Watermate said..

Here are some questions:

1) I live near Botany bay and whats the best way to approach the guys to help me launch? I know there are a few around on a good windy day:)

2) I noticed there are a few groins at hollywoods. Do you recommend I bodydrag out and start practicing water start? Or should I start just downwind of one and try to water start?

3) Going up wind is not on the cards at the moment. Should I do few water starts which will take me down wind most likely and then get back to the beach and walk upwind?

4) This one scares me the most. What happens if there is no one at the beach to land your kite? Do I pull safety and do self rescue and then pack the lines and walk up wind? I found walking up wind is what makes me tired in addition if I pack my lines every time that will be a nightmare:)

Still pretty new myself, but I'll have a stab:

1. Get to know your locals. Be friendly. Feed them beer, snacks, whatever. Be eager to help launch others. Give yourself time before and after a session to hang out. Most would happily launch strangers, but will almost always keep a lookout for people they know. You'll pick up all sorts of tips too.

2. Keep as much clear downwind as possible, at least 2 kite lengths (50m) and happier with 4 (100m). If there's that much gap between the groynes and there are no swimmers, setting up directly behind a groyne would be great. If you are still getting sizeable waves wrapping around the groyne, then you might have to bodydrag out past them anyway (or find a flatwater spot).

3. A little tip that will save you lots of walking is that if you bodydrag with your board, you will most likely go WAY upwind. You can use this to get into the right position to launch, or even just make up some ground from a failed run. At some point you'll need to walk up the beach though, so don't sweat it, everyone's done it. You want to spend your energy out on the water, so trim your kite all the way in so that you have less pull & take your time walking upwind. Even if you have to sit / lie down to take a break with the kite directly above, that's fine.

4. You'll be self-landing heaps, so it's worth the time to practice them on your local beach or in the water. Best bet is to do a couple first up when you have the most energy, and hopefully with a mate close by. Self-launching is harder, but you can wait around for someone to help launch, whereas you'll be forced to self-land in some situations, so you'll need to be confident in what you're doing. There's forum posts with videos of people self-landing.

1) No worries asking the locals for launches, let them know you're new so they can keep an eye on the angles, give hints etc.

2) If you bodydrag at least a lines length away from shore, then if you accidentally hammer the kite down you won't hit any beach goers. Doesn't matter if you feel safer out past the groins or just downwind of them. Don't get too close upwind!

3) Yep, try for a while then walk back up the beach. Maybe don't keep the kite directly above you if you need a rest - in gusty conditions that could get you lofted. Better to keep it at an angle so you have more time to react to gusts.

4) If there's good wind there will always be kiters around at Botany Bay. If you do end up needing to drop the kite and you've drifted away from everyone, use your safety release and make sure no-one is in the line of fire. You can practise self landing on light days if you have a lot of room, but I wouldn't rely on it at as a beginner, or even try it in any decent wind.

Any other kiter on the beach will be happy help you launch, just have a quick chat with them to let them know your new and discuss which direction you want to launch etc...

If your worried about the rock groynes (which is completely normal, it's my biggest concern!) try dolls pt. But be careful of the out going tide, on a NE it can sweep your board upwind quicker than you can body drag to it. The tide isn't really that much of an issue until you go out past the channel marker.
There always lots of beginners there too which is good too get to know some guys at the same level.

Walking back up the beach is actually really good kite control practice, so don't look at it as a bad thing :)