Anyone been kiting at Augusta lately ?? how is the river / river mouth looking ?

I went in the river last week and the normal river mouth is well and truly closed up and the water was really shallow ( knee to ankle deep) and lots of algae in the eastern end of the river.

The eastern end is pretty much a waste of time now due to the algae and being really shallow. Also its been incredibly gusty throughout the whole river.
Its not looking like a good year for Augusta.

Its great for euros at the moment.. Well worth the trip

Went down an month ago. Yes. the old mouth is closed up, and the shallow passage to it is very gusty. The Colour Patch is no longer a realistic launch site. There is now a decent sandbar on the east side of the new channel, and a gap of only about 100ft at its northern end if you want to enter the lagoon. First time I rounded that corner to head in the lagoon after being at the new mouth, I faced a line of families fishing in 3ft of water. None pulled their lines in. That was fun! At the new mouth, and it was howling 25kts-plus, I found it very hard going at low tide, with lots of water moving around. The new channel has scoured out lots of rocks as the channel bends slightly around to Flinders Bay. However, it was screaming when I was there and a more comfortable 18-20kts seabreeze could make the mouth a little less technical. I'd only go there on a high tide though. It's just too shallow for a chilled session when others are about otherwise.

Thanks Guys .. I'm heading there on Sunday for a few day so will report on current conditions..

If anyone is around see u down there ..

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alverstone said..
Went down an month ago. Yes. the old mouth is closed up, and the shallow passage to it is very gusty. The Colour Patch is no longer a realistic launch site. There is now a decent sandbar on the east side of the new channel, and a gap of only about 100ft at its northern end if you want to enter the lagoon. First time I rounded that corner to head in the lagoon after being at the new mouth, I faced a line of families fishing in 3ft of water. None pulled their lines in. That was fun! At the new mouth, and it was howling 25kts-plus, I found it very hard going at low tide, with lots of water moving around. The new channel has scoured out lots of rocks as the channel bends slightly around to Flinders Bay. However, it was screaming when I was there and a more comfortable 18-20kts seabreeze could make the mouth a little less technical. I'd only go there on a high tide though. It's just too shallow for a chilled session when others are about otherwise.

was there yesterday this is still pretty much spot on. Was there at low tide also and youve got a few rocks to dodge in the channel for sure- in fact i wound up with my board straddling one in the channel on the tacks back out - not pretty!

I think you blokes are just saying that to keep the crowds away. I just spent 3 days kiting there and had a blast. It may not be as good as previous years granted, but still very special.

Just sent a week kiting 20-35 knots everyday at Augusta rivermouth.

Definitely better on 18-25 knots . Anything above that and it gets really gusty. I broke 2 bars ( at the swivel on Naish bar n lines) to give you an indication of how gusty at 35knots.

Crowd factor wasn't too bad. approx 10 - 25 kites spread over a large area . just enough to make a good friendly atmosphere...

Re the conditions . As alverstone said : New cut is pumping and has closed the old rivermouth. Up near the old rivermouth the water is not clear as previous years but still kiteable. Quite a bit of weed developing. Better on high tide. There was more kiting now in the areas just adjacent to the Colour-patch . Wind more gusty there but still flat water and fun.

Launching/ landing as tricky as before from colour-patch area. Best to water launch just in front of colourpatch but away from the fishos and famililies . A few guys were launching from the ocean side ( Jays beach) and kite down the cut into the river. Takes a pretty high degree of skill and pretty much impossible to kite back up the cut when the current if coming in.

If you are not confident to do the above then walk/ swim / sup across to the other side of the cut and launch from there ... very easy launching . There is also a big sandbar that has formed in front of colour patch and on low tide its easy launching from there.

Regards the euro invasion : get down there peoples . The town needs your money.. but please put some shorts on .. the budgie smuggler factor was very high :)

Overall still a great place to kite ..

Was good to meet you just before Chrissy mate. Shame we missed the speedo entertainment. The downwinder through the cut was fun and the scratches on the board will remind me about it. Going back upwind at high incoming tide was wicked too. I would have probably made it to the other side by now, 30 knots was not quite sufficient

Yeah second the warning on tacking back up the cut to get out again. especially on low tide with high winds. theres not alot of room when it gets gusty

3rd time doing after no probs first 2 times. kinda fun first 2 times. 3rd times the charm though - got pushed onto one of the exposed rocks at low tide in a gust. sudden stop. kite dropped. all over very quickly with kite in the many peppie trees there.

cuda been way worse....

Week over new years was best I have had it for some time, 35knts plus on the 8m 4 days running Hands still show the scars.

For those that like the flat water I am pretty sadend by the state of the east end of the inlet, went for a blast up there (flat water not my thing) and just got slime caught around fins. ENVIRO warning, Im no expert but had a bad rash from what I believe was caused by the cruise up the eastern section of the inlet. Hardy inlet has a few hot months to get through I reckon its going to be pretty manky in there....wait it already is

Has been noticeable that more people are using jays bay and has become quite congested with many rocks now being exposed CAUTION they rip fins off pretty easy.

