I'm sure its been discussed on here but I can't find any threads (apart from a story about a bitey...)

Anyway whats the low down? Am thinking of going... share tips for places to stay, beaches to kite etc.

However I am a relative beginner (can turn frontside or heelside both sides, but can't quite kite upwind yet, I reckon I could though if I wasn't trying to cope with foot high chop at Pinnaroo Pt...!). Do I need to be better to make a trip to Cocos worthwhile? I just wanna gettaway somewhere warm with good kiting...

hey dude. a mate and i are heading to cocos on a kiting trip in september. aparently thats when they have their trade winds where its 20 knots every day of the week all day :) finding out more info as we go, so ill keep you posted. i rekon you would want to be a little better to get something out of it. but u would want to wait till the winds good anyway and 2 months u should be comfortable going up wind. your right pinaroo is chopy as all hell, but its safe and u need to learn how to get up wind in chop anyhow :) just remember focus on a spot and keep looking at it and point your board at it and stick that edge in. you should get upwind

I just inquired yesterday about kiting there from a local hotel:


Unfortunately we are fully booked for the dates you requested 27Dec07-4Jan08.

If you like kite surfing, the best time is during July-August when the SE tradewinds are blowing. But you will need to book far in advance with a group of 70 coming over these 2 months each year from Melbourne and a contingency of sailboarders coming from Perth. Most of the accommodation on the island is fully booked for July-Aug this year so you could consider Sept or think about coming next July/Aug2008.

During Dec/Jan, it is the Doldrums season and there is very little breeze so may not be enough for kiting. Diving is good all year round though. Cocos is pretty flat and only 3m above sea level so there is not much hiking. There is a Hash House Harriers group that runs once a week, so this may suit you.

Please let me know if you require any other info and if I can help with
bookings at another time.

Going for the first time on the 27th July to the 6th of August. Can't wait to get into some warm water. Heard alot about it over the years from sailboarders who said it was a great place with cosistant winds.

I'm going with the guys from Zepher watersports out of Melbourne.
Will give you guys the heads up about it when I return.

I'm over here at the moment with a mate. We've had 4 days with light wind and from the South which doesn't work. Yesterday came in hard and from SE which is spot on so had a great sesh. If the wind keeps up we'll have had 10 kiteable days out of 15 in total.

Tides vary a lot which effects where you can ride in the lagoon so best to come during a period of high high tides. The highest we've had was 1.25m which gives you lotz of riding time. Info at BOM website.

Awesome place to check out even if the wind's not there a few days. Great people, warm water, turtles and small (harmless) black tip reef sharks swimming around you and all the against a tropical, palm covered backdrop . . . . . . . and awesome kiting!

Higly recommend it

The cocos is an awesome trip, there is a left, that can be world class on its day, that picks up plenty of swell, last year our first week we got 3 swells, North Park was 12 to 15 foot for nearly the whole week, we surfed the Shack which was 5 to 6 mainly, but from there you can see the massive pits up the point. The kiting is also world class with a massive area to kite in, 15 to 20 knot winds most days all day, out of 28 days I have spent there over 2 years i have only missed 4 days of kiting and it was good to have the time off!! The wind is cross off for the surf, it doesn't really affect it at all, 2 years ago Felix and crew were kiting in it having a ball.

If there is no surf or wind, there is an awesome dive to do in the rip where it is like swimming in an aquarium, sharks and massive fish all around you. And at night you just kick back and have a beer, a duty free one at that.

I tell all my mates it is what i imagined Hawaii to be like 40 years ago, slightly untapped and un-exploited and with really cool locals.

Bowski

Zephyr sends out a promo dvd if asked- shows the kite-ing conditions (the lagoon, accomodation etc) and riding at cocos- looks great.

I'll second Gaz's second on Zanzibar,I guess that makes it a third,"oh well". Spent to weeks in the Cocos last with Zeyphr and leave for 4 weeks on Sunday.

4 weeks !!
And I thought I was being excessive with (almost) 3 weeks
I feel much better now, ....see you all there

Anyone have any details about the shark attack there during the week

Great if you like to be bait for sharks

Update

Local dive operator in Cocos says that the wound was not consistent with a shark bite and is more likely to be a barracuda ??

Last year we caught a barracuda not far from the site of this incident at Direction Island and it was a very nasty looking fish indeed with very large teeth, ...also around 1.5m. If I can work out a way of posting a photo I'll put it up.

We are on the cocos and have been for 1 week now. Its been pretty good wind and is looking to get better. The surfs up and the drinks are flowing freely.
We got here the day after the 'shark attack'. If it were a shark or a bracouta.. does it really matter? would you stop kiting? there are more large sharks in WA, VIC and SA! Yes there are plenty of sharks here too but they are small and usually pretty timid.
So dont listen to the hype.. keep kiting!
We have 3 spots left on the august tour.. if you want warm water, wind and good instruction from beginner to adavnced moves then come over and kite with us.
www.zephyrwatersports.com.au