of push. Most folks talk about great sessions in 17 knots up there so obviously we are playing in a different ball park.
Foil kiting has really taken off due to the light winds - so heaps of guys on foils. Unfortunately even the guys on foils struggled, one ditched his kite for about 20 mins and had to swim in.
It's a dodgy proposition in Townsville. One of the foilers had the back of his board bitten off by a tiger shark the week before - there is apparently a tiger shark breeding ground just off Magnetic island. He now has a little electromagnetic device on the back of his board.
Given those kind of stories, and the fact that there are crocs around, wading through the brown water holds an element of surprise. The foilers body drag about 500m out so their life is full of adventure.
After traipsing across muddy sand banks I had one run, but there are constantly little rocks and roots and all sorts - which can be easily confused for crocs. Had a couple of runs then had to pack up - once again dissapointed and with muddy gear.
Comments
Post a Comment