02 July 2011 - Whitsunday - warm water, sharp rocks

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 the shore, and as the tide went out, more and more were revealed.  It was great to be kiting on the holiday, the water was lovely and warm, but I was cautious the whole time as a crash or a bad landing would result in a shredded kite. 

No real progression, but I definitely have got transitions nailed as I did them on every run.