KS, "neoniphon" is the person to talk to about kiting on the island (Nelly Bay). He lives and kites there.

Palleranda is the next closest kiting spot. 25 minutes back to the mainland by ferry, then approx. 10-15 minutes by car.

I kited at nelly bay down near base backpackers, and at arcadia, both will work in the trades/SE, Arcadia was better if the wind had more east.
Take both, the bottom end of the 17 Yarga might get you going on a lighter day.
You probably will not get to kite at Horseshoe bay, that beach faces North.
Getting around the island is easy, either rent a moke or catch the bus.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve McCormack

PS Complain to QLD parks about the cats at base backpackers.!!!

http://www.tevenei.com/tvm/nellybay_kite_map.htm

I came down the road to ride my local spot at Nelly Bay a while ago, and the first thing I see is a 15m Fuel up in a tree, right at the edge of the road near X-base backpackers resort, and no more than 30m from a set of powerlines! A very sandy and scared looking german tourist standing on the beach tugging at his lines, wondering what to do next.

Wind was gusty 14-19knots and dead onshore, it appears he couldn't make ground upwind away from the beach, so skimmed along the shoreline into the wind hole at the base of the hill, and somehow lost control right near the backpackers, got dragged up the beach through the sunbathers, struggled to pull the safety, and watched the kite go up into the trees.

I helped him get the kite down and then gave him some info on best place to launch etc. I asked him if he was OK to self-launch and he assured me he was. I launched my 13.5m at the helipad and headed out the back, only to watch his self launch go wrong and the 15m roll LE down, then backwards up the beach! By pure luck it didn't hot launch, and by some tugging etc he eventually got it flying, but then he still couldn't make ground upwind and spent the next 30 mins beach skimming. The whole time I thought I was about to see him have an accident again.

After the sesh I asked him how much experience he had, to which he replied 18 months of kiting but perhaps only 20 flying hours. So not really enough skill to be dealing with a unfamiliar location and onshore winds with a pretty big powerful kite.

What can you do about people like this, kiting tourists who mean well, but evidently haven't been drilled in the safety aspects well enough? The other day I had a good look at the distance between the tree his kite was in and the powerlines, and it is literally 30-40m....so this guy was about 1 sec away from being a fatality. That would have lead to a huge uproar and no doubt the banning of kiting on Magnetic Island, which would be a real shame as it is the only local spot I can get to easily.

So, in the interest of pushing the safety side AGAIN, I have updated the Magnetic Island Kite info web page

www.tevenei.com/tvm/tsv_kite_spots.htm

and am thinking of taking out a small ad in the local tourist guide just on the off chance some visitors will see it. Maybe even a sign on the beach? Anyone got any other ideas?

Not trying to turn people off the island, but please make sure you have your act together if you come over here to kite! No more accidents please! I know a few other Aussie kiters have visited lately, and kited safely with no problems - great stuff, thanks, and hope to catch you again next time.

Andy

yeah that is picnic bay Ral Inn, I wouldn't recommend it at all. Not enough space and nowhere to land downwind other than the mainland. Why did you kite there and not at Nelly Bay?

Hey man, those are some zoot websites you've made. Nothing too complex, relays plenty information in easy to read, easy to see format. And familiar places getting all nostalgic, I might be coming back for a visit next year (gonna give up on Africa, it smells).

20 hours water time in 18 months. Inability to go upwind and self launch. Egads. Trouble waiting to happen. We need more signs, more awareness, more effort on the part of every kiteboarder and retailer to ensure people don't put spots in danger.

I was going to say 'themselves in danger' but realistically that's not going to happen. Put your hand up if you learnt a few lessons the hard way? I know I did. I'd say it's pretty much impossible to stop some people from going out without enough experience into situations that are going to see them a over t up the beach. I reckon in any conversation that includes the sentence 'kitesurfing eh? I wouldn't mind getting into that', the responsible kitesurfer should point out the validity of going to a spot with a good downwind buffer. Maybe with some gentler kite catching obstacles at the end of it than powerlines, at least until the person can stay upwind and make good decisions about conditions.

Pallerenda on the right tide, or Northern Beaches. Cungulla would also be pretty good for learning I suppose, the place was cursed for me, every day I ever went there there was no wind. But yeah, a sign at Maggie saying something to the effect of beginners beware might help. Is there still a Townsville Kiteboarding Association that may want to assist funding said sign? Perhaps a local council, I think the council in CT put in some cash for this one, if not all of it: .

Please excuse me for hijacking the thread, enjoy your trip Splosh.