To all you crazy kiters from Capitial city. i'm heading down your way sometime in Jan (most likely the second or third week) for a week.

Would be keen on hookin up some sessions with a few guys down that way. So if you're up for it i'll be in. I'll keep ya updated as more imformation comes in.

mobile number is 021 02319234





http://www.geocities.com/thrasherkiteboardin

hi thrasher,
just send me a PM when you get down here.
you are from down this way anyway, so you don't need a big introduction.

just make sure that you or anyone for that matter calls the airport tower when kiting at lyall bay in a southerly.

04 3871980

we had a tourist showing up a couple of weeks ago who didn't know and went kiting right next to the runway... :shock:
airport security was there in a flash and not happy....
don't go closer to the runway than in line with the "REALSURF" surfshop. the blue "Briscoes" is already too far.
it would be a pity if one of the three main spots in wgtn would get closed for kiting.

cheers
boogie

Hey thanx 4T. I'm not intending to kite lyall bay... and won't be kiting anywhere myself. From what i've been reading on the wellie spots... it's extremely regulated everywhere (well maybe not everywhere but lot's of spots)... all these big red "don't kite here" zones on the maps. I don't wanna be in the wrong place and ruin it for the locals..... I would be hoppin mad if outsiders did that to my local haunts.

I'm origonally from down there and are heading down there to see my brother (who incidently is up here at the mo).

I'm probably not gonna kite Lyall bay... besides i'm not a wave kiter. Would prefer the flat water of Petone which from what i hear it's the main kiting spot in Wellie. I also plan on checkin out Plimmie and up on the coast... maybe give the 17 a bit of a run. Also gonna check out Makara Beach further south but i don't think i'll be kiting there.

Hope to see ya out there boogie.

why not lyall bay? it's really nice in lightish conditions. very flat water inside of the break and nice rolling swell outside.
i wouldn't go out there on a kite when it's like this though:




but you are right. there is not a lot of different spots for kiting in wgtn harbour and most are restricted to certain areas. but there is always the kapiti coast with endless beaches like muriwai. and about the same distance away.
or the unexplored wairarapa.

forget about makara though...
more when you are down here.

I'll see what the weather does but I'm more a flat water kiter. I'll definately check out Kapiti coast and plan on kiting there... i'm assuming that there are some flat water spots out that way??? Guess there's only one way to find out eh?

Wicked pic of Lyall Bay by the way :twisted:

hey boogie

that's big wednesday aye? our car nearly got taken out that day round owhiro bay. apparently there was a mint surfing wave at SEATOUN that day, of all places.

drop me your cell number. mine is 0274240267

thrasher

i'd say lyall bay and seatoun are more kited that petoni. all of petoni, seatoun and eastbourne are (relatively) flat. FLAT water in pautanui inlet (but gusty as). never kited plimmerton. waikanae is awesome.

Lake ferry (sp?) supposedly good. makara a no go.

drop me a line when you're down.

brian

Hey brian (smpl) my time off has been confirmed today at work. From the 16th Jan to the 5th Feb. I'm hopin the head to Wellie in that first week. I got your SMS too by the way.

Yeah my brother has been to Makara (he doesn't kite) and he says it's a real steep beach that looks dodgy as. And no i won't be kiting there.... but lookin forward to kiting the Kapiti coast. Many flat water spots up that way?

My brother has also been to Lake Ferry and that spot has been raved about by visiting kiters. But my brother says it's a mission to get to (and he was in a 4wd at the time and still got stuck). But flat water on one side of the spit and waves on the other side and steady open ocean winds apparently.

Anyway enough of my rantinz. C ya on the 16th...

hey thrasher, there are a few flat water spots up the coast if you know where to look...
places like waikanae are more like gentle surf with wide sandy beach areas though.
at high tide you can also sail on the river at waikanae but it's not very large.
another half an hour north is the ohau river/kukubeach which i checked out the other day but didn't sail there yet. it's a river that follows the beach for about a km before going out to sea.
foxton beach at low tide is pretty flat too and at a spring low tide there is a manukau like sandbar going about 800m out to sea.

i have been quite a few times over to lake onoke/lake ferry for speed windsurfing in a southerly and i can assure you that you don't need a 4wd at all. on the eastern side at lake ferry [which is actually the name of the settlement and the lake is called lake onoke] there is a campground and a pub right at the waters edge. on the western side it's a bit more remote and you can drive onto the spit with a 4wd, but you don't need to. worst case scenario at very high water level is that you have to walk 200m for plenty of space to launch.

CU
boogie

How far is lake ferry/onoke from Wellington city? 200m walk is no sweat whatsoever... sounds great

both foxton and onoke are probably the furthest of what i'm prepared to do on a little daytrip for a sail
both are a 100km/1hr20min drive to get there.

has anyone ever sailed on the river/beach at Porangahau?
it's pretty much halfway between castlepoint and napier on the eastcoast.
here is a shot from google earth. the line i have drawn off the shoreline is 5km long...



cheers
boogie

:shock: looks awesome. i have a friend who lives over there so might check it out. when will i know that the wind is good?

we checked out onoke on thursday. great spot.

you can set up your own custom spot for porangahau in windguru with the lat/lon coordinates at the bottom of the google earth picture.
they do a lot of landyachting on the spit and there is a bridge over the river at the southern end for beach access.

it sounds like the spot gets a similar amplification for gusty NWers than castlepoint.
don't know about other directions, but it looks pretty good for anything from south to northeast.

cheers
boogie

similiar NWers to Castle point? Yikes... and Castlepoint NWers are something to behold. My brother has been there and said the wind was unreal. But yikes porangahau looks a wicked spot.

I had a go at riding porongahau in the C Quad/directional times. The area looks great but you need a 4wheel drive to get down the beach from the bridge at the south end. There is a good camp ground at the south end over the bridge. The inside of the spit is difficult to access from the farmland as it is swampy and hard to get to.
The area definately looks great if you had time to check it out more.
Good luck, keen to see how you find it.
Plenty of bent over trees!
See YA Adrian

thnx for the info adrian,
i'll make sure i try it out sometime soon.

i hope the weather in chch has been kind so far.
boogie