I thought there might be some interest in this outing in August...

We got tired of watching good surf but offshore winds over winter, and went to a reef near Broughton Island a couple of kms off the coast in a westerly. We launched two kites from the boat, left one person on the boat as a safety, then swapped over occasionally.

There was a fair swell (8-10ft at open beaches). It was choppy, gusty, and the surf was a bit random, but we had a very good time. Here's some video pieced together from a kite cam and a video in the boat...

Safety Note: Yes we care about safety. Boat had all req'd equipment. Boat on standby in case of wind dropping, gear breakage, kite lost etc. Two kiters in the water to help each other. Within 400m of land. Launching, landing and swapping done with kiter clear of the boat

Good stuff

Nerk,

Thank you. It looks like you had an amazing fun. I off buying a boat now, for next winter...

Cheers,

Fred

Some stunning footage you got there!

cool. surf looks big. is your footage much better quality than how it turned out on youtube? if so, it might be worth posting it somewhere else where it will look clearer so you can judge the waves better from the kite cam bits.

Very cool video. Why the choice of twin tips over directionals?

nice work.
a boat and a bit of teamwork certainly opens up options for offshore kiting.

excellent shots ,,surf looks good for thrill seeking rides

charging!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Smedg said...

surf looks big. is your footage much better quality than how it turned out on youtube?

The wave size was all over the place, with a few big sets coming through. It probably would have been better with even more swell and less water over the reef. There was a bit of a bounce back coming off Broughton adding to the south swell to make some bigger peaked sections. Here's a frame from the boat camera showing one. (It's fuzzy I know. I was holding the camera at the time and it was going all over the place!)

The kite camera never makes waves look big. In this case on the bigger waves the top of the wave tended to be out of the frame and it looked like we were on flat water.

Youtube now keeps a higher quality version of the clip (and you can run it full screen) if you have the bandwidth or the patience.

Navigate to

(after the ) and click on 'Watch in high quality"

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kiter789 said...

Why the choice of twin tips over directionals?

I normally like to ride a surfboard with no straps and no leg rope. I took it (you can see it taking up all the floor space in the boat), but got scared when I got there. The swell is going twice as fast as a beach break (a bit too much water over the reef - low tide would have been better) and it was choppy. We all had a turn at being eaten from behind after being suprised at the wave speed. I wouldn't have been able to stay on, so I borrowed Ric's board. The other guys seem to be able to make even twiptips look ok, but I need more help from my equipment.

The surf was fun, but not really good for wave sailing. The wind was cross-off, but the breaking part of the wave kept moving upwind, so if you turned downwind, the wave just seemed to vanish. Also there were no landmarks to get your starting point right. We'll go again for sure, and will probably have a better idea. I've since fitted a pair of footstraps to a spare surfboard - strapless is good, but sometimes I seem to need to be attached to the board. Probably a character flaw.

But we were sailing in surf in a westerly. It still feels good saying it! And thanks Glenn. (His boat and his idea)

oh yeah, cool. the high quality version is way better to watch.

Wow! Awesome clip!

What is the name of that song you have playing? cool track, and goes well with kiting

Looks Awesome Nerk, great job, I imagine it was great fun too.

D

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walshd said...

Wow! Awesome clip!

What is the name of that song you have playing? cool track, and goes well with kiting

Its called High, by Feeder

Awesome vid btw, i wanna play too!

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kiter789 said...

Very cool video. Why the choice of twin tips over directionals?

Me personally, I still use a twin tip cause I like to keep it simple
When I started kiting I had one board & one kite and that would all fit into a mityboy :) and had fun with this kit.

Now I got two kites two twin tips and a few spares, do I have more fun, probly not just get out in more variable conditions.

I guess a wave board will be added one day :)

And I get the keys to our new house tomorrow which has a garage, so have room to store more sh!t :))))

ric

Just incase a few peps did not know, depending on the original file uploaded you can get lots more vids in higher quality

source wikipedia:
YouTube's high quality videos are available in two versions, both of
which have a maximum picture size of 480 x 360 pixels. By adding
&fmt=6 to the web address of a video, it is played using the H.263
codec with mono sound, and by adding &fmt=18, it is played using the H.
264/MPEG-4 AVC codec with stereo AAC sound.

Ric

Hey Nerk,

Sounds like my type of crew you ride with.

I have surfed the reefs of the north beach of Broughton many years ago when I owned a Yacht and could moor out there for a few days etc at a time. Have had and seen epic waves but requires as always the right timing and knowledge.
There are some other places like that reef you guys rode along the coast all good for NW to SW winds and far enough off shore for some good clean riding and not too difficult access for sea faring people. My choice of gear is the smallest kite possible and small as 5'6" stapped surfboard (manouverable and powerful in off shore winds).

For those who have never ventured iinto the surf in off shore winds ...... dont do it on your own and always have a plan in place for rescue.

Hope to catch you guys next winter.

Regards

Glen