Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Session 12: Kitesurfing at Port Douglas

Lena, Chloe and I went to Port Douglas in July for a holiday and to visit our friends Doug and Wendy who now live and work there. Doug took the kitesurfing shots.

I am glad I took my kitesurfing gear - the kitesurfing was sensational. The south end of 4 Mile Beach is the place to go, at Helmet St. There is a small coconut palm shelter where Brett Wright operates the Windswell Kite Surfing School. Brett was a great source of local information.



The beach is wide and good for launching. There is a reef just to the South which protects the water from chop. A Southerly was blowing at 15-20 knots - the Winter trade winds. I wore my 1mm wetsuit as it was overcast and not very warm. On the tack out (to my right) I was having some trouble generating enough power - the board would stall. Coming back in (to my left), I was going really well with heaps of speed.

I went out and back about 4 to 5 times, then walked back along the beach. Eventually, I got going better to the right as I stopped the kite going to the edge of the wind window by not oversheeting the control bar.








Great to be kitesurfing again. It has been too long between outings.

No comments: