I did this years ago (would be at least 6 years ago now) way before kite surfing as we know it today was popular.
Used various forms of traction ranging from an Arc Angel and Redback stack made by the guru Neil Taylor at Hold The Line Kites to a stack of 12 speedwing clones I made myself (very proud of them
)
Location was City Beach starting right in front of the surf club and finishing just before the groyne at the north end.
Used a Quixand (sp?) brand of sandboard.
Best results attained in 25+ knot southerly, two reasons 1. plenty of pulling power and 2. beach is empty when the sand is blowing so hard the beach is dead flat.
I agree with previous poster that wax retension can be a problem, but I used some stuff that surfers put on their boards (it was sold as a round orange disc, like a hockey puck) and it used to last two runs down the beach before needing to be reapplied.
It was great fun and the beach looked really cool covered in nice 's' shaped tracks. The real challenge came when I tried making figure 8's by crossing over previous tracks (my snow skiing and snowboarding background showing there
)
Never fell off so cant comment on the face over 80 grit sandpaper, the only close call I had was having to jump over a couple trying to have a picnic in the middle of the beach (can't have been very nice with all the sand blowing around), yelled out to them when I knew I was not going to be able to go around them and they parted like the proverbial red sea, I jumped and sailed right over the blanket they were sitting on, yelled "sorry" over my shoulder and was gone. They packed up just after that, no idea why
