hey plow - i'd be interested to know how long your season is. might have a contract in melbourne over the summer, daylight savings sounds good to us QLD hicks

so from the sounds of your post no-one is kiting in melb now? really? dont you guys just buy a really really thick wettie?

I can only tell you what it has been like since I have been here. I arrived 2 months ago knowing it was going to be winter and perhaps on and off frontal kiting. It hasn’t event been that, there’s either no wind, straight offshore or howling onshore with rain squalls.

I have kited in most parts of Australia and Melbourne by far is the least friendly kitesurfing spot I have seen. (This time of year anyway) The few times I have seen crew kiting though has been entertaining.

One dude had his kite continually dropping out of the sky trying to get it together in a cross off shore breeze down in Brighton (obviously desperate to get out), he end up swimming in, then another dude was tea bagged on a flysurfer by a massive squall that swept through the coast. He ended up ejecting all kit, letting his kite roll down wind. I bounded out of the car in to the rain to try to stop the kite sweeping over the highway. The bar and lines then wrapped around a sign tethering the kite to a standstill. Relief for all !

I thought I would get into land boarding since I was here, wrong - how many steady10 – 15 knt knot onshore days has there been in the last two months – none that I’ve been able to get on to.

Did I mention what the waves are like in the Bay, Negligible.

To the crew on the Goldy – You don’t realize how good you’ve got it !

Anyway back to playing golf and mountain bike riding – maybe some snowboarding later on. If the winds on the coast is anything to go on, kite snowboarding is going to be a bit of a hoax as well.

The truth of the matter is serious kite boarders don’t spend the winter in Melbourne.

Mr Plow - When does the wind kick in for next season ? – Not soon enough.

Yes it is cold, currently about 8 degrees and a 14knot northerly which is directly off shore for most places!

Personaly this is too cold for me, I don't think you could even set up without your scarf and gloves on

I want summer!!

Kitehard - Don't exagerate - we both know the kiting in Perth is average through winter as well, OK not as average as Melbourne, but average neverless.

i had 2 awsome sessions in rye last week, water isnt that cold yet and i only had to share the water with 2 other people, the people there were very friendly, if it were alot warmer i couldnt think of a better place to kite.
greg

bondo - season I think starts October & goes through to end of March for consistent winds - although you can always get a good session through till early May.

I spent 2 weeks up in Pt Douglas at the start of June and while it was OK - generally there was bugger all wind. Next to nothing at Yorkeys - and not much for the 3 weeks after i left either.

Was down south of WA last XMAS in Albany & got 1 good session in 3.5 weeks - always offshore - but when it did blow for that 1 day - woohooo!

I finish my contract (IT) in mid-December & wont look again till April - so its a kite surfing summer for me! Melb is great kiting in summer.

Shhheeesh!

if i wasnt livin in melb, i wouldnt want to visit from half the responses posted here. Yeah its cold, but nothing a wetsuit cant fix. And no wind? have a look a the next few days forecast.. 15 knots southerly tomorow, none for thurs, but friday and saturdaday 15-20/25 reaching 30knots! and rye is a sick spot, along with rosebud for flat water kiting in waist deep water for 500m out. Its a great time to get out and enjoy the places, cos luckily most kiters only like the sunny family beach days around here. (over 60 kites up on the sunny days). And kiting around this time of year you find yourself kiting with a much more relaxed/ friendlier crew.. more fun anyway.

i wouldnt say the consistant seabreezes kick in till mid november, were they sart around 5pm and sometimes go through to dark (9pm in summer), were u will get wind 4-5 times a week.
hope this helps

While not I kitesurfer I did windsurf in Melbourne (StKilda, Elwood etc.) for about ten years. I actually kept a diary over a four year period and just estimated what the wind range was when I went out which could have been anything between 10-40 knots


----------Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
sessions 34 _23 _17 _6 __3 __3 __9 _6 ___8 _13 __30 _49
knots __18 _18 _18 _27 _22 _16 _20 _20 _18 _19 _18 _18

Sail size 5.5 5.5 5.6 4.5 4.7 6.0 5.3 4.9 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.5 M^2

So it looks like things should pick up. Really there is wind all year round.
During this time of the year you need to sail the frontal winds and the quality really varies at the best you'll have some epic sessions other times they can really disappoint. The summer seabreeze and long afternoons will see you out on the water more.

not much of a "snowman" then huh

Kiting in Melbourne for the last 4 seasons I have found that the season starts Sept,October and goes hard until late Feb. South westerlys (onshore) usually start up in the afternoon and blow pretty consistantly for hours and sometimes until dark 9pm. Hot Northerlys will sometimes blow for days and this is no good for us kiters as it is across/offshore and very gusty as it gets chopped up as it comes across Land and hits the bay.Bye the time it hits Rye beach were it will be onshore it has usually blown out while travelling that distance across the bay. BUT when the South Westerly sea breezes blow Port Phillip bay is an awesome place to Kite. Last season Myself and a few mates kited until 11pm down bye the pier where the spirit of tasmania berths. There is huge flood lights hanging of the pier so is similiar to night skiing up the snow but a hell of a lot warmer if you have ever done it. Also the chicks that stroll bye the beach while your setting up or packing up rock. Ive kited Vietnam,Noosa,Port Douglas,W.A,Fiji and I believe that Port Phillip Bay has the most consistant breeze when its on. No waves though 1/2 a metre at its best.

Great news, so when its actually summer again, one can head to Melb. and do some URBAN kiting.....got to love it While the Melb. crowd goes on vaca. to WAAAAAAAAAA.

Thanks for that.

Kite the East River.

Dant lie to yo missus matie................agggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.