Hey Monkeykiter,

Good question,

Cronulla is a great spot but easterlies are rarely more than about 10 knots and are a bit rare anyway. Normally either NE (seabreeze) or Souwest which is either off shore or onshore and windy in the area you mention. SE is a bit onshore and Westerly is a no no if you are learning for obvious reasons.

Kurnell can be good if you keep away from the crowds and go to Bonna Point in a NE just in froont of the toilet block but it can be busy on weekends.

Brighton in front or slightly S of the Novatel is OK in NE or S. Most other places are ocean beaches with large shoreys

Best bet is to travel a bit like make a day of it and go to Newcastle or down to wollongong and hit lake Illawarra (don't mind the pelican itch), lots of empty beaches and sand.

Loads of Peeps go to "the Bay" because it is one of the only decent spots for flat water in Sydney. Best of luck, might have to battle with the crowds at Dolls or B le Sands.

Good winds and Peace

First off, you can definitely not kite at Brighton in a westerly. The wind comes through the buildings there and becomes super gusty and shifty. You´ll only end up hurting yourself, your kite, or someone else on the beach in a W´ly. There really isn´t any spots in southern Sydney that I´d recommend kiting at in W winds. They´re always bastard winds no matter where you are. Boat harbour and up to Cronulla are perfect spots to learn when the waves are small. In E-S winds go to boat harbour, and if the surfs small you can ride out wanda in anything with E in it.

I don´t think Kurnell would be the best place to learn to kite though. You have the rock groynes at Kurnell that have claimed many newbie kites and the occasional kiter. Just ask Adrian at Longreef or Diago from Brighton to name a couple. Brighton is a nice place to learn to kite, just on the weekend it can be a joke. Usually in the afternoons the beach isn´t so packed though and you can stay downwind from most of the other kiters so you don´t get in the way of anyone. Anyway, good luck with your learning and remember what you learnt about spot choice when it comes to choosing an area to kite. That´ll help keep you out of trouble. See ya.

Picnic point at The Entrance is where many go in the winter when the Westerlies start blowing. It is on the lake and shallow, easily over a 100 meters out before it gets deeper then waist depth. Very good for newbies as you can relaunch by just standing up and running towards kite. Downside is that the bottom of lake is muddy and feels gross on your feet when walking in it.(Think of it as a natural mud pack) Also large launching area but is grass so bring some plastic bags so that you can fill them up with the little bit of sand that is there to hold your kite down when laid on grass.
Boat harbour works well in SE and SW but straight west is side shore and would be blowing straight for the rock reef so not good if you can not stay up wind. I went there 4 weeks ago and they do have a car park near the beach so that any car can drive in. They added the new road to that so that they could charge entry fee to all cars($15) used to be all people with out 4X4 parked at entrance and hitched a ride to the beach. Now they have gotten rid of the parking at the park gate using huge bolders but made a new parking lot in side the park(Sneaky of them as they now make more money) Be warned, the carpark is near the beach but still a good 5 min walk to where you set up and not fun if you have lots of gear.
Kurnell is good in Westies but they can not have any south in them as you would be of shore. Also watch out for low tide as it is not sand for very far and then is rock with Urchins. Steped on one last year and the fragments were in foot for weeks. Booties are good for that but can be a pain if your foot straps are not easily adjusted.
also you can not body drag at Kurnell as the rock jetty/groins (spelling?) are set about 100 meters apart all the way down the beach.

Kurnell really isn´t a nice place to kite in westerlies though, the wind is always so gusty. I´ve been riding out at Kurnell during westerlies over winter and while it is possible, it´s super gusty. On one day we recorded wind speeds between 7 and 27 knots!! I took my 14 out a few months ago and at stages had my kite falling out of the sky and at other times I was being lofted 10ft in the air. If you´ve been kiting for a while and have an idea of what your doing fair enough, it´s just riding in gusty conditions but if your a beginner Kurnell in a westerly is definitely not the place to ride. I don´t want to be the one that has to scrape a newbie up after they´ve been lofted onto the rocks after being hit by a gust. If your that keen on riding in westerlies Picnic Point is the safest place to ride. The wind is not so bad up there, and you can get yourself far enough upwind that losing control isn´t going to slam you into a rock groyne.
There are also a few other little spots around Lake Macquarie that can be good in westerlies but if I told you where they were I would be killed. Personally I wouldn´t bother trying to learn in westerlies because they are such a bad wind to ride in and your only going to get frustrated with the sport cause you#314;l be getting smashed so much. See ya.

Even if you have no intention of getting into the water, it's probably best to take precautions, in case something goes wrong. ie. You have to assume there's a possibility that you'll catch a gust and get lofted or dragged (especially since your a beginner). So you want to ask yourself "Where will I end up if this happens?"

In a direct onshore wind, you'd want a decent amount of beach space between you and the road, powerlines, rocks, etc.

In a direct offshore wind, the risk of immediate injury is not as high, what would happen if you get dragged or lofted off the beach? This could put you into the paths of other kiters, swimmers, etc, or if you have a problem with your safety system, could drag you a fair bit off shore.

That's the way I see it, anyway.