Session 323. Early reports of the northerly at Rosebud were not too good so I decided to wait and see how the wind at Brighton was. There was a good northerly in the mid morning so I picked up Mr Styles and we headed for the beach.
It was around 20 knots with the familiar wind shadow close to the beach, so I decided to take out me 12, which turned out to be a good choice.
There were a couple of guys on the beach getting dragged about among sunbathers, presumably trying to learn how to kite by themselves. Not cool.
Getting going on the Nugget was easy and I was well powered once I got out 100m. Nice runs on a hot day, but no backrolls. The prospect of crashing, tangling and self-rescuing in a northerly is still a bit daunting.
I did some nice jumps though, and a couple of speed runs. The Nugget is such as stable platform so riding out lighter winds is easy.
There were up to a dozen kites out, and Stu is going well on his nugget (surf style). Coming from a strong surfing and windsurfing background he loves the directional board and is already quite accomplished.
Another kiter crashed and inverted his kite about 200m off the beach. I stopped to check how he was going. After several attempts he couldn't relaunch his kite so I took his board to shore and told him to wind in his lines and self rescue. I kept an eye on him as he drifted down to Green Point. I looked like he might not make it to shore so I came in, landed my kite and got my handheld marine VHF radio.
I spoke to the Coast Guard on channel 16 to advise that a kiter might need rescuing south of Green Point. Fifteen minutes later he showed up on the beach which was a surprise. He had just made it to shore then someone gave him a lift back to Brighton, so I advised the Coast Guard that all was OK.
Its handy to have a marine radio for these situations. I will post some information on types suitable for kitersurfing.
I called by at The Zu Boardsports to pick up a Naish Nalu 11m inflatable SUP - more on that will follow.
It was around 20 knots with the familiar wind shadow close to the beach, so I decided to take out me 12, which turned out to be a good choice.
There were a couple of guys on the beach getting dragged about among sunbathers, presumably trying to learn how to kite by themselves. Not cool.
Getting going on the Nugget was easy and I was well powered once I got out 100m. Nice runs on a hot day, but no backrolls. The prospect of crashing, tangling and self-rescuing in a northerly is still a bit daunting.
I did some nice jumps though, and a couple of speed runs. The Nugget is such as stable platform so riding out lighter winds is easy.
There were up to a dozen kites out, and Stu is going well on his nugget (surf style). Coming from a strong surfing and windsurfing background he loves the directional board and is already quite accomplished.
Another kiter crashed and inverted his kite about 200m off the beach. I stopped to check how he was going. After several attempts he couldn't relaunch his kite so I took his board to shore and told him to wind in his lines and self rescue. I kept an eye on him as he drifted down to Green Point. I looked like he might not make it to shore so I came in, landed my kite and got my handheld marine VHF radio.
I spoke to the Coast Guard on channel 16 to advise that a kiter might need rescuing south of Green Point. Fifteen minutes later he showed up on the beach which was a surprise. He had just made it to shore then someone gave him a lift back to Brighton, so I advised the Coast Guard that all was OK.
Its handy to have a marine radio for these situations. I will post some information on types suitable for kitersurfing.
I called by at The Zu Boardsports to pick up a Naish Nalu 11m inflatable SUP - more on that will follow.
GPS Log
