Altona is the place to be, right near laverton. Just watch out for the power liners ;-)

Too much west and altona is no good.

Nobody panic, I am back and in one piece.

What a session down at Altona this afternoon... brilliant. Just brilliant.

Started off very cross shore, got about half an hour of riding done, working on getting upwind (with not much success). Then the wind died. Sat around in the sun for half an hour in the hope of more wind.

Then...

The wind increased and swung around to almost straight onshore and I though "Hell I can't even stay upwind, how can I go out now?". But I didn't want to waste the wind and went out anyway. Walked far out enough to make it safe and got a few good runs in before beaching.

After a few walks of shame, I somehow managed to stay upwind and out on the water for the next 2 hours without coming back in. After that everything just seemed to go right. Tried my first little jump. Landed it. Kept trying to go bigger. In the end I managed to get well above head height. Best feeling ever.

After such an amazing session, the thing that I am most happy about is that I can actually stay out and kite now - instead of walking back up the beach.

Now I need rest...


PS: Altona has some crazy seaweed. Is it always like that?

Yeah I was a little cautious to begin with, I was walking far out to do water starts and getting a few runs before coming ashore. After a few of those I got the hang of it and it just clicked.

When did that happen chino? I left at about 5:30 and didn't see any ambulances. Hope the guy is ok.

Which guy was doing the launching fiasco? Was it the dude on the black or dark navy and orange/red kite? (Cabrinha I think?). He was probably the only guy out there who was more of a beginner than I was. He ended up hanging around the first rocky outcrop past the wharf trying to relaunch his kite and chase his board for the most part. In the end he did get a few good short standing runs!

Rays are everywhere, I swim at gnotuk Aspendale most days & I see plenty of rays, banjo sharks, salmon , snapper etc all with 100m of the shore line. Glad all had a good session,Brighton was crowded & choppy.
Altona needs to be treated with care... I broke my arm there a few years back after coming unhooked mid backfill kiteloop & landed on sandbar. Same problem st Kilda has, stuff up on a big trick & end up on sand

Hope he recovers alright! Spearfish some ray? Goes good with lemon ;-)

I saw the ambulances also. Always a bit of a shock to see ambulances (even at Altona).

I guess we should add sting rays to the list of reasons why Altona is a spot to stay away from......... (and the weed as Zarb points out - always there, but more or less of it depending on the weather).