Peter's kitesurfing blog: Albany - Shoal Bay kitesurfing flatwater #575 & 576

Monday, November 27, 2023

Albany - Shoal Bay kitesurfing flatwater #575 & 576

Session 575, 576A &B. The wind was stronger at 30+ knots and with some North in it so we headed to Albany to check out suitable locations.

Albany Shoal Bay flatwater kite spot

First stop was Middleton Beach. The wind was over 30 knots and onshore with waves closing out. Nobody was keen.

Middleton Beach SLSC

Middleton Beach

Second stop was Vancouver Beach. It was a hike out over sand flats and the wind direction was not good either.

Vancouver Beach

Third stop was Goode Beach with similar conditions to Middleton Beach. Too much wind!

Goode Beach

Christian from Kitebud was in the area and tipped us off about the Albany Shoal Bay Kite spot so we headed there. The wind was good and the water was flat so we rigged up on the narrow sand beach and headed out.

Albany Shoal Bay flatwater kite spot

It was great kitesurfing. Good speed, long runs and great boosting. The water was shallow with weed close to the surface. I tacked out looking for deeper water but I didn't find any.

I caught my fins a few times in the weed and fell off. Coming back in I header over to the butter smooth water where a couple of wind surfers were. There was weed there too. I asked one how they could manage the weed with their big fins - they are using special smaller weed fins.

Gaz was doing some great boosts!

Christian he checked out my bar and tuned it - adjusting the front lines and the safety line. I hadn't done that for a while so it was great to get it sorted.

He also lent me a demo kite - the Airush Lift 9m. It has 5 struts and was nice to fly. Its designed for big air, boosting and kiteloops.

We drove back to Denmark and had a good final dinner in the Denmark Tavern.