Been doing a few downwinders and im about to consider going around a few headlands. Just wondering is there any specific part you should avoid, upwind or downwind of the head land? Is there any typical places you may likely find dead wind???

If your going past Point Arkwright on the Sunny Coast, just make sure you are fairly well powered as the wind does drop out quite a bit but comes back once your on the other side. From my experience it seems to drop out more on a northerly so I stay out wide but on a southerly you can kite nice and close to the shore if you like.

Good idea to leave a margin for error & stay out wide until you feel comfortable going around.

Be careful around windsurfer only spots, they get super touchy this time of year....

belldiver said..

Cheers.

Found this interesting, worth reading the link.

http://www.winningwind.com/coastal.html

I don't think figure the 2nd figure is accurate. I was told as a general rule on the lee of a headland, you need 3 times it's height. Eg Byron lighthouse 300m above sea level, you need to go 1km down tallow beach in a northerly to get clean wind. Each spot has their own unique aspects. Ocean currents come into play as well. I've found figure 1 correct even with rocks only 20m in height. Worse thing is, the times you want to do a downwind run around major headlands because of light conditions, are the times you shouldn't. As an example at broken head. I can comfortably hold ground out the front of my place on Suffolk beach. If I decide to kite down to Lennox, I will be working, looping my kite to get around the island and 4 headlands. I go well wide (500m) You can feel the wind dying the closer you head in.