Kiteventure

Cracking session at Inveloch to kickoff the long weekend with Nicky, Simon and Elodie.  Hit the beach and went straight up the inlet and out to the surf.  The surf was amazing - I was pulling into barrels, riding monsters into shore.  Got absolutely crunched once.  I was hoping to have it all on the gopro, but I must have stuffed up the recording button and only recorded 2 seconds of footage on the beach.  Dissapointing ! Notable mention for the awesome tandem kayak session I had with Simon on the Sunday of Easter.  We took the double kayak out on the big waves and surfed monsters for absolutely ages.  It was so much fun, we were both hooting like little girls.

Hell yeah, time for the big one. We got up real early in Tarthra and drove down to Sandy point, where we met up with James, Pete and Dobbo for the next chapter.  Having done the Sandy point to inlet trip we were keen to back it up and do it again, but this time have a go at the prom also. The wind was absolutely perfect, cranking strong and consistent.  The waves weren't as big as they have been previously, but still heaps of fun to carve.  So, we carved, jumped and sped down the length of the beach - laughing all the way.  Did some big jumps and had some laughs as Tarren raced a sailing buggy, dobbo did some nice jumps, Pete did a massive tour, James wooped it up and Stu carved infinite waves.  I oscillated between carving waves, jumping and trying some new stuff - albeit with only one arm as tendonitis had kicked in big time in my right arm. We headed a fair way down the prom before turning around and running through the inlet.  Magical scenes ...

After lunch we headed back down to the beach and had a chat to a guy that had just done a downwinder to our spot.  He said the wind was a lot stronger up the beach - and the waves were a lot bigger too.  A downwinder seemed a good idea - but we had a better one - tack up and kite back. We headed out and soon worked out that the wind was a lot stronger near the cliffs, out the back and up the beach.  After some hard tacking action, we got up into the strong wind zone and it was magical.  Huge waves, great wind and magical water meant that we were in for the session of our lives.  It was amazing, heading out, getting a monster wave and surfing it back in.  Unfortunately my gopro ran out before I could get heaps of footage - but I did capture one monster, and the continual jumping we had to do to get out.  Truly a highlight.

Arriving in Tathra was a "schwing" moment - as articulated by Stu Styles.  Magical beach - just as I remembered it from 28 years ago - clear water, strong wind, whitecaps - just let me at it.  We got down on the beach and did some runs and the wind wasn't quite as strong as it looked - it took a bit of work to keep going. Still, the water was magical and the waves were something else.  We went for a couple of hours, and took a break, grabbing lunch across the road from the beach.

Our default approach to the kiting weekend has been to reserve the weekend, then book accommodation at the last minute once we have a confirmed forecast.  Unfortunately we had to change the approach as we had agreed to have the weekend during the Labour day long weekend.  So, with an Inverloch house booked and paid - and a forecast that said there was no wind in Inverloch, after some debating and searching, we found a plan that would guarantee maximum wind.  The interesting part was that it involved a lot of driving, and 1/3 of the team didn't have their license. Taz, Stu and I were the three amigos who put kiting above driving time and hit the road early Friday.  First stop - 90 mile beach - Woodside.  A beautiful day, and seemingly strong wind greeted us upon arrival.  Once we had got over the dunes and on the beach however, the wind was actually somewhere between 10 and 13 knots and a real struggle.  Stu did ok with his large 14m kite, but for ...