2021 12 27 - Dodgy session at South Ricketts

 SSE forecast and didn't seem to be getting in at Mentone, so I figured South Ricketts would be the go.  Welcomed to the beach by Ken the lifeguard telling me that windsports are forbidden (whilst there were 3 wings on the water).  He softened slightly and told me to keep out of the swimming area (which is massive with no people).  Out on the water it oscillated in strength from 12 knots through to close to 30 and changed direction quite a bit too.  Pretty challenging and no margin for error with rocks everywhere.  Great to get out and probably great to survive.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

23 Dec 2012 - surfs up

Big shore break, average wind and a different kiting culture are what greeted me at narrabean. Iwas itching to get out for a sail, the forecast was great but it was a bit of a challenge to find the right wind info in a new location.  Surf it is apparently the go. When I arrived the were kiters out, most were struggling to hold a line. I immediately noticed the big shore break, a new challenge! setup and headed out, charged through the big shore break and avoided playing in that area for most of the rest of the session,  the place where kites go to die!  Went out a long way to get the best of the wind, stunning vistas of the Sydney shoreline. Didn't try anything crazy, still recovering from my cough and I was keeping am eye on the surf. Definitely adifferent vibe on the beach to Melbourne.  Maybe a carry over from the surfing culture.  When I arrived, one guy crashed his kite in the surf impact zone, no one was helping so I grabbed his kite before it was pulv...
Read more

24 Mar 2013 - Lets go big

After 2 sausages and some kick starter drinks we headed back out.  Grabbed the wetsuits this time as we were a little fatigued. The wind had died somewhat so we pumped up the normal kites, then had to sit on the beach as it faded completely.  We had decided to call it a day, deflated the kites then a kick arse south westerly came through at around 25 knots.  Pumped up the kites again and had a fantastic session.  Had a big air competition, and tried some of the moves I was reluctant to try in the surf.  Landed a 1080 backroll, front 360 transition, and almost got the toeside 540.  Had a big smash on an attempted dead man - I fell right on my arse from a large height.  The session was the absolute cream on a perfect weekend for kiting !
Read more

02 July 2011 - Whitsunday - warm water, sharp rocks

Image
Location : Long Island, Whitsundays Kite : 10m Switchblade Conditions : 15-20 knots south easterly The stars seemed to align during the week, predictwind indicated that the wind would be perfect for the first day of our holiday.  I looked around Long island on google maps and found what seemed to be a perfect kite beach just 200m from where we were staying.  Yeehaa ! It looked like a beautiful spit, perfect for a south easterly, with great sand for landing and launching.  Check it out and you can see why I got excited. Reality however, looked a little different.  What appears to be a sandy beach is actually a rocky beach.  Not little rocks either, but rocks with barnacles and pieces of coral - all very sharp.  So did I go out - hell yes.   Luckily the tide was outgoing and revealed a sand bar around 4m by 4m. I was able to launch from this sand bar, and navigate out through a passage inbetween the rocks.  Rocks were everywhere, in the water, on t...
Read more