I've never kited on a NW'ly in Perth, were's a good spot to go.

I was thinking Pinnaroo or maybe a downwinder from Trigg.

My main concern is the volatility of the weather.

Is this adviseable or should I hold out for a SW instead?

Hey Ric,

Pinnas is a bit too onshore in a NWer. Mullaloo is good, as is Trigg, Cottesloe and Scarbs.

Keep an eye on the rain squalls upwind of you. Either have your kite down or be way out to sea when the squalls belt in. Best conditions for boosting and riding right handers.

Winter's all good. If you wait for a decent SWer, you'll not want to be holding your breath.

Good winds,

Swanny and Leighton don't have a wicked reef break that throws up a 4-6 foot filth right hander smashing down onto 8 inch deep slab rock! A truly wicked wave for those game enough to risk life and fin (It has claimed many of my fins)

Trigg holds a very big wave when the swell is up around 4-5m and the wind up into the high twenties and mid thirties. Very strong currents, massive thumping close outs on the inside and rocky reef against the shore, but again, a wicked right hander leading to a bowly left hander before closing out. A wave for the strapped adrenaline junkies.

These are just some of the places I like to ride when the swell and wind get out of control. Where does everyone else go when it's 30+ and massive swell? I normally end up kiting alone or with a couple of the instructors from the school.

Swanny and Leighton are just big nasty chop with close out beachies and fast sweep. If I wanna ride that kinda junk, I go to Scabs. Mullas is prob the best soft option. Small to medium waves, good clean, smooth runs between the waves, plenty of beach space and no rocks. Can get a little busy on a good day though!

Good winds,

How about Melville???, i only have a 12 meters and don't want to face huge wind blast in the midle of the ocean.
NW Melville????

Hey Sebol

I hate to break it to you but you are going to need a much smaller kite than 12m to kite the winter Nor' westers.

A typical reasonable day is a quite gusty 15-25 knots NW then strong rain squall of up to 35 knots and then a lull of down to 10-15 knots after the squall, then back to 15-25 knots again until the next squal.

An unreasonable but truly awesome day in winter is gusty 30 knots with showers and then gusts up to and over 40 knots in rain squalls dropping back to 15-18 after the rain. Biggest jumps guaranteed if you can control your kite in the squalls also massive often violent secondary lift in jumps

The Nor' westers are quite predictable once you know what you are looking for in regards to weather patterns. You MUST keep an eye on the advancing clouds and rain upwind of where you are riding. My advice is to get the hell away from land at the approach of crazy squalls and be ready to flag your kite if you are within 100m of the beach. You will be much safer teabagging at zenith 600m to 1km from shore rather than it hitting when you are near the beach, thats when sh1t happens!

Squalls generally only last 10-20 minutes at the most, but watch out for the lull behind the rain once the front passes through. I don't recommend wild winter kiting for learners, but once you have a bit of experience and are feeling confident, winter can be absolutely prime time

I have a bunch of specials on my site if you are looking for some cheap smaller kites to "do" winter safely.

I love winter kiting!

Good winds,

Thanks for the advice Darren,

I have been out of the water for 3 months due to surfer's ear (showed you the stapples[}:)]), got the go ahead from the hospital this week so i am pretty desperate to get back out there.

I am aware that i will need a smaller kite, i have a torch 3 12m and the depower aren't really good and i was thinking of a switchblade 3 or a naish cult second hand but do you guys reckon i should buy a around the 9 or 7 meters mark?

I have only tried a bow kite while doing my lessons at Pinnaroo and remember a huge difference with my kite for the depower so maybe 9 meters?

I am 82kg and ride a 144cm board but will probably get a shorter board soon.

Oh i am still wondering about Melville or Pelican point on a NW'ly???

Hey Sebol how come you have staples after surfers ear? I have had my ears drilled 3 times for surfers ear - certainly not much fun but heaps better after its been done!

Northerlies rock in Winter - love kiting in winter compared to summer as its not often we get the north wind to ride right handers... although Augusta was sweet this year

Last winter we rode 6 and 7m kites depending on the severity of the fronts and spent most of the time on our 10's...

if your in the Bunbury area on saturday the Cut beach is awsum in NW good waves too

Damn that is insane - like I said I have had mine drilled 3 times (right x2 left x1) and they just went straight down the ear hole, was out of hospital the same day each time and spent 6 weeks not getting wet which was pretty hard.

I had heard of people having their external exotosis done like that but never seen it...

Looks like we are hitting the water at the same time though - having recently broken my neck... whoo hoo bring on the winter storms - they are so much fun

Hey Rosy I am nearly twice your weight - solid muscle I assure you - and I would be using a 7m today, its blowing hard at the moment too. 30+ knots and gusts at 55kg I would have thought a 4 or 5m would have been the go to be honest, even then its still edgy... sometimes its good to weigh a little more

I might swing past Trigg soon if anyones keen?

Can't wait for that swell to crank through

Thanks
Matt

Prevention of surfers ear is pretty easy - stop your ears from getting cold from either cold water, wind or the mixing of the two - you can do this with hoods, helmets or ear plugs (blu tac or docs pro plugs). I use a neoprene hood in winter and a hat in summer with ear covers - wind chill in summer can often be a factor.

So, what are the symptoms of surfer's ear please?

Cheers for the comments..unforntunetly my cold got the better of me..but il see how it goes for tomz

GreenPat said...

lancekenny said...

Hey Rosy I am nearly twice your weight -

Rosy I am twice your weight but I can't tell you what size kite I would have used if I were in Perth today (kitehard knows why).

Damn work.

gruezi said...

I would stay away from the River ...

On the West wind where in the ocean you can go for kite surfing?
Any spot close to Perth?