Hi Seabreezers and.. French Polynesia

Hi All,

First post on here after reading the forums for a year or so... Although I haven't posted in that time, It's been really helpful for a lot of tips and thoughts. So, cheers to all the people who take time to contribute.... anyhow, I feel like I can contribute something now.

I've just come back from a sailing trip across the pacific (Panama - Galapagos - French Polynesia) and found that it was pretty hard to find much information about kiting around these places. So, I thought I'd just write up a few things I found from the trip which may help any others who venture into that area. Firstly, I'm a beginner, I can stay upwind no problem and am starting jumping and what not. More advanced kiters might have a different take on some of what I say.

Panama -
I hear can be great (especially in the San Blas Islands) but I joined the boat just before the canal and for the time I was in Panama the wind was only around 5-10kn. But on the plus side, I bought a 2014 North 10m Evo for the trip on the boat.


Galapagos -
Highly restricted area as a national park. I spoke to one guy on Isla Isabela who had been told off by the authorities for kiting in the port. Anyway, there's lost to see in Galapagos, so kiting wasn't the highest priority.


French Polynesia -
This is where I was able to put my kite to use.

The Marquesas Islands are incredibly beautiful but as far as kiting goes it's not ideal. The islands pop up out of the ocean and rise up to more than 1000m in some places. Wind can be strong but very flukey. Places to launch are few and far between with a lot of offshore winds and sharp rocky cliffs.

The Tuomotus on the other hand are completely different. All atolls.
The first stop my boat made was in Kauehi. quite a deep atoll but next to the village is a nice place to kite. Turquoise water and a few spots to launch from. In a Northerly wind it worked quite well blowing 15-20kn or so. A Southerly would kick up a fair bit of fetch though and chop things up. At the SW corner of the island is a great anchorage that was good to kite as the winds swung back to the SE. Corally beach though for launching. I opted to try setting up and launching from the boat. Its a great spot with pretty flat water if the wind is coming from the S or SE. Deep water though.
Another atoll worth checking out is Fakarava. The South pass is where it's at. Great snorkelling through the pass to see loads and loads of sharks.. but back to kiting. The western side of the pass has a fantastic spot for kiting. Nice shallow flat water that works great in a decent southerly. I had about 20kn for a few days and had a ball. Total postcard stuff. The only drawback is that at low tide, little coral heads start to get very close to the surface and you might find that the fins scrape a bit. There's a great place to launch on a little sand spit as well.
Now, Tahiti and the Society Islands are known for some decent kiting places but the only places I kited was on Moorea and Tahaa (I left the boat after that.. But apparently Bora Bora is great).
I kited at the bay around from Cooks Bay at Moorea. Can't remember the name.. Anyway, had decent wind and the spot to kite there is between the main Island and a little island just offshore on the fringing reef. Worked well on an Easterly wind. While you're there check out the stingrays that come up to you and rub up against you..literally.
Finally, Tahaa. While I was there the wind swung around to the North and I was able to kite up near a place called the coral garden (in the NW side of the island). It's just next to The Tahaa resort. Excellent spot with views of Bora Bora in the background. You can kite for about 1.5 km across the channel from the fringing reef. Once again, I launched from the boat. I was also able to do a 10 km downwinder zig-zagging across the channel, out to the fringing reef and all the way to Raiatea. You'll need a boat to follow you. A fair bit of fluctuations in wind as you head down though. The katabatic winds can catch you as you pass some of the little bays. Great kite though.


Anyhow, I just thought I'd post this as this was sort of what I had been looking to read before I arrived in French Polynesia. Might post something later about setting up, launching and retrieving from a catamaran if anyone is interested (I had some good practice at it over my time on the boat).

Hopefully someone finds it helpful.

Cheers,

Jol

Thanks for the info!

I'm heading to French Polynesia in October and hope to be kiting by then (lessons in September and early October are lined up). I'll be in Moorea, Rangiroa and Tikehau. The first has a school, the last has people and gear to kite with. The middle one, maybe I'll take it easy...

Going to have to get over my childhood fear of stingrays though - I'd heard they are affectionate critters over there.