Now and then I see a few kites on the sand bar off Ambury Park/Puketutu Island area in the Manukau. Can anyone tell where they lauch from and a few tips on the conditions etc? From home in Onehunga I see some nice winds coming in there.

Cheers

iv kited there before, pretty sweet spot with flat water and steady as winds, stingray infestation though, just launch off ambury farm near waters edge, prety dodgy take off spot so watch out for the piles of volcanic rock scattered round but once u get past that its sweet

Cheers Blair. I'll give it a crack one day. Might have a look at rigging up on the grass and using the boat ramp at the far end of Kiwi Esplanade to get in the water.

I've been there before. You need the right wind direction to make it work properly. An utter poo to launch at and and that's with someone launching your kite. I go with Grant cos he knows the Campsite guys. After battling Manukau traffic it would have to be damn good..... which it is if you get that direction right. Spring here has potential!!!

Once on the water the conditions are great.... but then again they need to be. If it isn't a 20-35 knot WSW or westerly at mid tide then don't bother.

If too SW then it'll be gusty and no flat water.... and self launching and landing is a biarch!!!

For convience it would be more convienient for me to drive 70km to shakers or Muriwai then it would be for me to drive 20km to come to this place due to traffic issues, access issues and rigging up, landing launching etc.

You're talking me out of it now. Should be easier for me since I live in the 'hunga and can see what the harbour's doing.

Plusses compared to Pine Harbour:

The wind

Minuses compared to pine harbour:

Everything else

Then again i live just down the road from Pine harbour which works in all tides and anything with west in it... in other words more foolproof than da Farm.

But in da Hunga you are just down the road so you have the travel issue sorted but just bear in mind that it's a horrendous launch and land so bring someone with ya.

I've kited it once (well actually i kited it twice but the first time i found out that this place can be a sod and allmost wrecked my kite in the process).

Anyway if too SW then wind comes off Puketu Island and hence not classic Manukau smoothness. As for the water flatness... if SW then the wind blows along the small shallow channel that you kite in so not really classic flat water. And then there is the tide... mid tide is best... ok hang on.... mid tide ONLY.

However if westerly the wind blows from the heads which are 15kms away so heaps of fetch for the wind to smooth out. As for the water.. it blows off a sandbar so will be FLAT. Plenty of space too and the mud is soft so acts as a cushion... although in view of Blair's comments a stingray barb up the ass would be an interesting fettish so even more reason to come here only when its ON.

But come spring i'll be rerady to give this place a bit of a crack... as the winds are normally nukin westerlies at that time of year I'll be in. In the meantime i can get you in contact with Grant... he discovered the spot and is ALLWAYS raving about it ... despite being locked in the farm on several occasions. He'd rather go there than PH... and he lives closer to PH than i do!

Wiz ... ignore the negatives.... have been sailing /kiting the channels out there for 20 years... Low tide gives some of the best sailing in auckland... On a south west we launch kites at green bay(low tide)....windsurfers at Blockhouse bay.. down the channel and onto the north face of the Te Tau bank... If its westerly we walk down the track from Cape Horn rd and launch straight into the purakua channel... (about 1 k upwind of ambury park and a good sandy beach launch ...no oysters) low tide out here rocks for flat water ... interesting the water in the purakau channel off Puketutu is crystal clear at times ... probably the cleanest I have seen anywhere in the Manukau...
4 of us went out from the Cape on tuesday and had a great sail in WSW right up past puketutu then across to french bay and back down the Wairopa channel ... the only bummer is the 5 min uphill walk to get back up to your car...North to NE head up to French Bay again on the low tide... sure there are oysters on the edges but wear booties and the sandbars are all clean sand in most cases...
there are plenty of Rays out there especially early mornng or evening on the banks but they generally are heading away from you as fast as they can flap!

Thanks CT. I'll keep my eye out and go for a wander around.