Hi guys,
I'm developing a huge interest in foiling. One of the videos that really inspired me was JK's recent one. Mostly the fact that on a foil you can literally go anywhere.


What I was wondering, with all those light wind westerly conditions in winter, would it be particularly dangerous to go foiling in offshore conditions?
I mean with a foil you can go upwind much better and if the wind drops to zero, so what, just swim back to the beach with your gear.
What are your feelings around that?

New Zealand awaits.

Plenty of westerly lake locations in and around Sydney/central coast that do not involve a rescue.

The problem with offshore is the closer you get to land the more flukey and stupid the wind is. So though it might be possible several hundred meters offshore you may not be able to get back in without the kite falling out of the sky and it all turning to ****!.

Riddle me this. Lets say you are 200m from shore. the kite goes down, cant relaunch. The kite is pulling you off shore away from your expensive foil. You can cut the kite loose and save the foil or save the kite and self rescue back without the foil. What do you do?

If you kite in those conditions you role the dice and have to be prepared to loose kit.

Ok thanks guys. That does make sense. I suppose even launching and getting clear off the shoreline would take an effort if the wind is flukey close to shore in westerlies.

I was wondering what people do who kite waves in offshore conditions in places like One Eye/Mauritius etc.

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Kajo said..

I was wondering what people do who kite waves in offshore conditions in places like One Eye/Mauritius etc.

They frequently get caught out and have to flag down a fisherman. Plenty of videos of it on you tube

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Kajo said..
Ok thanks guys. That does make sense. I suppose even launching and getting clear off the shoreline would take an effort if the wind is flukey close to shore in westerlies.

I was wondering what people do who kite waves in offshore conditions in places like One Eye/Mauritius etc.

Went there with Kitethrills two weeks ago. Well run adventure for the kitesurfing enthusiast and partners.

They organise a boat rescue specialist called Matrix to be on-call and watching you as part of the trip.

Over two weeks we required about 10 boat rescues from One Eye/Manawa.

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weebitbreezy said..

Kajo said..

I was wondering what people do who kite waves in offshore conditions in places like One Eye/Mauritius etc.

They frequently get caught out and have to flag down a fisherman. Plenty of videos of it on you tube

True, here is a good one:



Love how that guy still has the balls to negotiate price in his situation.

Kiting waves in offshore winds are typically cross cross off. Too much offshore and you cant stay on the wave face easily.
Location is also key. typically a point break that juts out into clean air close to the break. I have a location that I go to locally when the waves are pumping and the wind is cross cross off. It is epic point break and the stuff of legends!. But if I do the same cross cross off at my main beach its a freaken nightmare because of the dirty wind coming off the land and buildings.

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Kajo said..

weebitbreezy said..

Kajo said..

I was wondering what people do who kite waves in offshore conditions in places like One Eye/Mauritius etc.

They frequently get caught out and have to flag down a fisherman. Plenty of videos of it on you tube

True, here is a good one:

Love how that guy still has the balls to negotiate price in his situation.

I didn't appreciate how badly this could have gone when I first saw the video about two months ago.
They were lucky it wasn't a BIG day or they could have been eating coral reef.

The guy who gave up his kite was pretty generous. The other guy owes him a few drinks.

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Kajo said..

weebitbreezy said..

Kajo said..

I was wondering what people do who kite waves in offshore conditions in places like One Eye/Mauritius etc.

They frequently get caught out and have to flag down a fisherman. Plenty of videos of it on you tube

True, here is a good one:

Love how that guy still has the balls to negotiate price in his situation.

I couldn't watch it all after growing up sailing and being very safe and rule abideing and having a similar situation happened to me. That being taken out by a
short tacking kiter going from starboard tack to port tack and taking me and my kite out and being kite looped all the way in until
I could touch the bottom and untangle and unhook from the kite before I met the rock wall.
Lesson learn't that day..Stay clear of every other kiter unless you really know their sailing sense and ability unless you want to
have your life cut short. I was in total dismay of the other kiter's responsibility for his actions and his lack of ownership
of his actions which could have been catastrophic.

It only take's 2 to tangle...

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Fly on da wall said..

Kajo said..

weebitbreezy said..

Kajo said..

I was wondering what people do who kite waves in offshore conditions in places like One Eye/Mauritius etc.

They frequently get caught out and have to flag down a fisherman. Plenty of videos of it on you tube

True, here is a good one:

Love how that guy still has the balls to negotiate price in his situation.

I couldn't watch it all after growing up sailing and being very safe and rule abideing and having a similar situation happened to me. That being taken out by a
short tacking kiter going from starboard tack to port tack and taking me and my kite out and being kite looped all the way in until
I could touch the bottom and untangle and unhook from the kite before I met the rock wall.
Lesson learn't that day..Stay clear of every other kiter unless you really know their sailing sense and ability unless you want to
have your life cut short. I was in total dismay of the other kiter's responsibility for his actions and his lack of ownership
of his actions which could have been catastrophic.

It only take's 2 to tangle...

You are absolutely right about being self-responsible. That was the biggest message from Mike (Fearless Leader).

The biggest challenge in Mauritius was everyone's interpretation of what they thought the correct rules were.

In Oz we have a tendency to give the guy on the wave right of way and apply general sailing rules off the wave. But we do not generally kite in a 300m by 500m area with 50 other kiters and 30 windsurfers (the small reef and Manawa) or have to dodge kiters trying to escape a monster second or third wave in One Eye.

I was lucky enough to get out early most days to dodge the traffic. But got some great video of dueling/dancing kites.

Magic Place just the same.