Hey guys,

I was just wondering if Brighton is suitable for beginners? I have been going down to St Kilda a few times but it is to packed for me and i can't find my own section to practice my board starts. I wont go out in off shore or strong on shore winds, i know Brighton does have its rocky spots but other than that would it be a good place for a beginner?
I also live in Brighton and can only go out through the week after work so less travel means more kiting.

oh i forgot about Hampton it is close and i know the area wellsih, would that be better?

I believe it would be better than Brighton - more space and less kiters

I think shq does their lessons at Hampton so they must consider it suitable for beginners

Brighton can be a bit pants at time. Northerlies are actually off shore (you want some W in the N to make it usable). There are also nice sharp reefs to cut your feet on.

Hampton may be better, but super narrow beach. Take an experienced friend.

Southerlies and sou-westers are your best directions. Westerlies you'll struggle to get off the beach until you're a bit more experienced.

Ask questions of other kiters on the beach, avoid mowing the lawn inside and in the flats just downwind of the reef (where more advanced riders are working on tricks), look before you transition, take extra care launching if there are non-kiting public around and you should be fine.

You need to do a site assessment for yourself so you know what you are doing. Take a look at the beaches in google earth or google maps or whatever and think it through.

You need:
- Not too many beachgoers to put at risk with your skills.
- Cross/onshore wind so you get blown back to shore in the event of a malfunction or if you can't relaunch.
- Not offshore because it's too gusty and you will end up in Rosebud or Altona if you mess up.
- Not onshore because your newbie skills won't be up to getting off the beach and a mishap can drag you into the land.
- Safe beaches downwind to land on.
- Wide enough beach to rig up and land on
- No hard obstacles downwind of you
- No reefs or rocks or navigation markers in the water
- No upwind obstacles to create gusty conditions
- Well away from trees, powerlines, main roads, houses etc etc
- A decent crew of kiters to help you out and keep you company and call in the rescue when you screw up
- Somewhere clean to rig up and pack down.
- Parking
- A generally nice beach because nice is nice
- Not too much litter or sticks or shells or crap on the beach to damage your gear.
- Away from no boating zones/power boating areas
- Not too crowded
- Possibly away from windsurfers because some of them are arseholes.
- Possibly away from some kiteboarders because some of them are arseholes.

Hey Sixfiddy!

Balnarring is good for intermediate/beginners..

It gets deep pretty quickly- within a few meters form the shore..

Which makes early learning more difficult as you can't walk out and get blown back toward the beach..

In a Southerly you can head to one end of the beach and kind of skirt the beach and walk back..

It also has lots of bouys to look out for.. (I ended up wrapped around on the weekend.. which isn't too fun)..


I havent kited StKilda so not sure if this is a better option.. with a few more people..

One problem with Brighton for beginners is that it gets deep very quick. So you have to do your first water start very close to the beach - so then risk hitting the beach if things go a bit wrong.

I think Mentone is a better spot in this regard (for S - W winds) as it is shallower. If you go to Mentone though - make sure you ask a local about the rules about not kiting too close to the surf club. Also Mentone has a narrower beach and a cliff behind it - so more chance of getting lofted. So maybe it's not so good for beginners either.

I think Balnarring is a good choice I would recommend it over Mentone for a beginner. Especially if you are not holding ground yet.

At Mentone if you launch where everyone else launches you're going to get 1 maybe 2 runs before you end up in the surf club. There is also a lot of chop/waves to deal with. And yes, the cliff and narrow beach causes some updrift resulting in lofting, unfortunately I've seen it happen.

At Balnarring you are going to get plenty of attempts before you run around of room, also the beach curls around so if you bail or self rescue you should easily be able to get back to the beach.

Thanks for the info guys, I will try Brighton and Hampton, Balnarring is like an hours + drive from me so might have to test it out on a weekend.

MrTwist said..

...
At Balnarring you are going to get plenty of attempts before you run around of room, also the beach curls around so if you bail or self rescue you should easily be able to get back to the beach.

