I just want to share some of the conditions and experiences that I scored while up at the World famous reef break, dauntingly called `Tombstones`, Gnarraloo.
I loaded up the Rangie and trailer with 5 kite boards one of which could be converted to a surf board simply by removing the strap and pad and 6 kites, 3 X/bows and 3 old Ocean Rodeo Broncos that I have kept for the `just in case` scenario, and all the other supplies that I would need. I had prepared a Packing List much earlier and it had many revisions, but this certainly helped in the load up process and it was merely a case of ticking off each item as it was thrown/packed in. I hit the road at 06:30 and arrived up at Carnarvon at 16:30, and I was thankful for my i-pod which supplied me with `no repeat music` for the whole road trip, some of it is pretty mind numbing, with a road that often goes straight to the horizon and beyond. I camped there overnight and next day stocked up on food, drinking water,beer,fuel and firewood before the last leg in to Gnaraloo. I had with me a 50 litre 3cycle fridge/freezer for my perishable food stuffs and had the Engel in the car to keep me supplied with cold ones as needed.
I was up there for 13 days and out of that I only had 5 days where I did not venture out on the kite due either to the wind direction or just plain lack of it. There was 1 day however that I could have gone out but the breeze had just a bit too much East in it and the swell on the bigger sets was well over mast high and the waves were being held up by the wind and then tending to close out right across to the Bombie real quick, so I elected just to sit back with a few `cold ones` and watch the likes of Scott McKercher just ripping the waves apart, great to watch the current world windsurfing wave sailing champion at work and it was quite obvious how much more effort he puts in to his craft to get the results. Needless to say, there was a fair bit of carnage that day with a lot of gear and sailors floating around on the inside and quite a few masts met their fate that day too. Quite spectacular and most entertaining.
On the other days that were not suitable for kiting/sailing I did a spot of snorkelling out to the reef and just floated along with the current taking in all the fantastic colours of the reef and it`s inhabitants and thankfully never saw any `men in grey suits`, but saw plenty of turtles and sting rays. I was really amazed at just how much sea life the reef actually sustained. That same day ,I had a crack at salt water fly fishing and actually caught a Charlie Cod, or was it a carp?, and even had my picture taken with my trophy, I am not much in to photography but the word `macro` was mentioned several times!!. I had also brought up my surf ski and on one of the other days, I paddled around from Gnaraloo Bay on the inside of the reef up to about parrallel with the homestead and on the way up I noticed a reef shark in real shallow water(knee deep), so I glided over to get a closer look and realised that there was`nt just one but about a dozen of them all congrugated at this particular spot but as I started to back paddle, they all took off, so I felt distinctly more comfortable after that, safe in the knowledge they were more afraid of me and the size of the ski. On the other days, I went for a long walk along the beach and even went for a kitesurf at Gnaraloo Bay in offshore winds, but it was pretty gusty and also quite boring but I played around with the X/bow and practised a few `hot launches` with the kite straight down wind and was quite happy with the way it launched.
This is the 4th year that I have gone up to Tombies and I have been fortunate enough to score some absolutely fantastic conditions on each occasion and this time was no different and in fact it is even good to get some non kiting days just to give your body a break and sharpen your self up for the next day. For my first session I grabbed the small Will James Pro and pumped the 12 X/bow and had no problem hot launching from the small sandy beach opposite the Bombie. The waves were mostly head high and the wind cross to slightly off and 18-20 knots, although this always felt like a bit less where the waves broke and the wind would pick up again on the inside. The tide was not ideal and it was a bit shallow so caution was needed on the inside. At this time there would have been around 20 windsurfers of varying degrees of skill and some of whom had no idea or chose to ignore who had rights when it came to wave riding ,but for the most part there was no problem and during the whole trip, I had only 2 occasions when I needed to become vocal, once when I mistakenly thought the windsurfer was a runty looking bloke, and I shouted in my best Scottish dialect `Get off my wave please` and when the reply came back it turned out to be in a feminine voice. I offered no apology as I was riding the wave and she tried to cut in which meant I could not sweep the kite which severely shut down my options and when on a wave and I like to fly my kites very close to the water. The other time again I was most upwind and I was bearing down fast on a windsurfer, so I shouted to let him know I was coming through and whether he was having a `bad day`, he spat the dummy and shouted un printable things at me and tried to catch up to me, but I just left him. Luckily for him, I did have a good day so I did not bother to pursue the conversation at days end.
