Any, surely
any, Melbourne kitesurfer who enjoys buttery flat water, shallow sand bars and unlimited kilometres of it, and can click a google map, has surely pondered the vast shallows of Westernport. yes? no? (if no: the world is not a coin that you will fall off the edge beyond postcode 3182... ).
so, keeping the spirit of adventure alive, mate and me, google maps on phones zooming and panning, pull up at a likely looking place with a name that sounds like a strange spread for toast, and get a 'visual' on the layout.
tooting gusty northerly (yep this was monday), puts us a bit on edge.
launching and landing space on sand? check.
wind strength? check.
a bit gusty? a trial on beach launch confirms it is managable.
so... two intrepid kiters get their rigs flying and begin the 100m march across low tidal flats.
old guy on beach house balcony running to grab video camera rings a warning bell... but we are committed, no turning back.
the 100metres of low tide 'sandflat', gets increasingly boggy, as we discover it is more like 'mudflats'. the trek across the flats takes at least 30 mins, with mud depths getting up to around thigh/waist, and fully maxed kite bucking around making it the height of 'what tha h3ll am i doing?' adventure.
i give up, and rather than repeat the walk at a 'broad reach angle' down wind, decide il put my board on my feet, and carefully slide over the mud down wind back to the launch/landing spot.
and to my joy, i discover that oozy poo mud makes a fantastic surface upon which to 'mudkite', the mud traction enabling a firm edge to be held and the upwind angle quite superior to anything on water. (a light goes off in my head and i understand snowkiting suddenly).
so i tack my way at jogging pace upwind to the water, and we enjoy kilometres of flatwater to ourselves for a good hour, before black thunderhead clouds prompt us to get the h$ll out of there.
the return across the mud is equally messy, and by the time we are landed the old guy on the balcony is calling out to these 2 mud caked monsters that we had better pop over and use his hose.
so... verdict: secret spot is secret for a reason. despite the adventure and unlimited flatwater spaces, the mud that i am still finding in orrifices days later crosses this one off our list.
thats all. hope you enjoyed my story. bye.