Depends on the wind direction and time of year. At the western end there's a big reef. The trick guys like to run into the smooth water inside the reef and do their spinny things. They usually crash and generally get in the way.

The eastern side is full of moorings for various fishing boats and the yacht club. The yachties get a bit stressed with people kiting through their area.

I am a regular at Hampton (its my local) and I would not suggest Hampton Beach for beginners. I nearly had to save a beginner from getting drag over the rock groyne. It was scary to watch! You can easily get boxed in between the beach and rock groyne in a SW if you dont know what your doing. If you cant do board starts & stay upwind (both ways)... dont go to hampton. Stay with St.Kilda (most of us started there and have moved on) once you get the hang of things then look at Brighton/Hampton.

Safety first is the most important advice we should be giving each other these days...

Also as your new to the sport i would recommend you get some Kiteboarding Insurance to help keep the sport in good shape.... http://www.aksa.com.au/joinhere

I went out at Hampton on about my 10th session, still not going upwind. On the first run out I got up and going, and kept going. I turned around and headed back in, fully prepared to have to walk back depending on where I got back to. I made it back to Hampton. As another kiter said on the day "definitely a moment".

After that I would have dropped my kite and swam back in + self rescued about 4-5 times. The groynes are an issue and half the beach at Middle Brighton is not there. But getting going without 101 other kites around (after learning at St Kilda) was a real plus for me.

If you do go there as a beginner word up other kiters who are around so they can keep an eye on you. Don't kite there (or anywhere else) alone.

The reefs at Brighton are more gnarly than those at Hampton.

There's gotta be something for those if us past the lessons stage yet not intermediate stage! I was at StKilda Saturday arvo and with. 4 schools running plus the regulars I counted 35 kites in the water and atleast a dozen on the beach waiting.
Extremely frustrating to start making some progress, but then get so crowded in you have no room to continue on. Ended up having my kite smacked twice by a a school kite and gave up for the day deciding that getting myself to where I was , was a good end to the day

sixfiddy said..

There's gotta be something for those if us past the lessons stage yet not intermediate stage! I was at StKilda Saturday arvo and with. 4 schools running plus the regulars I counted 35 kites in the water and atleast a dozen on the beach waiting.
Extremely frustrating to start making some progress, but then get so crowded in you have no room to continue on. Ended up having my kite smacked twice by a a school kite and gave up for the day deciding that getting myself to where I was , was a good end to the day

Your progress will be extremely slow if you try to learn at just StK and going to harder beaches in less than ideal conditions will get you frustrated in a hurry - you'll lose your board, get kicked around in waves and have difficulty water starting, get caught in reef, dump your kite etc. You get 10 minutes of on the board time and 2 hours of untangling lines and relaunching kites and getting in the way of schools and better kiters.

In all honesty when I started out the best thing for me was to take time off by myself and go somewhere quietish and secluded where I could practice without getting in the way. I actually took a week and kited at Yorkey's in QLD in very very light conditions and that got me going downwind, then worried about upwind later. You just need something big and flat. A kite trip even to go every day, a trip to Cocos, even Ant's Surfari. Options more locally would be inverloch/sandy point,

People may disagree on taking a kite trip early in the piece when you are still learning as it's a lot of money but nothing gets you up and going in a hurry like kiting every day for a week. And if you read the reviews from people who went on trips like Ant's as beginners, they all come away confident and with solid skills.

I second what SpaceCoyote said about rigging up some distance down (N) of the lifesaving club at Hampton - you need to keep away from swimmers, the flags and other beach goers. My track log is a morning session in a westerly so it doesn't show the best place you normally leave the beach from.

I also agree with Chino. Going somewhere where you can focus on kiting and not worry about too many others (chaos), do some downwinders and have a big wide beach to walk back along is the best way to move past beginner stage. I did this at 4 Mile Beach Port Douglas and had a ball.

Mentone and Aspendale (Gnotuk Ave) are more beginner friendly than Brighton and Hampton, but not for launching/landing (narrow beach), so if you kite there make sure you do assisted launch & land.