I was lucky in that the first few sessions the waves were not big and it gave me time to get myself `dialled in` to the waves, after riding the typical Perth chop at Dutchies or Woodies over winter and it also allowed me to show the windsurfers there, that some kiters can and do actually ride waves and I had probably more need to be nervous of some of them than vice versa. On some of the bigger days, I chose to ride my old Ocean Rodeo classic kites, firstly I was not too bothered about getting these kites trashed and I realised that I prefer this style of kite when you have to make very quick spur of the moment decisions. Due to me preferring to fly with, my kites very low to the water I found with the X/bow that I need to get the kite back up quite high before I pull down on the bar to clear the wall of white water and I am unable to do this instantaneously. That is if I send the kite from low down, I just get pulled backwards and down wind as I am unable to resist and hold down the kites pull,it has a far broader progressive power band like a 4 stroke engine, but with the classic kite, I can hold everything down while I whack the kite back and its power band is much more explosive and happens more at it`s zenith and is more like a 2 stroke engine. The beauty of this is when I am heading out and there happens to be a wall of white water coming in or a wave that is just about to break, with the classic I have the choice, either yank the bar back and load up to jump over it or hook the kite back and follow it around and gybe on to my toe side right in front of the wave. On the wave riding, I typically get on to my wave quite early and before it gets too steep, I switch the board around to start wave riding on my toe side. On the windier days, I used the kite simply to pull me onto the wave and once there, I would `park` the kite and purely surf the wave with little or no pull from the kite and with the classic kite it was better at staying put, due to it`s more elliptical shape, even when the lines had gone totally slack if I happened to out run the kite. On the lighter wind days, where I had to work the kite, I preferred the X/bow as I could far better manage the power and with the more progressive pull and huge de-power I could place myself exactly where I wanted to be on the wave. Definitely horses for courses.
Each year that I have gone up, it does seem to be getting busier with more traffic on the water. It is not the place for inexperienced kiters as if you get it wrong it could cost you dearly and does nothing to pacify some of the more paranoid windsurfers,yes there are a few, if you start crashing your kite all over the shop. On some of the bigger days it is like threading your way through a slalom course, with downed windsurfers swimming for their gear and with windsurfers heading out you have to gauge if you can stay on the wave or back off it. There were only 2 other kiters up there both experienced and from Geraldton, Paul was from a surfing background, while Geoff was like myself from a windsurf background and I also took John ,a South African kiter, who was part of the WSP contingent who were sailing and kiting at Gnaraloo Bay, to have a go at kiting at Tombies and he was over the moon and he had a blast, just a pity it was on his last day.
I was pretty lucky this year as I twice had the 9.0m O.R. touch the water and the kite did a complete flat rotation and ended up putting a twist in the lines, the kite did have a slow leak on the main bladder and rather than bounce off the water as they do when fully pressured, it was more suseptible to sticking to the water. On the last time , I had to kick off my board before I could re-launch and then was unable to get back up to my board and ended up body dragging all the way back to the launch beach, drop the kite, ran back to the point to spot the board, ran back to the car to get my fins and swam out and luckily for me someone onshore guided me over to where the board was, so I was very fortunate.
It is truly a unique place to experience and part of the attraction is the fact that it is not commercialised with everything laid on and done for you, you have to make of it what you can yourself and if you happen to be there with a bunch of like- minded and good people around to socialise with at `sundowners` and quite often beyond and score some of the best wave sailing on this planet, then you have to be way ahead of the rest.