Weed at Jays has been pushing most people to staying within a couple hundred meters of the west coat launching area also adding to the congestion.

I kite here all year round so for me the wind has been steady and super fun, with some bonus swells. Heaps of friendly crew happy 2016 MOFO's

OH yeah STOP PARKING IN FRONT OF THE EMERGENCY ACCESS GATE......it could be you that needs attention. Car have been know to get vandled when parked in this location

Just kited at Augusta on the weekend ..

There were a couple of incidents regarding launching and landing on the grass at cpolourpatch . One launch from the grass end up landing on a lady and her 3 yo daughter who was on the beach down wind. A landing went straight onto a couple that were enjoys a drink on the grass.. Was a really bad look.. Both were experienced kiters . I spoke with both kiters and they both agreed that its the wrong thing to do.

There are safer launching options and landing option in the area.. but it means getting yourself and/or your helper and your kite wet. .. big deal... its really simple . don't launch or land from the grassed area. Do it from the water ( or from the ocean Jays beach or from the otherside of the channel) .

95% of guys there are doing the right thing .. I would encourage the locals to do what they can to keep on top of this.

BTW the kiting was sweet and generally good vibes !!

first time down this weekend as well Monkers.
I found that the it was easiest to set up fromt he beach before the river mouth.
was an awesome 3 days down there. However, i didn't notice it was really quite gusty. is that normal for that spot?

That's why it's called Augusty

Yep always pretty gusty particular when it gets over 25knots. The big open area can get stupidly gusty. Its not as gusty further up the river ( the dead water). Makes for exciting kiting :)

Black water and super weedy . out at Jays... lots more exposed hard bits too.

The cut has dumped that much sand on the inlet side you cant get anything other than a alli dingy out of the inlet.

Plus side peeps are using the sand bar in the middle of the inlet to launch and land safely

If it's not to much to ask can somebody who went recently do a mud map of the changes over the past few years with the Google sat image and paint or something?

I went down about 4 years ago now and planing to go again and I'm having a hard time picturing these changes

2010

December 2015

Wow. Nice work cbulota. That is better than a mud map.

So they cut out the 'cut' and silted up the only natural drainage channel...? weird.

Just now..



Started out a bit grey this morning but the afternoons turned out fab.

Interesting enough, that river mouth has been moving east for many years (I have been going to Augusta regularly for the last 40 years). With all of that sand being dragged just inside the new cut it definitely has a mind of its own and looks like it will continue to change. The new cut/river mouth is the shires second attempt at "opening up" a new passage to the ocean. Give it few more years to see where it goes to from here.

Not a huge fan of kiting at Augusta, maybe I have never just nailed a decent session that wasn't gusty.

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eppo said...
So they cut out the 'cut' and silted up the only natural drainage channel...? weird.

At the very least looks like there is good regrowth on the sand bar?

Thanks for the pictures btw!

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eppo said..
So they cut out the 'cut' and silted up the only natural drainage channel...? weird.

or maybe not epps.

i was working down there when they did the two attempts at cuts, and discussed with a few people of differing opinions at the time. a couple of points i would note:
- there is a photo of the river breaking through at the "cut" location back in 1970 or something in the local servo. when you look at the deadwater, the current situation, the old cut locations, it seems the geomorphology pattern is (over say 10000s of years) for the river to be open at the closest to colourpatch point for a period, with deadwater effectively further up, and then the prevailing conditions for many years to close this up, and the mouth basically migrates east with time. then repeat on some cycle between events that send the opening back to the colourpatch. the Shire tried to avoid having a massive flood event re-set the process, and just re-set it themselves with the mechanical cutting.
- said massive flood had been a concern for a few years. The water was bottlenecking as it came down the blackwood, and the natural opening to the east was in effect too small a relief valve, so the water level near town was getting really high in winter before being released out to the ocean. The new cut is effectively a bigger relief valve, and reduces the risk to low lying homes/businesses/infrastructure near the rivers edge.
- the improvement in river water quality and fish stocks was frequently commented on after the successful cutting. Seems to be a positive impact from a holistic POV (and i love a feed of whiting out of there). But that doesn't mean the kiting focus for further down to the east might not be subjected to some gross conditions, especially over summer. Hopefully it gets a good flushing each winter.
- its a pain in the ar$e for people to get across with their dogs to the other side at times now though too.


i've posted similar on this before, so apologies if i sound preachy. i would say in terms of pros and cons for the community, it probably falls on the pro side of the fence imho.

Righto thanks for the education maz.

Kind of like our cut (although sounds as though the cut was already a long term natural phenomona) saved the estuary but fu$cjed Avalon.

Bingo