I want to give a big Thankyou to Sean Hogan, Jeremy and Laurent for making my trip to New Caledonia a memorable experience. My wife and I enjoyed the fresh baguettes and the pastries, as well as meeting some of the local sailors. Sadly, a wicked weather system of multiple fractured low pressure systems over Australia really killed the wind - the locals were amazed at the lack of sailing conditions.

A few tips: If you are a member of this site then you really must bring your own gear. And that means that if you are flying direct from Brisbane - Sydney or Melbourne you need to book your ticket with Air Calin. Air Calin tickets will put you on a Qantas aircraft. Do Not book your ticket on Qantas - it must be an Air Calin ticket - this will allow you to bring your gear with you. If you are flying to Brisbane - Sydney or Melbourne then Virgin is your ticket. This will allow you to bring your gear with you. We met a family that had flown their two sets of gear from Hobart to Melbourne and from there via an Air Calin ticket [on a flight run by Qantas] to Noumea for about $100.

Another option to bringing some - or all of your gear with you, is to take advantage of some pretty awesome used gear - a lightly used North S Type 2014 7.8m for AUD $350. All kinds of stuff that you can buy - but remember, your ticket into and out of Noumea must be an Air Calin ticket. The sail I bought cost me $140 to get it to Brisbane - and then, Jetstar would not carry it on our flight as it was more than 180cm long - I ended up doing a mad dash to Qantas Freight at Brisbane airport - and the sail cost $66 to get it to Cairns. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Make sure you get your travel agents to guarantee that you gear will get to and from Noumea without insane baggage fees.

For our level of windsurfing the hire gear in Noumea just doesn't do the trick. The two hire companies stock 6.7m maximum sails - Aloha has a Fusion 6.7m. There are a few nice 100 litre boards, if the wind is on - but the 120 litre and hirer boards are Tufskin versions. Bring your own gear.

My wife and I will be back in November 2017 for the PWA final event - 19 November 2017. This is a great chance to see the world's best - and - being the end of the World Tour - there is a whole lot of gear that the pros don't want to freight home with them.

Noumea has around 300 windsurfers - so on the weekend when the wind is on, you can find the foreshore packed with gear - plenty of gear porn to enjoy.

The local windsurfing crew are just like 99% of everyone of us who do this sport =- awesome guys and girls.

Like I said - a special thank you to Sean Hogan, who took the time to answer my emails, and whose company my wife and I enjoyed for the two weeks we were over there.

really happy you enjoyed your stay despite the wind conditions.... (bloody oz weather !)

Looking forward to seeing you again in 2017 !
(found another set of straps ! )

Yeaaaah. Noumea is da place for windsurfing and all things French, and Sean is the man.

Hi kunjenboy - interesting you say must be an AIR Calin ticket. I initially booked with them and they wouldn't give confirmation that they'd take gear. Then Qantas did provide confirmation. Eventually AIR Calin did also confirm after a lot of pushing for confirmation.

Is there any reason you think it must be an AIR Calin ticket and not Qantas? cheers

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Dezza said..
Hi kunjenboy - interesting you say must be an AIR Calin ticket. I initially booked with them and they wouldn't give confirmation that they'd take gear. Then Qantas did provide confirmation. Eventually AIR Calin did also confirm after a lot of pushing for confirmation.

Is there any reason you think it must be an AIR Calin ticket and not Qantas? cheers

QANTAS and Aircalin are fine with up to 32kg windsurfing gear. The only diference between the two is that AirCalin offers 23kgs of additional sporting luggage for free, in addition to your regular checked in luggage (and I think they allow up to 2.3m length).

Qantas will allow your windsurfing gear, but it will be considered part of your total checked in weight, so unless you're only taking windsurfing gear, you're going to get stung with excess baggage fees. You will only pay excess baggage fees on AirCalin if your separate windsurfing gear allowance exceeds 23kgs. So you can take 23kgs of suitcases and 23kgs of windsurfing gear with aircalin.

I was lucky last year. Aircalin's windsurfing equipment weight was 32kgs, plus 23kgs for suitcase. My suitcase only weighed 15kg, and they allowed me to add that extra 8kgs to my windsurfing gear on the way home. You could probably get away with taking 46kgs of windsurfing gear if you had no suitcases.

And yes... Sean is a top bloke and excellent host. His missus, Sandreen, is good value too. Had few nice dinners together.

cheers Nigel

Hi Sean, my mate and I are totally loving those straps - I have a high arch and normally a couple of hours sailing will bring up a blister on my foot - sailed for a couple of hours at Green Island on Saturday - not even the beginning of a blister - they feel like a pair of socks - very happy.

Regards,

Andrew