Hotracer,
I’ve just finished a 2 year stint in Kuala Lumpur, so here goes......
I’m sorry to say that it’s basically crap kiting in Malaysia
. The winds are light, very difficult to predict, and you’ve got to drive a long way from KL to get to the main kite beach on the East Coast, so it is very frustrating. 12-16 metre kites are the norm, if the wind does actually blow.
SPOTS:
East Coast of Malaysia
BALOK BEACH (This is the main kite beach during the North East monsoon season, which is December to March)
Most kiters congregate at the Duta Village Resort.
Balok is a long open beach with fairly dark sand, the water is brown and uninspiring, although there are no hazards.
The water is choppy, with a small to medium size beach break.
It’s a three hour drive from KL, so some kiters will stay overnight and make a weekend out of it.
There’s an old Chinese/Malay bloke there by the name of Leo, who has a kiteboarding/windsurfing shack on the beach in front of the Duta Village Resort (Mobile number: +60 (12) 329 1336). If you call him and ask what the wind is doing he'll likely say 'it's Honking' but he weighs about 50 kgs, and only needs about 9 knots to start riding, so use your judgement.
The hotel is very average, but it’s cheap, and if you plan to stay there arrange it through Leo. There is a Swiss Garden resort next door, which is a lot better quality but more expensive.
West coast of Malaysia:
SEPANG GOLD COAST
It's not really a 'kite beach' and I was the only kiter there when I went, but if there is some winds blowing from the West / Northwest, it's OK if you're desperate. Drive towards the Sepang Formula 1 circuit, then follow the Sepang gold coast signs, it's about 30 minutes drive from the F1 circuit (about an hour and a half from KL). There can be a lot of people on this beach, and don't leave anything of value in your car. The water level is about 3ft deep at mid tide for about 200m.
If you're staying in KL for a while, weekend trips to Phuket are not a bad idea when the forecast is looking good there, you can get cheap flights (With good flight timings for a weekend trip) on both Malaysia Airlines and Air Asia.
PM me if you would like to get hooked up with some kiters in KL.
Burls
