Monday, July 27, 2009

Downwinder from Pretty Beach to 4 mile beach

Session 52: Monday 27 July 2009
  • Kite: Switchblade 14m
  • Wind: 15-22 knots (est)
  • Low Isles wind: 9am SW 17 knots 3pm SE 33 knots
  • Duration: 2 hours approx
  • Max speed: 39.4
  • Trip: 41.1
  • Logged time: 2:08
  • Avg: 19.2



Video of the trip shot with a helmet cam


Track Log map, starting at Pretty Beach in the south

A big downwinder. Fantastic. From Pretty beach to Port Douglas. Got going into around 20 knots with some warm up upwind tacks. Then we headed downwind.

A dramatic backdrop of mountains with the Cairns road visible around the headlands.

Into the beach for some playtime in the small surf. The young fella with us crashed his kite near the beach, we could see him as we rounded a point. The wind dropped. I had to fly the kite hard and could only just keep planing.

Brett headed back into a cove to wait for young fella. I headed out to find more wind. Scanning back I saw him propped. Eventually I decided to keep going while I had the wind. I tacked out a long long way into no mans land. A long way to Port visible in the distance, mangroves along the shore. I came into the shallows for some flatter water, the wind picking up strength. Really nice kiting.

On my furthest reach out I was startled by a large splash nearby - something big and black.

Probably a Dugong as I did not see any fins and it went right under. Bigger than a turtle.

I turned around and headed in towards the Mowbray River mouth.

Wary of the river, I tacked back out. The sandy end of 4 mile beach was visisble so I was near home. I cruised in with a couple of fast tacks and landed at the kitebeach, very glad to have made it without incident.

Brett and the young fella eventually showed up. They travelled closer to the shore kiting on the flat water between an outer reef/sandbank and the shore.

Models doing a photoshoot in swimwear on the beach. Bretto got them to model with one of his kiteboards.

Picked up the car then had lunch. Went out for another session from 4 mile but the wind was not very strong and it was an anticlimax after the downwinder.

Here is a larger scale map of the route showing Cairns and Port Douglas.



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