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Broome Kiting

Created by Dawn Patrol Dawn Patrol  > 9 months ago, 16 Jun 2015
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Dawn Patrol
Dawn Patrol

WA

1991 posts

16 Jun 2015 3:05pm
I plan on making the trip there later this year for long term.

I've had a read of some older posts on the forum about kiting Broome, but have a few more questions...

Being Perth based, my current quiver is a 6 m and 8 m kite. I suspect these may be too small for Broome. I weigh 75-80 kgs so was thinking something around a 12 m perhaps?

I'm not too fussed about where to kite, because it looks like most wind directions will have somewhere to go, but more about what to look out for. Any advice on stings/crocs/anything else would be appreciated!

Also, is there any surf up there ever? Both times I've been it is flat as a tack, but are cyclone surfs a thing? Is there ever any swell in the dry? I'd be more concerned about stingers surfing than kiting I suppose. I assume there must be some surf due to the surf shops/hire up there.

Any tips would be great!
danno
danno

WA

129 posts

16 Jun 2015 5:09pm
Hey, I'm not a Broome local, but I've worked in and out of Broome for years and lived on a research boat for a year up there, so have some idea of what I'm talking about re wind and waves.
From my time up there, Broome seems flat as a tac for most of the dry season, unless you like SUP riding on 1/2 foot close-outs at Cable Beach.
Dry season easterly winds in the morning can be pretty strong, up to 20 knots, so around at town beach and some of the southern points near Gantheum Point, there must be some set-ups that work (purely twin-tip though, nothing worth riding on a surfboard). Suggest that bigger kites like a 10 or 12 would help you out during the dry season.
Build-up time of the year is when the croc's start getting frisky and therefore higher risk of issues with them. See post earlier this year on croc that attacked a guy kiting in Darwin - I reckon Broome could have that happen too. Croc's to appear at Cable Beach, and bound to be in Roebuck Bay and Willie Creek further up the coast where I've seen fellas failing at kite-surfing in the past.
Wet season surf does happen, especially on cyclones, but that's when the stingers come out to play.
I've surfed head-high Cable Beach once, in October on a big swell that came from a storm in the north eastern indian ocean, but they're really rare events. It was kind of like an early-season tropical low that kicked up a bit of movement in the ocean.
Best of luck up there!
Dawn Patrol
Dawn Patrol

WA

1991 posts

17 Jun 2015 10:04am
That's great! Just what I'm after.

By build up time, do you mean coming onto the wet season?
I didn't think crocs were much to worry about at most of the beaches there, just a bit of caution required?

What do people that surf do about the stingers? I'd be itching for waves, but don't really want to experience Irukandji Syndrome . Is it a stay out of the water sort of thing, or wear a stinger suit sort of thing?


danno
danno

WA

129 posts

17 Jun 2015 2:19pm
Build-up is basically September to November / December, before the tropical storms actually start raining on you. It's the time of the year when the heat and humidity builds-up day after day, with no rain to get any relief from the heat. Everyone 'goes troppo' during the build-up, including crocodile hormones. The males all start getting frisky, so the smaller males get bullied and pushed out of their mangrove homes and have to go searching for food and stuff elsewhere, hence they appear on beaches etc more often. Warmer weather also means crocodiles are more active in general. I guess just be careful, floating logs generally ain't floating logs, and listen to the local reports of any croc sightings.
Re stingers - they generally live in the mangroves, up the creeks most of the time, but when the rains come, they don't like the fresh water and end up floating around the ocean. So, box jellyfish and irukandji both present around Broome, espeically October (or at least after the first big rainfall) till about April.
Stinger suit a must if surfing during those months in my opinion.
Once you're up there, the locals will set you straight on it all anyway.
Cheers.
Dawn Patrol
Dawn Patrol

WA

1991 posts

17 Jun 2015 4:34pm
Thanks for that. Super helpful!

At least it sounds like I'll be able to get some sort of surf/kite fix up there.
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