Hi all,

Total grommet here, had lessons, can happily fly the kite ok but need more practice getting up and staying on the board. Being of flexible work hours I was checking out Conifer Grove today which looks like it could be a good auckland "learning" spot for westerly oriented winds.

Anyone got any "local knowledge" that they are happy to share in case no one is around when i go out? Eg, best launching / landing spot (and method), tides (couple of hours around high tide I'm picking), wind directions, better spots, etc...

Is it the done thing to do this on this forum? (if not I apologise, so PM me the answers )....

Many thanks
P

Doh the answer appears to be no from practical experience!

Hi there

I would recommend Eastern Beach. Conifer looks like a very tidal eastuary with lots of sticky mud. This is just an observation by looking at this location every time I drive past and checking it out when the tide is out. Cannot speak from experience, but I would make the trip to Eastern beach on the right day to maxmise the session time.

Mid to Low tide with Northly to Easterly is best.

Still, if you give Conifer a go, post back and tell us all what it was like.

LetsGet
Jase

Kited conifer grove about 5 years back - visiting family and it was the closest beach ... and that's all it really had going for it. Sticky slippery mud, tricky launch, VERY tidal so you only have at most an hour each side of high tide. As a grom, you really need somewhere you won't get into trouble if/when you get tugged downwind - the predominant SW'er will send you into more mud and if I remember correctly, mangroves.

A few of the Eastern boys go to Ihumatao Rd, or Ambury Park, or if you have time Eastern beach or Pine Harbour. Alternatively head South to Papakura, and then West out to Clark's Beach if you want somewhere a little closer.

... also check out the pole-surfers' guide:
www.windsurf.co.nz/windsurf_locations_northern.asp

Flexible working hours alright, be honest, you're a bum!

yea come eastern beach thats where its at

Funnily enough the reason I though of conifer was because it was on the windsurfers site. But after having a look i decided one could easily get a windsurfer into the water, whereas you either need to do a water launch (too hard for me at the moment) or launch on the grassy bank and walk down avoiding trees etc. It would have been good once in the water, walked miles out at full tide only waste deep., and no waves or large swells to contend with (unless it's mid tide!). So what if i hit the motorway..... can hitch a ride on a b-train back into town.

Checked out Ihumatao Rd to, but a bit rocky for a noob, but will keep that in mind for later. Looked at pine harbour today might be a good alternative. ta

Eastern beach? Easterly wind in Auckland? Crikey. Will come and check it out if it happens!

Thanks all.

yeah eastern beach is good, r u being sarcastic bout the easterly thing or?

wot really needs to happen is for auckland to be inverted 180 degrees so all those great east facing spots would now work in our prevailing SW.

but anyway pine harbour is where its at for learning in a SW/W/NW and works in all tides too. shakers also works well too but it has to be SW.. not west.

Don't kite the manukau by yourself if learning lol.

Good call on twisting auckland around lol.

Tried PHarbour the other day and yep, perfect for a noob in a westerly. How though would one use at low tide though (if the answer is walk out really far then heres a preemptive d'oh).

And yeah decided most places in Manukau not the best bet on my jones at this stage . Funnily enough though I actually feel more comfortable out by myself without having to worry about running into other kiters. Just not in the channels/mud in the manukau harbour.

yeah its a bit of a walk but once out there its shallow flat water so all good.